The global accelerator program called Startupbootcamp will kick off its first African program on the September 4th of this year.
The accelerator was originally launched back in 2010 and now operates 18 separate accelerator programs. They announced the launch of their first African program back in April of this year.
Startupbootcamp went on a global search for startups to accelerate, travelling across 12 countries on three different continents. In total, they received a total of 518 applicants for their program, 400 of those were from the entirety of Africa.
The reason why the group focused specifically of South Africa was because a whole 220 of the 400 were based in South Africa. Seven startups from South Africa could make it into the final cut for the program as announced earlier this week.
Those selected south African startups include Brownie Points, Fo-Sho, Strider, Got Bot, Just Now, Virtual Drive, and Yethu.
Each of these chosen startups will be provided with $17,600 USD, free office space, access to personal mentors, a convertible note, access to funding, a network of industry partners, investors, and other venture capital firms.
Zachariah George, the co-MD of Startupbootcamp Africa, said, “The African business and consumer sector is set to be the fastest growing market by the turn of the century. Innovative technological solutions in financial services, artificial intelligence, big data and IoT are leapfrogging conventional solutions put forward by traditional businesses. We believe that African startups are at the forefront of this innovation trend and we are excited to take part.”
The accelerator group is secured by strong sponsors such as Old Mutual, RCS, BNP Paribas Personal Finance, Nedbank, Woolworth’s Financial Services, and PwC.