The local winners of the Seedstars World Competition 2020 have been announced, with 25 startups from Africa included in the batch. From over 5,000 applicants, 94 tech startups from emerging markets were selected to advance to the regional stage of the competition.
Out of Africa, the 25 local country winners will represent their respective countries as they compete for a spot at the global finale, where the grand prize is $500K in funding.
“During this unusual year for everyone, I am proud to say that we managed to identify the most promising startups in 94 emerging markets. The online format of the competition allowed us to dream and go bigger as we reached a larger audience and invited more startups from all the cities of each country to apply. Now, we can’t wait for our local winners to represent their countries in the webisodes of the regional stage of the competition. I’d like to invite everyone to follow their journey and root for their favourite startup from the different corners of the world,” says Eugenia Shevchenko, lead of the Seedstars World Competition 2020.
Seedstars is a Swiss-based private company with a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets. The company holds the Seedstars World Competition annually to continuously scout for the most promising startups around the Asia, Africa, CEE, MENA, and LATAM regions. This year, 94 ecosystems were included in the online open call for applications.
From there, 1,200 startups participated in the Online Seedstars Academy, a training program for entrepreneurs to accelerate their growth and receive mentorship from industry experts around the world.
The next phase of the competition takes the local winners to the regional stage.
“It has been inspiring seeing entrepreneurs from across the region soldier on through the pandemic and continue to work hard on their solutions. We have met incredible entrepreneurs and are excited to see them competing at the regional stage for a chance to be at the Seedstars Grande Finale in 2021. We wish all the local winners the best of luck for the regional stage competition,” said Seedstars Africa Regional Manager Lorraine Davis.
From the regionals, where the competition will include a 1-month long Investment Readiness Program, modernized and personalized program helping startups get investment ready.
The training will consist of action-driven webinars on key business metrics; online office hours, where startups can discuss challenges they are facing; domain groups and 1-on-1 mentoring sessions; investor meetings for potential funding opportunities; and peer-to-peer learning and networking sessions.
From the regional competition, 10 startups will receive $50k in growth program investment as well as the chance to compete at the grand finale for a shot at the global winner prize of $500k in equity investment.
Online episodes for the regional stage of the competition will be aired at the end of January 2021. Viewers will get to see each local winner pitch in front of the juries and learn more about each of the teams’ startup stories. At the end of each episode, the regional winners moving on to the global finale in March 2021 will be announced.
The regional stage of the competition will include a 1 month long Investment Readiness Program, modernized and personalized program helping startups get investment ready. It will consist of: action-driven webinars on key business metrics; online office hours, where startups can discuss challenges they are facing; domain groups and 1-on-1 mentoring sessions; investor meetings for potential funding opportunities; and peer-to-peer learning and networking sessions.
Online episodes for the regional stage of the competition will be aired at the end of January 2021. Viewers will get to see each local winner pitch in front of the juries and learn more about each of the teams’ startup stories. At the end of each episode, the regional winners moving on to the global finale in March 2021 will be announced.
