Seedstars Summit, technology and entrepreneurship forum for emerging markets

It will hold its annual Seedstars Summit on 6 April 2017 at the Swiss Tech Convention Center in Lausanne. The Summit will address how technology and innovation from emerging markets will be affecting businesses in the next decade.

Seedstars Cape Town

The organisation points out that 57% of the global GDP is located in emerging markets and that the B2C e-commerce turnover in Asia Pacific was $770bn, representing 43% of world market share and that 80% of all smartphones will be located in emerging markets, by 2020.

We believe it is fundamental that companies access these high growth opportunities and get the first mover advantage, so with the support of partners such as the SPECo, PayU, TRECC and Intel, it will host the event. The highlight of the event will be the final ceremony of the Seedstars World competition, where up to $1m of equity investment will be awarded to its winners, as well as SaaS prizes worth over $90,000 for each winning startup from over 20 partners including AWS, Microsoft and Facebook Start.

Last year, the Seedstars Summit gathered 800 guests from 55+ countries, where the 53 startup finalists gathered, together with 100+ mentors and investors, culminating in 400 one-on-one meetings. Seedstars and Omidyar made important prizes and investments such as the co-investment into the Seedstars World global winner, Giraffe, representing South Africa.

Bootcamp, semi-finals

This year, 70 handpicked startups from 65 countries will be coming to Switzerland to participate in a two-day bootcamp where international investors and mentors from top accelerators such as The Founder’s Institute and 500startups, as well as top firms such as eBay, Amazon and SwissRe, will coach these entrepreneurs on their business models, pitching skills and growth strategy.

The startups will pitch in front of international investors and participate in one-on-one discussions with these investors (400 sessions organised on the last Seedstars Summit). This will eliminate most of the startups from the competition. Only the top 12 startups will take part in the final round, the following day, during the Seedstars Summit.

The best startups in categories such as FinTech, Education, Intel Solutions, Most Innovative Startup, Best Woman Entrepreneur as well as the Public Vote Winner will also be awarded investments and other prizes by top industry leaders.

Summit and final ceremony

In addition to the final ceremony, where several prizes and investments will be announced, the aim of the Summit is to discuss how to do business in emerging markets and the opportunities in building technology companies. The Summit will kick off with workshops and panels covering a wide range of topics such as, “How to sell entrepreneurship and innovation to governments,” “How to pimp your cross-borders network” or “Innovations from EM that will impact how you live in 10 years.” During the final ceremony of Seedstars Summit, other than the final pitches, top speakers will take to the mainstage to provide valuable insights on their businesses and investments.

For more information, go to www.seedstarssummit.com.