Seedcamp, in conjunction with the Tech4Africa conference, recently put out a call for applications for funding and received over 40 entries from technology startups across South Africa. The 10 selected African entrepreneurs will have a rare opportunity to pitch their businesses at a group of people connected to powerful investors, mentors and startups throughout EMEA, with one team being chosen to take part in Seedcamp Week in London.
Seedcamp offers standard investments of €30,000-50,000 to selected companies and connects next generation developers and entrepreneurs from a network of over 400 top-tier industry mentors.
The 11 selected startups include:
10Layer: The most feature-complete, competent and customisable open source content management system for serious publishers and media houses.
Cobi interactive: An incubator for developing mobile software ideas. Cobi focuses on investing in areas with varying degrees of risk - contract mobile software development, partnerships and their own products.
Cognician: The original thinking guide. A software application that automates complex intellectual tasks by asking you a range of intelligent, thought-provoking questions.
Cred: A micropayments and subscriptions service that allows you to monetise your text, audio or video content. The Cred API can be deployed with any content management system and allows for the purchase and redemption of Cred at content partners.
Feeperfect: Permitting any user to find the mobile contact number of anyone registered on iYam.mobi, using either SMS or the web. Feeperfect are building, and permitting anyone to build, quality SMS services people are willing to pay for.
FloCash: The first cross border Pan African payment network offering basic financial services to the un-banked masses, the platform of choice for facilitating e-commerce and drive the exchange of ideas, people and services between nations.
GetaGreatBoss: We enable great managers to showcase their management strength in order to attract talent and boost their own careers.
Obami: A web-based communication and collaboration platform that's been developed for use within, and between schools. Obami ensures a safe environment for kids to interact with each other and the adults in their lives. Obami, which is free to schools, believes that helping to expand school life beyond the boundaries of the classroom wall will have a significant impact on Africa's future.
iSigned.com: Offers secure, permanent online storage, management and sharing for legal & other important documents. Individuals & businesses can use iSigned to store wills, legal agreements, investment records, etc and share them with other parties securely.
Thisarmy: Builds clean, simple & fun web apps.
Twangoo: South Africa's premier group buying club uses the power of the web to create a platform for its members to access exclusive deals at restaurants, spas, lessons, sports facilities, events etc.
Gareth Knight, managing director at Technovated, the company behind Tech4Africa, says: "It seems that for a long while the disconnect between entrepreneurs, angel-funders, early stage funders and established institutional funders, was a chasm too far to cross. I'm delighted that SeedCamp has come to Africa, to address that issue and create a more aspirational and conducive environment for startups and entrepreneurs. The response and quality of applications has been superb and it's great to see these companies with disruptive ideas coming out of the woodwork. I hope to see them in London soon!"
Seedcamp is running in conjunction with Tech4Africa, a conference that runs from 12-13 August 2010 at The Forum in Bryanston. The event is targeted at business professionals and technologists from businesses of all sizes, from entrepreneurs and start-up owners through to professionals working at large organisations.
A stellar line-up of international speakers - including speakers from Twitter, Mozilla and Yahoo! - will be presenting at the conference. Clay Shirky - one of the world's leading thinkers and writers on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies - will be a keynote speaker. More details are available at http://www.tech4africa.com.
Links to the 11 selected startups:
10Layer: www.10layer.com
Cobi interactive: www.cobiinteractive.com
Cognician: www.cognician.com
Cred: www.yourcred.com
Feeperfect: www.feeperfect.com
FloCash: www.flocash.com
GetaGreatBoss: www.getagreatboss.com
Obami: www.obami.com
iSigned.com: www.isigned.com
Thisarmy: www.thisarmy.com
Twangoo: www.twangoo.co.za
Tech4Africa runs from 12-13 August 2010 at The Forum in Bryanston. Workshops will be held on 10-11 August. The event is targeted at business professionals and technologists from businesses of all sizes, from entrepreneurs and start-up owners through to professionals working at large organisations. Clay Shirky - one of the world's leading thinkers and writers on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies will be the keynote speaker at the inaugural Tech4Africa Conference. Shirky joins a stellar line-up of international speakers - including leaders from organisations such as Twitter, Mozilla, digg and Yahoo! - and African technologists from companies such as PesaPal, Ushahidi, Obami and many more.
Technovated is a leading Web 2.0 provider in South Africa and London. Technovated enables content management, delivers e-commerce stores and search engine marketing, provides social media management and stimulates growth for foreign markets through authentic user engagement.
Gareth is a digital maven and open source evangelist. Educated as a zoologist, he is a veteran of two dot com crashes in London, one web 2.0 acquisition, and runs Technovated.
Previously, Gareth served in London as Director of Product Management for MyHeritage.com, a global family genealogy company based in Tel Aviv.
Before joining MyHeritage, Gareth landed seed funding from London's top early stage investors to co-found Kindo.com, a global family social network with an international team spread around the world. He then led the Product team in London to roll out a localised version of Kindo in 17 languages within 6 months, as well as an aggressive search engine campaign, both of which resulted in users from circa 220 countries and an enviable growth rate.
Kindo was voted one of the top 3 most promising Internet companies in the UK for 2008, and was later acquired by MyHeritage in August that year.
Both global and local leading companies from a variety of industries will support Tech4Africa. Delegates will have the opportunity to interact with industry leaders in the vibrant expo environment at the conference.
Tech4Africa foundation partners include:
FNB: - www.fnb.co.za
Internet Solutions: - www.is.co.za
Other Tech4Africa partners include:
Seedcamp: - www.seedcamp.com
Old Mutual: Scholarships Partner - www.oldmutual.co.za
Zoopy: Official Social Media Partner - www.zoopy.com
Digital Edge: Official Podcast Partner - www.thedigitaledge.co.za
Bizcommunity: Offical Marketing Media Partner - www.bizcommunity.com
Memeburn: Official Media Partner - www.memeburn.com
Balancing Act Africa: Official Media Partner - www.balancingact-africa.com
Homecoming Revolution: Official Media Partner - www.homecomingrevolution.co.za
TechCentral: Official Media Partner - www.techcentral.co.za
