TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Africa

Calling all startup fans in Sub-Saharan Africa: TechCrunch is heading your way. We will be in Nairobi on October 11 to host Startup Battlefield in partnership with Facebook! Keep reading to see what we’ve been up to.

Since we last posted, the TechCrunch team has been hard at work arranging what is going to be a fantastic event. We reviewed over 700 applications and we are down to final review of the 15 companies that will compete in the Battlefield. At the same time, our editors have been diligently programming a spectacular agenda. Here are a sampling of the Africa tech luminaries who will be joining us on stage as judges and/or speakers:

• Andreata Muforo, Tide Africa Fund
• Leo Stiegeler, Ringier Africa
• Helen Jennings, Naatal
• Eghosa Omoigui, EchoVC
• Wale Ayeni, IFC
• Bosun Tijani, CEO at CcHub
• Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom
• Sacha Poignonnec, CEO of Jumia

If you would like to attend the event, we have good news: tickets are free. But because we have very limited seating, we must ask attendees to apply for tickets. To apply for a free ticket to the Startup Battlefield, follow this link to our application page, answer a few short questions, and we will be back in touch with your ticket to attend if we can fit you in.

Some more about Startup Battlefield Africa

The Startup Battlefield has been bringing world-class founders into the spotlight since 2007, and in the past decade almost 700 contestants have gone on to raise nearly $7 billion in funding and rack up nearly 100 exits. Our community of Battlefield Alumni include companies like Mint, Dropbox, Yammer, TripIt, Getaround and Cloudflare. If TechCrunch invested in these companies, we’d perform like a top-10 VC. Instead, we’ll stick to telling the founders’ stories, uncovering the next wave of disruptive innovations and letting our readers deploy the capital.

TechCrunch will host Startup Battlefield Africa in Nairobi in front of a live audience and prominent judges in three categories, and we will live stream the show on TechCrunch and Facebook so the rest of the world can tune in. We’re also going to host panels and fireside chats with luminaries in the startup scene below the Sahara.

The judges will choose a winner in each category and select an overall winner, “Sub-Saharan Africa’s Most Promising Startup,” whose founders will win $25,000 USD in no-equity cash plus an all-expense paid trip (for two to San Francisco to exhibit at Disrupt SF, TechCrunch’s flagship event) in September 2018 to compete in Startup Battlefield there, assuming the company still qualifies.

We’re especially excited to be hosting this event during a period of promising growth for the region. Sub-Saharan Africa just produced its first unicorn, online shopping site Jumia, exits in the region are increasingly frequent and VCs all around the world are taking notice.

Along with Facebook, we look forward to seeing you in October! Apply for your tickets to attend here!