2018 VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A

Continent's #1 showcase of disruptive scale-ups looking to raise Series A

CALLING FOR DISRUPTIVE SCALE-UPS LOOKING TO RAISE BETWEEN $250K AND $5M.

We’re looking for 8 innovative, high-growth scale-ups to showcase at Africa Early Stage Investor Summit on Nov 11-12 in Cape Town. Are you operating in Africa, generating revenue and looking to raise your Series A round in the range of $250K and $5M? This is the opportunity you’ve been looking for!

In 2017, we showcased 20 scale-ups from the XL Africa program as part of the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit, resulting in a number of Series A deals totalling over $12M. Building on this success, the ‘VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A’ is now integrated as a central component of our annual Summit. This is an exclusive opportunity to introduce your company at once to everyone who’s anyone in Africa’s early-stage investment space.

WHAT WE OFFER

  • All expenses paid trip to Cape Town on Nov 9-16, 2018
  • 3 min pitch in front of 300+ investors at the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit
  • 20 min deep-dive session with investors in a private room
  • Two days of networking with investors, including Speaker Cocktail and Industry Leaders dinner
  • Mentorship and pitch training by partner VC investors
  • Opportunity to attend and pitch at partner events AfricaCom and AfricArena

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

  • Your company is for-profit and registered as an independent legal entity;
  • You have a product or service available on the market and generate revenue;
  • Your product or service is clearly innovative and/or your business model is new, disruptive and designed for scale;
  • You have a very strong management team of at least 3 people;
  • Your team is based in one or more countries on the African continent;
  • You are seeking Series A investment in the range of $250K – $5M;
  • While there will be exceptions, most likely your startup has already received external investment, structured as either debt or equity, or received grants from donor organizations.

OUR SELECTION CRITERIA

Innovativeness and Scalability (25%)
Your company addresses a real problem in the market in a clearly innovative way. Your product or service is different to others in the industry. Your business model is new, disruptive and designed for scale.
Strategy for Growth (25%)
There is potential to expand into new markets or expand at home. You have a clear strategy how to grow your company and we can see demonstrable progress in terms of customer acquisition plans, new contracts, and key partnerships.
Management team (25%)
The team has the qualifications needed to make the business successful.
Market Traction & Financials (25%)
We will evaluate your market traction and look at the potential market size. We’ll also look at your business model, revenue streams and unit economics, and if any outside funding has been raised before.

TIMELINE

Jun 11 – Aug 20               Application period
Aug 20 – Sep 29            Selection process / investor review / interviews
Oct 1                                Showcase participants announced
Oct 1 – Nov 9                 Working on presentations with mentors (VC investors)
Nov 10                             Pitch practice with investor feedback
Nov 12                             VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A at Africa Early Stage Investor Summit
Nov 13-15                        AfricaCom and AHUB participation
Nov 14                             Innovation tour
Nov 14-16                        AfricArena participation

WHAT WE EXPECT FROM YOU

If you are selected for the Showcase, you are expected to:
  • Engage with assigned mentors (partner VC investors) and VC4A team to prepare your 3-minute and 20-minute presentations, as well as 2-pagers with investor data as part of the deal book;
  • Be prepared to travel to Cape Town in the period of November 9-16, 2018 to attend the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit and be part of the VC4A Venture Showcase.

 

SELECTION COMMITTEE


Gregoire de Padirac

Orange Digital Ventures Africa


Andrea

Knife Capital


Lauren Cochran

Blue Haven Initiative


AJ Okereke

Golden Palm Investments


Kenza Lahlou

Outlierz Ventures


Amee Patel

Accion Venture Lab


Manuel Koser

Silvertree Internet Holdings


Llew Claasen

Newtown Partners


Eline Blaauboer

Africa Tech Ventures


Kola Aina

Ventures Platform


Shudhan Kohli

Grey Elephant Ventures


Sean Nowak

Zephyr Acorn


Danai Musandu

Goodwell Investments


Brett Commaille

Hlayisani Capital


Stephen Gugu

Viktoria Ventures


Scott Onder

Mercy Corps Ventures


Nwanne Okafor

Lagos Angel Network


Fabrice Boulle

Compass Venture Capital


Thomas Festerling

GreenTec Capital Partners

MEET AFRICA’S LEADING INVESTORS

Investors attending last year’s edition:

4Di Capital
800 ventures
ABAN
Accion
Action Hero Ventures
African Development Bank
African Diaspora Network
Africatech Ventures
AHL Venture Partners
Akili
Algebra Ventures
Angelhub Ventures
Angel Wings Ventures
Anges Quebec
Blue Haven Initiative
Brooklyn Ventures
Cactus Advisors
Cairo Angels
CAN
Clifftop Colony
DMM.Africa
Earth Capital
EAVCA
EBAN
EchoVC
Empretec
eVA Fund
fsdafrica
GBAN
Glenheim
Glo Ventures
Global Innovation Fund
Global Partnerships
GoBeyond
Goodwell
Greentec Capital
GSMA
Hivos
Horizen Ventures
Innovation Edge
Intelligent Capital
Invenfin
IetP
Investment One
iungo Capital
Jozi Angels
KAIN
Knife Capital
Lagos Angel Network
Maine Venture Fund
Mercy Corps
Movement Capital
NACO
Neon Ventures
Nest
Newtown Partners
Orange Digital Ventures
Outlierz
Pepperfield Ventures
Quona Capital
Rising Tide Africa
RMI
SABAN
Sanaga Ventures
Seedstars
Silvertree Internet Holdings
Singularity Invest
Singularity Invest
Spark-ng
Starttech Ventures
Team Africa Ventures
Techstars
TLcom
VBAN
Ventures Platform
Village Capital
Visions2Ventures
 Zephyr Acorn

2018 VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A

2018 VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A

Overview

0
August 21, 2018
Program dates Nov 9 - Nov 16, 2018
Organizer VC4A
Website Visit website
Targets
Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Africa, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Sectors Sector agnostic

Team

Portfolio

Name Country Sector(s)
GoMetro
Improve the way we move
South Africa Computer software, Mobile, Transport and logistics
Gebeya Inc
The best of African talent
Ethiopia Education, Software as a Service
Nawah-Scientific
The place to go to outsource research experiements online
Egypt Biotechnology and medical research, Pharmaceutical…

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