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GLOBAL • INVESTMENT, EDUCATION & CONSULTING
Charlie Graham-Brown
SEPT. 14, 2020
At Seedstars, we believe in the power of entrepreneurship to address the most critical global issues and help build a sustainable future, especially during such turbulent times the world today is currently experiencing. That's why, in 2020, we aim to invest in even more innovative ventures from emerging markets and support them with their growth.
Today, we have a portfolio of 60 companies in 25 countries and around 30 investments are being added each year. 100% tech, 100% emerging markets, we invest across all sectors in asset-light, high-impact ventures.
To ensure the quality and scalability of companies, we invest in batches that we put through our 3-month Growth Program. It’s a post-acceleration program focused on helping companies with early signs of product/market fit implement a growth methodology and unlock their growth formula, positioning them to raise their Seed or Series A round. We offer access to a global mentor network and support with fundraising. The Growth Program is led by our inhouse EIR Satwik with support from the growth mentors such as Patricia (ex StartupChile), Jon (ex Naspers), Fred (ex Seedstars, now Norrsken), Alex (ex Yoco) and Anuj (ex GrowthHackers.com).
Despite Covid-19, we onboarded Batch 6 in mid-July with a focus on companies either benefiting from or resilient to the crisis. From over 1,100 applications, 8 teams were selected representing 7 countries and 6 sectors.
We invite you all to register for the demo day scheduled for 14th October 2020 where you’ll have the opportunity to hear the companies pitch and chat directly with the founders. If you are an investor and can’t wait until demo day to meet them, just email us here: [email protected].
And here they are! Welcome to Seedstars Growth Program Batch 6!
Chaka operates a digital investment platform allowing individuals in Nigeria to trade both local and US stocks. Current solutions for Nigerians to invest in global markets are inefficient requiring large trade sizes and a lot of paperwork, reducing the ability of individuals to effectively save for their future. Through Chaka, individuals in Nigeria get access to world-class investment opportunities with low barriers to entry. As of today, Chaka is facilitating over USD $3 million in trade volume per month. Over time, Chaka expects to provide its services across Africa, further improving financial inclusion in the continent.
“Chaka has an impressive industry experience, a passion for investing and is focused on an untapped market opportunity. The founders are also solid and reliable, exactly what you need when dealing with financial services.”
Doc-Doc aims to fix an inefficient healthcare system in Colombia and Latin America by providing convenient access to specialist medical practitioners. To do this, doc-doc leverages text and video-based consultations to directly connect over 3,000 patients a month with health professionals. With a team consisting of a doctor, data scientists and serial entrepreneurs they are uniquely qualified to improve access to healthcare in Latin America.
“It’s not often you find an orthopedic surgeon in a founding team together with the tech and digital skills sets needed to provide accessible healthcare. This combination together with an innate ability to seek out the best value proposition for their users really caught our attention.”
Kludio is creating the first digital food court in Bangladesh. Their full stack model takes control of the entire food delivery value chain through its cloud kitchens, consumer facing mobile app and logistics. The company is creating multiple food brands that operate from the same infrastructure and share sourcing, logistics, technology, and labor. Current solutions for food delivery in the country are lacking in terms of quality. By controlling the food delivery process through its end to end model, Kludio can iterate rapidly providing new choices for customers while improving quality. Today, Kludio has developed 6 proprietary brands and since the launch of their mobile app one month ago it has been downloaded over 10,000 times.
“You’d expect there to be a lot of uncertainty in a company at this stage with such grand ambitions but that’s not the case. The clarity, vision and precision with which the Kludio team operate is incredible.”
Listopro seeks to streamline recruitment of top candidates in Mexico by giving companies access to passive talent that is pre-qualified. They are incorporating technology into the traditional headhunting process, increasing speed and quality, whilst lowering costs. With a growing database of +230,000 candidates and a strong team that previously scaled startups at Rocket Internet, Listopro wants to become the main talent acquisition platform. The company is already seeing strong growth, with an annualised net commission of approximately $1mn.
“The Listopro founding team’s experience sets them apart. They’ve all had failures and successes in their careers and by banding together and learning from their mistakes have an impressive foundation for growth.”
MedCheck is a clinical data and e-consultation platform for medical specialists. Through its cloud platform, doctors can improve patient care via e-consultation, record-keeping, and disease and treatment analytics. MedCheck is currently helping over 1,000 medical specialists and 115,000 patients suffering from non-communicable diseases. In addition, MedCheck works with research professionals to scientifically study the aggregate trends of such diseases and treatments in a highly safe, secure, and data-privacy compliant manner. Ultimately, MedCheck seeks to improve the work done by medical societies, academic medical research institutes, NGOs, government institutions, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, who help sponsor innovative programs aimed towards improving the healthcare ecosystem.
“Symbiosis comes to mind when you hear about MedCheck’s business model. They seamlessly deliver incredible value to all stakeholders involved - patients, doctors, pharmaceuticals. It’s not an easy nut to crack but the moment you talk to the team you know they’re the ones to do it.”
Siembro is an online lending-as-a-service platform connecting farmers with financial institutions to increase access to loans used to purchase machinery at the point of sale. Currently operating in both Argentina and Mexico, Siembro takes advantage of existing machinery distribution networks to increase access to financing. Through its platform, Siembro has been able to shorten loan underwriting compared to legacy processes by providing improved credit analytics and digital loan processing. Thanks to this, Siembro has empowered Latin American farmers to finance over $10mn in machinery.
“With all the instability, building a startup in Argentina is not an easy task but it seems to have made Siembro stronger and pushed them to expand cross border early. They deliver a beautiful tech solution to solve a very tedious process for farm machinery distributors leveraging the founder’s 15 years of experience in the industry.”
The 2019/2020 Seedstars World winner, StudyFree is an online platform helping students get admitted into universities worldwide and get access to financing. StudyFree’s goal is to increase the availability of international education to students around the world, helping them both save time and money. StudyFree is already making an impact by saving students an average of $100,000 on tuition and living fees and shortening the application process considerably.
“The first time you speak to Dasha you know you’ve found someone with incredible talent. She’s a fearless and ambitious leader who remains humble and coachable. The traction she achieved with next to no resources (prior to this round) was incredible.”
Truck Lagbe, meaning “Need a truck” in Bengali, is bringing transparency to the logistics market in Bangladesh through its booking platform. Through a mobile application Truck Lagbe connects truck drivers to companies and individuals requiring inter and intra city goods transportation. The platform digitalizes a traditionally low-technology sector resulting in reduced costs and improved driver salaries. In fact, Truck Lagbe is currently helping active drivers earn more than $800 on average every month. Through its extensive driver network and active marketplace, Truck Lagbe is improving efficiency and accountability in a sector that is a critical enabler of economic activity in Bangladesh.
“Despite being the clear leader in Bangladesh and already being backed by some incredible VCs and angels, the team remains humble and completely dedicated to revolutionising the truck logistics space.”
