In its commitment to continue growing Africa’s technology ecosystem, Facebook has joined forces with TechCrunch to host Startup Battlefield Africa 2018.
The event is scheduled to hold in Lagos from 6th till 11th of December, during which 15 start-ups across Sub-Africa will pitch to a live audience of 500 people, ranging from Venture Capitalists, investors, government officials as well as developers.
The 15 pitching startups were chosen from three categories; ‘social good’, ‘productivity and utility’, ‘gaming and entertainment’. After pitching their products to the panel of judges within six minutes, the jury would then run the founders through a series of questions.
Five teams will qualify for the finals, where the winner, “Sub-Saharan Africa’s Most Promising Startup”, would be presented with the $25,000 prize.
Also, the winning ticket comes with a trip to compete at the TechCrunch’s flagship event in 2019, tagged Startup Battlefield at Disrupt.
The judges for the event include;
Titi Odunfa Adeoye – founder and managing director of Sankore Investments, Temi Marcella Awogboro – co-founder of investment club Kairos Angels, Tahira Dosani – the managing director of Accion Venture Lab, and Gaurav Dosi – product management lead for Jobs on Facebook.
Facebook Africa’s representatives would also be participating in the series of workshops, and networking sessions scheduled for the program.
According to Emeka Afigbo, Facebook’s Head of Developer Programs, “Following the great success of the inaugural TechnCrunch Startup Battlefield event in 2017, we are delighted to return as the headline sponsor for this year’s event,”
“Given our passion for connecting people and helping developers and entrepreneurs to thrive, we can’t wait to see how this year’s entrants are using technology to engage and empower people across the continent.”
During the week, Facebook will host the following events:
• Developer Circle Leads Summit (6-7 December): A two-day summit for more than 65 Developer Circles Leads across Sub-Saharan Africa, representing a growing community of over 42,800 members across 31 cities in 15 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Instagram Inspire Action Lagos – Women and Small Business Event (6 December): A workshop to inspire, educate and train 70-80 entrepreneurs and women working in tech with a panel featuring special guests.
• Start-ups and Developers Summit 2018 by Developer Circle Nigeria (8 December): Bringing together 600 attendees, and hosted by Facebook Developer Leads, the Summit will run trainings and workshop sessions on specialist deep-tech subjects, such as Messenger Bot
• Aspiring Entrepreneurs — Digital Pitch Competition (10 December): Winners from seven Nigerian states who participated in the “Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Digital 2018” programme will pitch their businesses to a panel of judges for a chance to win support and prizes from Facebook and Fate Foundation.
• NG_Hub Start-up Mixer (10 December): A social gathering bringing together Start-ups from across the ecosystem, including NG_Hub start-ups (Start-ups using Facebook’s Community Hub) and those taking part in the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield event.
• Student Hack (11 December): In partnership with Re:Learn by CC_Hub, Facebook will bring together 50 local high school students from Lagos to take part in Hack-a-Day and other activities that highlight the difference developers can make in the world using computer science skills.
The Startup Battlefield Africa maiden edition was held in Nairobi, Kenya in 2017 with start-ups from across Sub-Saharan Africa participated.