On the sidelines of the Africa Tech Festival that was held in Cape Town, South Africa, 10 startups across Africa participated in the AfricaIgnite Pitch Competition vying for a spot in the Startup World Cup pitch competition. Of the 10, Delta Scan (from South Africa) emerged as the overall winner, thus walking off with the African leg to the Startup World Cup pitch competition.
Delta Scan’s MD, Darryl Epstein who was overwhelmed said, “I appreciate the belief the judges have in me, it helps with motivation. We’re on a good trajectory and it helps fuel the fire. We’re looking forward to taking this to the global stage.”
Zachariah George one of the judges in the pitch competition said, “It was a tough call but we had to make sure the winner could put their business on the global stage.”
Agreeing with Zachariah, Keshni Morar [another judge in the competition], founder and CEO of Investable said, “It was no easy feat standing here in a room with a strange audience, so well done. We need to get you guys on a global stage for Africa.”
Epstein will join 49 other entrepreneurs from around the world at the Startup World Cup pitch competition finals in San Francisco, USA — where the grand prize winner will walk away with USD$1 million (approx. R18.3 million) to plow back into their business.
The competition will be held on December 1st, 2023 by Pegasus.
Delta Scan uses drone technology to transform the time-consuming and costly task of gathering information to inspect infrastructure and performing a real-time health check on these assets.
“In the engineering world inspections are flawed, and mostly it’s an art of guesswork,” said Epstein.
The drone captures data, which is then used to build powerful analytical 3D models.
“We can analyze a building in a matter of minutes — which would usually take weeks for an engineering company to complete,” Epstein said. “The 3D analytical model is so precise it can see an ant on a building.”
Notably, other pitches at the AfricaIgnite Pitch Competition included innovative education solutions, mobility, mobile money apps, job recruitment, and a beauty app. An honorable mention is a solution from Kenya, the Tausi App that connects beauticians and clients in a seamless environment that rewards loyalty from all stakeholders.
Startups were a big part of the Africa Tech Festival this year with a dedicated zone triple the size of previous events — given that Africa’s future prosperity is in the entrepreneurial spirit of its people and reliance on them to solve many of the continent’s unique challenges.
Africa Tech Festival 2024 is expected to attract even more incredible innovations.
