The 500-startup accelerator program based in Silicon Valley has chosen three Nigerian startups despite the thousands of applicants applying to enter the program.
The thousands of applicants are applying from around the world, with the last batch being selected from a meeting of about 36 startups from 14 countries in San Francisco. Only 2 percent of the total number of applications submitted get accepted into the program per year.
The three startups that were selected from Nigeria will be the only startups to represent the whole of Africa as no other startups were chosen from the country, even though 40 percent of the startups are chosen from countries outside of the US.
The three Nigerian startups that were selected include Fyodor Biotechnologies, MailHaven, and Mobile Forms. They will receive a workspace, personal mentorship, and access to the network established between the rest of the startups chosen for the program.
They will also receive a seed funding amount of $150,000 USD each. Program fees, however, include a total of $37,500 USD which will be deducted from their seed funding amount.
Fyodor Biotechnologies is an e-health startup that has developed technology that is able to tell if feverish patients have malaria or not by analyzing their urine samples instead of having to take a blood sample. The results are given with 25 minutes that the sample is taken.
MailHaven serves as an electric mailbox for suburban homeowners so they can ensure their delivers arrive safely and further prevent any theft. Users can also use this service without the need for wired power or home Wi-Fi.
The platform known as Mobile Forms is designed for international and local businesses. The startup allows these businesses to crowdsource reliable market data in Africa.
In previous runs of the 500 Startup accelerator program, Nigerian startups have proven rather popular. Some of the Nigerian startups that have been previously selected include Printivo, Aellla Credit, Talentbase, and Podozi.