8 companies to pitch for $5m funding

VC4A (https://VC4A.com) is proud to announce the 8 ventures selected for the 2018 VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A.

The companies represent a new class of investment opportunity coming up across the African continent. They have strong revenues, are well positioned for regional and international expansion, and demonstrate important innovations that are disrupting industries like agriculture, healthcare, housing, transportation, and finance.

The entrepreneurs leading these companies will showcase their business in front of investors during the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit in Cape Town, November 11-12, with the aim of raising $250k – $5m in series A capital.

All companies provide a technology-intensive or innovation-based product or service that is currently available in one or more African markets.

They are:

AgroCenta (https://VC4A.com/ventures/AgroCenta/) –  Ghana

AgroCenta is an innovative online platform that empowers smallholder farmers and farmer-based organizations in rural farming communities to access a wider online market to trade fairly and equitably.

Fibre Lifestyle Inc (https://VC4A.com/ventures/Fibre-Lifestyle-Inc/) –  Nigeria

Fibre is the easiest way to find and pay for rental homes in Nigeria. By partnering with landlords around the country Fibre offers their homes to verified tenants looking to rent.

Gebeya Inc (https://VC4A.com/ventures/Gebeya-Inc/) –  Ethiopia

Gebeya is a fast and secure online marketplace that connects top African IT experts with businesses seeking to develop new technology solutions.

GoMetro (https://VC4A.com/ventures/GoMetro/) –  South Africa

GoMetro allows any business or company to design and implement a managed transport service. The flexible cloud-based technology makes transport planning, tracking, paying and reporting much easier.

Invoiceworx (https://VC4A.com/ventures/Invoiceworx/) –  South Africa

Invoiceworx is a working capital financing company aiming to provide access to inventory and purchase order of financing for small businesses.

Nawah-Scientific (https://VC4A.com/ventures/Nawah-Scientific/) –  Egypt

Nawah-Scientific is the first, private, multidisciplinary research center and platform in Egypt catering for natural and medical sciences.

Piggybank (https://VC4A.com/ventures/Piggybank-ng/ )–  Nigeria

Piggybank is a simple service that helps millennials curb their spending habits while improving their savings culture by automating deposits periodically, daily, weekly or monthly to reach a specific savings target.

Shezlong (https://VC4A.com/ventures/Shezlong-2/) –  Egypt

Shezlong is an online mental health platform that allows patients to connected with licensed therapists via video call on mobile devices or the web.

Over the next weeks, the selected start-ups will be linked to the top VC investors as mentors and receive access to the bespoke curriculum before the 1-week residency in Cape Town, South Africa.

During the residency, the startups will have the opportunity to interact with and learn from their mentors, peers, and partners, before delivering their pitch on the main stage of the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit (http://bit.ly/2Oblzji).

The program offers two days of networking opportunities at the summit and where entrepreneurs will also engage with interested investors during their deep-dive sessions. Moreover, the participants will pitch to a wider audience of corporates, investors and tech professionals at VC4A partner events AfricaCom (http://bit.ly/2zSZygc) and AfricArena (https://AfricArena2018.com/).

VC4A worked closely with the Africa investment community to refer candidates to the showcase, involving investors in the screening, selection and interview process.

The 8 companies were selected from over 1,000 applicants by the investor committee representing the continent’s leading VC funds such as Accion, Orange Digital Ventures, Knife Capital, Ventures Platform, Blue Haven, 4Di Capital, AngelHub Ventures, Silvertree Internet Holdings, Newtown Partners, Outlierz, Algebra Ventures, A15, Grey Elephant Ventures, Goodwell Investments, Golden Palm Investments, Mercy Corps, Compass Venture Capital and Greentech Capital Partners.

The 2017 event showcased 20 scale-ups as part of the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit, resulting in a number of Series A deals totaling over $12M.

The 2018 showcase is expected to further contribute to building a strong series A market on the continent.