The top three startups of Durban to advance to the grand finale are Guardian Angel, a GPS tracking safety solution for children and pets; Vitls, a monitoring wearable medical device for vitals; and You, Baby & I, an online platform matching moms to locations and interests. The other startups invited to pitch were Pocketpa, PicAdoo, X&Go, Wango, Digital Sauce.
The eight startups pitched in front of a jury consisted of Jayshree Naidoo, Head of Incubator at Standard Bank, Selam Kebede, Senior Associate at Seedstars world, Roslyn Lavery, Business Development Manager at PayFast, Melanie Hawken, Founder at Lionesses of Africa and Mohamed Chohan, Director at Startup Grind Durban. Joining them on the jury panel was Adv Lavan Gopaul, Director at Merchant Afrika, who represented Mancosa.
The top three startups will be invited to Johannesburg where they will compete with the best startups from Cape Town and Soweto (Gauteng), of which one will be crowned the most promising seed-stage startup of Seedstars World South Africa 2016. As a part of the prize, the overall winner of South Africa will be participating at Seedstars Summit, taking place in Switzerland in April 2017, a week long training programme with the opportunity to meet the other 60+ winners, as well as investors and mentors from around the world. Traditionally, the final day of the Summit will be dedicated to pitching in front of audience of 1,000 attendees, with the possibility of winning up to the $1m equity investment.
Continuing on its world tour of startup ecosystems in emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes, Seedstars World’s next stop is Soweto, where they will organise the last pre-selection event at eKasi Labs to select the best startups in the Gauteng area. Seedstars World is looking for smart entrepreneurs that solve regional issues and/or develop profitable products for the global market using technology.
The Seedstars World event in Soweto will take place on Tuesday, 14 June from 4-9pm, tickets are free and attendees can register here.
