VC4A Announces 2020 Venture Showcase Seed Targeting African Early Stage Startup
VC4A has launched a call for African startups looking to raise between $150K and $1 million. In collaboration with technical partner AWS Activate, and network partners AfriLabs and ABAN, VC4A will be hosting the exclusive ‘Venture Showcase – Seed’ in November as part of a virtual gathering of Africa-focused early-stage investors.
Through this campaign VC4A will select 10 innovative early-stage startups to showcase their business to the world. A requirement is that you are based in Africa and your tech-enabled solution is already on the market, you are able to show some traction and you have expansion plans in mind.
Since 2017, VC4A has showcased growth-stage startups as part of the annual Africa Early Stage Investor Summit, resulting in a number of Series A deals totaling over $100M. Building on this success, the ‘VC4A Venture Showcase – Seed’ track positions deal ready companies as a central component VC4A offers to its Africa focused network of over 150 early-stage investment firms built up over the years. This is an exclusive opportunity for selected entrepreneurs to introduce their companies at once to everyone who’s anyone in Africa’s early-stage investment space.
This year cloud platform Amazon Web Services (AWS Activate) joins the Venture Showcase as a technical partner. “Through VC4A’s partnership with AWS we offer startups direct access to unparalleled expertise and a global infrastructure for growing and scaling business. The companies in the ‘VC4A Venture Showcase – Seed’ track are well positioned for growth and stand to benefit from our growing networks of partners and capital,” says Ben White.
VC4A works closely with the African early-stage startup community involving investors and incubators in both the referral, screening and selection process. Through the partnerships with AfriLabs, representing 202 innovation centers across 46 African countries – and ABAN –representing over 60 angel investor networks – the Venture Showcase promotes (co-)investment opportunities for their members. Participating investors will work with the selected companies to prepare their participation in the showcase, and to ensure the companies are representative of the best investment opportunities.
The 10 selected startups will get to participate in the VC4A Venture Showcase deal room, including over 150 early-stage investment firms, professional edited 3-minute virtual pitch videos, 30-minute deep-dive sessions with investors in a private room and mentorship, pitch training by early-stage investor organizations and Amazon Web Services credits from AWS Activate worth $10,000, as well as tools, resources, and more to get started quickly on AWS. The startups will also join the Showcase alumni network and gain exclusive access to fundraising opportunities.
Interested entrepreneurs are invited to apply before 11 September 2020.
