12 Finalists to Pitch at 2019 Seedstars World Prize

Three African startups are listed among the 12 startups that will compete on the 5th of April 2019, in Tunisia for the title of 2019 Seedstars Global Winner, with up to $500,000 for grabs in equity funding. The announcement was made on the 4th of April 2019 at the SwissTech Convention Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland. This is the 6th edition of the annual Seedstars World Summit. The three African startups are Ghanaian agritech Cowtribe, Kenyan fintech Bluewave and Rwandan fintech Benefactors. Four startups from Latin America were chosen, three from the Middle East and two from Asia.

The 12 were selected from up to 75 countries that attended the summit. Each finalist will pitch for two-minutes in front of a judging panel at the summit. According to Seedstars World chief financial officer, Charlie Graham-Brown, 140 investors held over 350 scheduled one-on-one meetings with all startups that participated at the event, with about $15-million in potential investments pledged to startups. Which is almost double the $8.8-million that was pledged at 484 meetings in 2018.

Here is the full list:

Blended (Argentina): Blended improves communication between schools and families with simple technology.

SmartCrowd (UAE): This digital real estate investment platform allows people to build a real-estate portfolio by acquiring fractional assets.

BlueWave Insurance Agency (Kenya): Bluewave is an insurance startup in Kenya creating innovative mass markets and making micro insurance products accessible via mobile devices.

Benefactors (Rwanda): This Rwandan factoring firm offers unsecured working capital products to small businesses.

YNMO (Saudi Arabia): The startup allows service providers including schools, centres and clinics design and monitor individual treatment plans.

QuePlan.cl (Chile): This Chilean startup offers an online platform that informs people about health insurance and also helps compare and advice on decisions.

Wobot (India): The amount of data a CCTV generates each second is immense, Wobot helps businesses make sense of this data using a layer of artificial intelligence (AI) that is taught to do surveillance on behalf of the human eye.

Joonaak (Cambodia): This logistics startup offers physical delivery and storage services while integrating technology to solve last mile issues and bring efficiency.

Cowtribe (Ghana): Cowtribe is Africa’s first last mile animal vaccine delivery platform.

Urban Point (Qatar): Urban Point leverages telco assets and distribution channels to increase customer loyalty through mobile-based incentives from businesses.

RebajaTusCuentas.com (Peru): This startup acts as a financial advisor that helps people take better mortgage loan decisions and save in interest payments.

Doctor Online (Guatemala): This platform provides remote access to doctors via chat or video conference through any device for the insurance industry.