The startups receiving the grant are Mangwee (Zambia), SUMET (Tanzania), UBI (Mozambique), Luma Law (South Africa), and Astech-Congo (DRC). To find out more about the program and the startups visit the website here: https://seedsta.rs/3wyZvAw.

The Investment Readiness Program (IRP) 2019-2020 selected 15 startups with SDG-focused tech solutions and provided the participating entrepreneurs with a startup education program that brought their solutions closer to being investment-ready.

With the objective of increasing funding received by early-stage startups in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, SAIS 2 and Seedstars held the Investment Readiness Program aimed to improve the quality of entrepreneurs and save both founders and investors’ time in the fundraising process. This is done through educational programs, ecosystem strengthening and networking activities, with a focus on the following 10 countries on Seedstars program: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Mauritius, and Mozambique.

The IRP was then followed by the Investor Roadshow where they provided the startups with the opportunity to present their companies and meet with investors that were interested in learning more about their solution. In the end, five startups were selected to receive the $5K USD grant sponsored by SAIS 2. The five startup recipients are the following:

• Mangwee - Mangwee is a Zambian based mobile money transfer and remittance platform that enables learning institutions to process payments.
• SUMET - Digitalize FMCG distribution by connecting suppliers and informal retailers saving their money, effort, and time through data-driven AI
• UBI - A platform that connects people to their city. Anytime anywhere, through solutions that make the everyday simple and straightforward
• Luma Law - Affordable and accessible access to practical, relevant and user-friendly legal information via chat platforms such as Facebook messenger.
• Astech-Congo - Umoja Funding - Stay connected to your school or university, wherever you are and in real-time from your smartphone thanks to Shule online.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the startups or if you’re an investor interested in connecting with the founders, visit the website here: https://seedsta.rs/3wyZvAw and fill out the contact form. Seedstars would be happy to put you in touch!

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ABOUT SEEDSTARS

Seedstars is a Swiss-based private company with a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. The groups’ activities cover over 90 emerging ecosystems through a variety of initiatives such as the Online Seedstars World Competition, acceleration programs, physical hubs called Seedspace, venture capital investments and company building activities. Seedstars The Documentary is a feature film featuring the company’s vision to give a voice to the game changers of the developing world.

"They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds." - Mexican proverb

ABOUT SOUTHERN AFRICA INNOVATION SUPPORT PROGRAMME (SAIS 2)

SAIS 2 is a regional initiative that supports the growth of new businesses through strengthening innovation ecosystems and promoting cross-border collaboration between innovation role-players in Southern Africa. SAIS 2 is supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland together with the governments of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia as well as the Secretariat of Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)..

CONTACT

If you would like more information, please contact Michaela Villaroman at [email protected] or Misha Gericke at [email protected]