Fifteen African startups selected to participate in the Investment Readiness Program
Southern Africa Innovation Support Programme (SAIS) and Seedstars recently announced the second batch of fifteen startups that are part of the Investment Readiness Program (IRP) 2019-2020.
The participating startups have been chosen for their SDG-focused tech solutions and were selected to go through the IRP to maximize their startup education and bring 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 and Seedstars hold 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 programmes, ecosystem strengthening and networking activities, with a focus on the following 10 countries: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Mauritius, and Mozambique.
After receiving 300+ applications from those 10 countries, a total number of 158 startups and their founders were invited to take part in the Online Seedstars Academy, a tailored-made resource library with personalized training materials put together for the startups by the Seedstars Investment Team and network of mentors.
The 158 startups were also able to attend live training on the Art of Communications as well as 22 tips to Investment Readiness, in their own language (English, French or Portuguese), in order to maximize the understanding and interactivity of the training sessions for the startups.
Based on their application, attendance, and thanks to a thorough interview process by the Seedstars Investment team, 20 startups were then selected out of this cohort to take part in the Investment Readiness Program (IRP).
The first part of the IRP consisted of a month-long module, focused on Key Business Metrics, that aimed at increasing the robustness of the startups and preparing them for fundraising. It included 4 training modules, 1on1 mentorship and peer-to-peer networking.
Starting at the beginning of February 2021, the training is followed by 2 months of 1:1 mentorship to ensure the startups receive support that is tailored to the specificities of each startup.
Participating mentors are Eric Osei, Christos Kritikos, Kabeer Chawla, Nuno Veloso, Nicolas Bry, Jovin Hurry, Jini Sebakunzi, Andrew Herweg, Sameer Jooma, Sean Clancy, Jesus Kiteque, and Ali Mohdi.
“Thank you very much for this webinar. We are learning wonderful things and I am very happy,” says Billy Kabongo of Genietech Group (beautyApp) as a testimonial to the program.
The second batch of startups that is continuing in the second phase of the the SAIS IRP program with 1on1 mentorship are the following:We Deliva SA; Sparco Inc.;Mangwee; Adongo Blockchain Ltd;
Flamingoo Foods Company Ltd;NOBLE AGRITCH; Genietech Group ( beautyApp); BrillantTS Africa [C32-PEX] – C32; ACE Smart Technologies Ltd; Astech-Congo – Umoja Funding; Masenze Strategic Advisors; SUMET; VOID; BANKADA and Gwork.
At the end of March, the 15 startups will participate in an Investor Roadshow where they will have the opportunity to present their companies and meet with investors that are interested in learning more about their solution. In the end, select startups will receive a grant sponsored by SAIS.
