Applications are now open for the fourth edition of mobile startup competition PIVOT East 2014, which will be held in Nairobi, Kenya on June 24 and 25.
HumanIPO reported last month the event would be returning to Nairobi, and organisers m:lab East Africa announced today in a blog post it was now inviting startups from across the region to apply for the competition.
“PIVOT East aims to catalyse the growth of mobile startups, so as to amplify and consolidate the gains of East Africa’s Mobile developer and entrepreneurship ecosystem. The key objective for this year’s event is “to facilitate discovery of the next wave of high potential mobile startups in the region”,” the post said.
The competition has five categories – Mobile Finance, Mobile Enterprise, Mobile Entertainment, Mobile Society and Mobile Utility – with each category to feature five finalists to pitch to an audience of Investors, development partners, government representatives, telecom operators and other key mobile industry players in East Africa.
The five eventual winners will gain investment from the m:lab, while all 25 finalists will receive training, coaching and mentorship.
PIVOT East is the primary route for startups to secure support through the m:lab’s residential and virtual incubation programs,” m:lab said.
The 2013 edition, held in Kampala, Uganda in June last year, saw Kenyans almost completing a clean sweep of the awards.
The deadline for applications for this year’s event is April 11.
