DEMO Africa reveals Africa's 40 best tech startups

Friday July 11, 2014 , 7 min Read

Demo Africa has received about 400 applications out of which only 242 of them met the threshold for the adjudication. As per the report from DEMO Africa organizers, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana recorded the highest number of startup submissions. Tanzania, South Africa and Ethiopia will each have two representatives while Tunisia, Benin, Cameroon, Uganda and Zimbabwe have earned their space at the DEMO Africa platform. The criterion for adjudication was the ability to link creativity, innovation, effectiveness and scalability. This year’s DEMO Africa 2014 is scheduled to take place between 22nd and 26th September at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria. The event is expected to attract top notch African investors.

But in a very tough and rigorous criteria DEMO Africa has announced the names of 40 startups that have qualified to launch their product on the DEMO Africa stage in September 2014. VC4Africa Founder Ben White observed, “The standard of applications continues to rise each year.”

DEMO Africa Executive Producer Harry Hare said, “We had really amazing entries this year, but unfortunately the DEMO Africa team can only accommodate 40 for now. The high number of entries is inspiring. It only shows that entrepreneurs have risen above the fear of venturing into new waters to create new products. This in itself shows that confidence levels in Africa-made solutions are steadily rising. I am confident that we will get to levels where we can generate solutions that can be applied globally.”

These 40 startups besides launching their startup at DEMO Africa will also benefit from the one-and-a-half month coaching and mentorship program to be spearheaded by DEMO Africa and the US State Department. The mentorship program will be coordinated by Dr. Susan Amat, CEO, VentureHive and will include both local and international mentors and coaches.

“This presents another opportunity for African tech startups. Africa may have missed out on the industrial revolution, but we will surely not miss the ICT revolution. Through innovation, we will put Nigeria and Africa in general on the ICT map. Realizing the huge potential of the software industry, we have put in place a set of initiatives that will assist the tech startups to create successful businesses, which will directly create jobs and wealth,” remarked Mrs Omobola Johnson, Nigeria Minister for Communication Technology.

Shamba Technologies	Design domestic power products for the 115 million families in Africa without power
mergims	An online platform that will enable African immigrants, around the world, to pay tuition fees, airtime and utility bills for their loved ones back home
Prepclass	An education technology company that uses the latest web technologies to ensure that relevant local content such as past questions, class notes, flashcards are available to students on their digital devices
SmartPesa	Allows merchants to accept credit card payments using a mobile phone. Comprising a low cost card reader, app and server-side processing
Kitiwa	Kitiwa helps ordinary Africans send and receive money, cheaply, instantly, using the bitcoin technology
Cube	Cube enables anyone (whether individual or business entity) to accept card payments in person with their existing phone (even a basic phone), anywhere, anytime, real-time without the internet (and can also work with Internet, if preferred)
LocName	A web and mobile application that enables people to find businesses easily using their LocNames
TrafficBytes	An end-to-end solution allows mobile operators and telecom vendors to leverage existing big data and provide real time accurate roads traffic information.
Oradian	The cloud based core banking system for microfinance
MyeCampus.net	An online teaching and learning platform
Nerve	Delivers cost-effective, higher quality & mobile convergent smart devices & services to inspire greater productivity in next billion people in emerging nations
SokoNect	An agribusiness solution designed to shorten the distribution channels of agricultural produce while facilitating fast trade between farmers and their prospective buyers.
IroFit	Develop mobile card payment system
NiKweli	A mobile-to-web job matching platform that connects employers and job seekers for lower skill, ‘blue collar’ type positions. Job seekers register their standardized mini-CV through SMS
MobileJobs (mjobs) powered by SOMTEC	A web and mobile job alert and recruitment services that allows job seekers to get information about job vacancies and helps employers to get the right candidate immediately
Online Hisab	A cloud-based accounting package for Ethiopian SMEs, who are looking for an affordable and easy to use accounting solution
PieRide	A ridesharing technology platform offering monthly subscription transportation service for daily commuters
Hutbay	A platform that helps real estate consumers find and share vital information about real estate, mortgages and connect with real estate professionals in Nigeria.
VOTO Mobile	A mobile phone notification and survey platform removes the barriers to insightful mobile communication between citizens worldwide and the organizations that serve them
Pliby	An online platform for African music lovers
Jifunza	App called Menya for creating and sharing fun educational lessons on African languages among friends , students and the world
SpellAfrica Initiative	An app which uses photos/images to inculcate English vocabulary in the minds and hearts of the users
ASiM	An integrated tool with Quickbooks and SAP Business One to produce rich, real-time business intelligence
Feedbackplus	Feedbackplus lets customers give feedback to different organizations online or through a mobile app either on the spot as each event is taking place or later at each customer’s convenience
SpacePointe	An e-commerce marketplace which focuses on the African retailer
VIGO	A fully responsive website building tool allowing African entrepreneurs and business owners to create their own beautiful websites from any device, including a feature phone.
Valuraha Group	A platform that simulates the African Financial Markets enabling one to interact with various investment instruments, under actual market conditions, using virtual money
Cribpark	A platform that provides people with all the information about housing, catalogue of home designs to choose from, shop to buy their housing items and a project section to offer design and construction project management services
Saisai	A wireless mesh network consisting of free access wireless hot-spots in public areas and public transportation.
Chura	Allows interoperability between different mobile networks in a multi-SIM environment
matibabu	A Phone Application for early, non-invasive malaria diagnosis with a custom piece of hardware (Matiscope)
Paysail	A simple way for businesses and accountants to better manage payroll.
Integrated Medics	A web based application package to computerize any large scale hospital, while putting into consideration the complexities involved in the medical industry.
.CONNECT FINANCE	A software which allows companies to track their finances, create invoices, quotations, sales orders, way bills, payments etc.
MuZik	A virtual assistant which makes mobile phone subscriber’s life more easy by providing the right music or information , automatically grabbed on Internet, for feature mobile phone
What’sIn™	Mobile application platform service allows consumers with chemical allergies to instantly find the correct information when they scan a product UPC
Foodstantly	An online marketplace which provides customers with fresh and cooked food and also offers home delivery services
Telecosys	Delivers innovative software solutions for Tech-based service providers, including Telecom operators, Internet Service Providers, Cloud-based service providers, and pay TV.
The Pearl Dream Inc	Digital Collection of African Stories for Kids and e-commerce retail site for animation inspired items
InstaCare	Makes access to healthcare services as easy as visiting ATM by enabling real-time verification & authentication of beneficiary’s health insurance subscription and, reconciliation/settlement of bills & invoices between HMOs & healthcare providers.

As has been witnessed in the previous events, the September Participants registration is already open(EventBright). The secretariat has put together a special package for investor delegates which comprises: 15% discount on a DEMO Africa ticket, 15% discount on a VC4A Pro Account, Access to the companies' financials, Ticket to the Investor Cocktail on DEMO Africa's opening evening, Ticket to a special Investor Bootcamp as well as access to a special Investor Lounge and Deal Room at DEMO Africa.

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