Switzerland based global seed-stage startups competition; Seedstars World has finally finished vetting Africa startups that will be competing with other global startups in its 4th annual global Seedstars summit competition in Switzerland come 2018.
Sixteen (16) startups from 16 cities pitched their innovations/startups to a panel of judges emerging as the finalists from the continent. Three (3) winners were selected from each pitch event but only the overall winners will be representing their respective countries and also get to take part in the regional summit and global Seedstars Summits that include a tried and tested bootcamp and investor forum. It’s a catalytic platform for high growth emerging market startups.
The final pitch event in Switzerland will be exciting event filled with panel discussions, specialized workshops and the best minds from emerging markets – as it always has been, where the local winners from different parts of the world will compete – to be crowned the Seedstars World Global Winner and also winning a cash prize of US$500,000 (roughly 1,822,500,000 UGX) in equity investment.[related-posts]
Here are the finalists African Startups that will be representing their countries:
| Startup | Country | Sector |
| EMG Technologies | South Africa | Medtech / Biotech |
| Tabech Servicos E.I. | Mozambique | Finance / Payments |
| Nefrids Africa Limited | Tanzania | Insurance |
| Numida | Uganda | Enterprise Services |
| SRE | Ethiopia | HighTech / NanoTech /Materials |
| Medsaf | Nigeria | Health / Wellness |
| CINETPAY | Côte d’Ivoire | Finance / Payments |
| AgroCenta | Ghana | Agriculture Tech |
| ESene | Mali | Agriculture Tech |
| MaTontine Senegal | Senegal | Finance / Payments |
| GiftedMom | Cameroon | Health / Wellness |
| PikiWash Ltd. | Rwanda | Consumer Services |
| Tupuca | Angola | Food and Beverage |
| myRunner | Zimbabwe | Travel and Transport |
| Benda Yango SARL | Congo | Consumer Products |
| M-Shule | Kenya | Education |
The Past Winners
South African startup Giraffe emerged the overall winner of the 2016 Seedstar summit for their for innovative solution that reduces unemployment in the emerging markets. The Giraffe platform guarantees a two-day turnaround on staffing requests and automating scheduling and CVs in the interview process to optimize the matching of recruiters to respective job candidates.
This year, a Filipino startup, founded by Mario Jordan “Magellan” Fetalino III, was crowned the Seedstars World Global Winner 2017 for their innovative solution that turns SMEs invoices into cash through discounting of their receivables, providing them with necessary working capital they are not getting from the banks.
