Five African startups have been awarded US$5,000 each in grant funding from the Southern Africa Innovation Support programme and Seedstars after completing the Investment Readiness Programme.
Run by Southern Africa Innovation Support and Seedstars, the Investment Readiness Programme 2019-2020 selected 15 startups with SDG-focused tech solutions and provided them with tools and knowledge that brought their solutions closer to being investment-ready.
The programme has a focus on 10 countries, namely Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Mauritius, and Mozambique.
It was then followed by the Investor Roadshow, where the participating startups had the opportunity to present their companies and meet with investors. Five startups were then selected to receive the US$5,000 grant, sponsored by SAIS.
The five startup recipients were Zambian fintech startup Mangwee, Tanzanian FMCG distribution platform SUMET, Mozambican city planner app UBI, South African legal information service Luma Law, and th DRC-based Astech-Congo, which allows users to stay connected to their school or university.