The Startup World Cup, a global startup pitch competition which is held by Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Fenox VC, with a $1-million dollar investment prize has announced that 10 Nigerian startups will pitch at next week’s Startup World Cup 2019 Nigeria regional final. The regional final will take place on Saturday 9 February at Civic Hive in Lagos.
Finalists are selected at regional events held across various countries including Mauritius, South Africa and Kenya.
The Mauritian and SA finals were held in November and September, respectively, while the Kenyan final will be held on 21 and 22 March.
Startup World Cup regional partner, Lagos-based Passion Incubator said in a statement that the 10 had been selected following a “rigorous vetting process” that began with 70 early-stage Nigerian startups that applied to pitch at the regional finals.
The winner of the regional final will represent the country at Startup World Cup grand finale which is set to take place on 17 May in San Francisco in the US.
A panel of judges who include Coven Works founder Olusola Amusan, Andela Entrepreneurship Center Manager Emmanuel Adegboye, Novastar Ventures associate director Brian Odhiambo, and Microtraction principal investment officer Dayo Koleowo will select the winner.
The Startup World Cup 2019 Nigeria regional finalists are:
Natterbase: A global engineering platform that connects world-class remote teams to software companies.
Edupoint: An online P2P learning platform that enables users to learn anything through verified, expert teachers within their communities.
WellNewMe: This human capital advisory company advises business leaders and governments on strategies to improve the health outcomes of their employees.
Sabi.ai (by Schoolphix): Sabi.ai is an artificial intelligence (AI) powered on-demand service marketplace that connects service providers — who are mostly small businesses — to potential customers in real-time.
Spleet: This proptech startup provides living spaces with flexible and convenient payment choices that include both short let and permanent options.
Publiseer: Publiseer is a free digital publishing platform that aims to meet the needs of independent African authors and artists.
Afara Partners: This fintech company uses data to provide customers and partners with better alternative financial products and services that include wealth management, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and microloans.
FarmFunded: This agritech startup has developed a crowdfunding platform that aggregates finances from funders and channels them to farmers to help them scale-up their farming operations.
Those who want to attend the regional finals — which will also feature a fireside chat themed How to be highly competitive and secure investment and moderated by Echo VC senior corporate counsel Damilola Thompson — can register here.
