Numerous startup events took place this week, culminating in the announcement of the winners of the PIVOT East mobile startup competition in Nairobi.
The PIVOT East event kicked off on Tuesday providing an opportunity for 25 startups to pitch for a share of US$50,000.
“The funding will be split into two halves, the first of which is a US$5,000 grant. The other portion US$5,000 will be an investment which may be topped up by other investors depending on the startups funding requirements and their ability to convince other investors,” said competition organiser m:lab.
In his opening remarks, John Kieti, lead at m:lab, said PIVOT East had so far worked with 100 entrepreneurs, though a lot had changed in recent years, with PIVOT accumulating a pool of alumni who have helped the new startups.
The winners of the competition were announced on Thursday. A list can be foundhere.
In other competition news, DEMO Africa has officially closed applications for this year’s event, confirming it received applications from 27 African countries and announcing the judges.
According to VC4Africa founder Ben White, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana submitted the most applications while the areas that attracted the highest number of applications were Communication, Retail and Media & Entertainment.
British Telecom (BT) and enterprise and development firm MEDO on Thursday hosted a rehearsal pitching event at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa, allowing local ICT startups to practice their pitches for a place in the MEDO International Trade Programme.
The 11 startups pitching have already completed a first round of selection and will be competing for a chance to visit the United Kingdom (UK) on a business and trade delegation aimed at evolving their businesses.
She Leads Africa on Monday held a pitch competition for female entrepreneurs in West Africa, offering prize money of USD$10,000 for the winner.
The company said the female-only competition will give the most promising female entrepreneurs in West Africa a platform to connect to prominent mentors, business funding and new market opportunities.
Leading Nigerian e-commerce store Jumia is to expand its services to Kano in the north of the country, as part of its rapid expansion efforts two years after launching.
Jumia said residents of Kano will be able to order online with a range of payment options available to them, including the popular cash on delivery option.
Online hotel booking platform Jovago has announced a partnership with TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, to allow travellers visiting the TripAdvisor site direct access to Jovago’s selection of hotels in Africa.
Jovago said the partnership will be available to both travellers that are planning well in advance from home or those looking to book hotels while already at the destination.
DRONGO Language Solutions is offering local companies in Madagascar general and specialised translation services, targeting new technology firms in particular.
According to Andry Ravololonjatovo, founder of DRONGO Language Solutions, the startup company is targeting software developers, app and game makers, online media companies, the film industry, e-commerce, communication agencies and event organisers.
All-female Ethiopian accounting startup Online Hisab will be launching its services to the general public in July, aiming to enhance and facilitate financial management for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“Our solution makes accounting easy for SMEs who are looking for an affordable and easy to use accounting solution,” said business development lead Etsie-Hirst Girma.
Ugandan startup ThinVoid has launched Tambula, a product that seeks to help people keep track of their assets including vehicles and laptops through a tracking system which also helps parents know the whereabouts of their children.
Users can be updated with custom reports sent directly to their email address or mobile phone via SMS. Report parameters can be configured via the dashboard or mobile app.
Leading Kenyan operator Safaricom has unveiled a new platform for mobile phone application developers to test their applications by sending texts between a phone and an app programme hosted on the network.
According to HumanIPO managing editor Tom Jackson, financial might plus lean startup mentality make Uber unstoppable.
Uber has been in the news lately over events in Europe, where thousands of taxi drivers in major cities protested against it. All is quiet – so far – in South Africa, but the launch of the low-cost uberX marks Uber’s biggest African play yet.
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