2020 VC4A Venture Showcase – Seed

Africa's Showcase of startups looking to raise a Seed round: $150K-$1M

CALLING FOR EARLY-STAGE STARTUPS LOOKING TO RAISE BETWEEN $150K AND $1M.

We’re looking for 10 innovative early-stage startups to showcase their business to the world. You are based in Africa and your tech-enabled solution is already on the market. It starts to show some traction and you have expansion plans in mind? Don’t miss out on this opportunity to raise in the range of $150K and $1M and apply right here right now!

VC4A Venture Showcase Seed is the sister program of the annual VC4A Venture Showcase Series A. Did you know that between 2017-2019, we selected 60 scale-ups from across the continent as part of 4 showcase programs, resulting in a number of Series A deals totaling over $100M?

Building on this success, the ‘VC4A Venture Showcase – Seed’ – in collaboration with AWS Activate, AfriLabs and ABAN – is a central component of our efforts to support investors connecting with early-stage ventures. This is an exclusive opportunity to introduce your company at once to everyone who’s anyone in Africa’s early-stage investment space.

Overview

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September 14, 2020
Program dates Sep 15 - Dec 31, 2020
Organizer VC4A
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, United Republic of, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Sectors Sector agnostic

Portfolio

Name Country Sector(s)
GoBEBA Everything Ltd
Online retail of household essentials delivered in 30 minutes
Kenya E-commerce, Retail
Akiba Digital
We helps businesses predict customer behaviour
South Africa Fintech, Machine learning, Software as a Service
TIBU Health
Healthcare where you live, work and click.
Kenya Healthcare providers and services, HealthTech
Interact
Make the whole learning and collaborating experience engaging and fun
Egypt Educational products, Electronics, Information tec…
The Medical Concierge Group
Telemedicine. Pharmacy. Laboratory. Clinic.
Uganda Healthcare, Healthcare providers and services
Foodlocker Limited
Farming-as-a-Service for Large Buyers
Nigeria Agritech, E-commerce, Retail and wholesale
Hypernova Space Technologies
Thrusters for small satellites
South Africa Electronics, Manufacturing, Transport and logistic…
Utiva
Helping People Move Into Tech. Giving talents a global advantage
Nigeria E-learning, Educational products
LetMeIn.to
Visitor management thats meets you on the chat app you use most
South Africa Big data, Enterprise software, Software as a Servi…

Shortlist

Articles

POWERED BY

Work in Progress Alliance
European Union

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

ABAN
AfriLabs
AWS Activate

WHAT WE OFFER

  • Being recognized as 2020 VC4A Venture Showcase entrepreneur
  • Participation in the VC4A Venture Showcase deal room, including 150+ early-stage investor organizations
  • Professional edited 3 minute virtual pitch
  • 30 min deep-dive session with investors in a private room
  • Mentorship and pitch training by partner early-stage investors
  • AWS Activate offers selected cohort AWS credits worth $10,000, tools, resources, and more to quickly get started on AWS.
  • Joining the alumni network and having exclusive access to fundraising opportunities

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

  • Your company is for-profit, registered as an independent legal entity with less than 3 years of customer service operations;
  • Your company has a product or service already available on the market and serving its first customers;
  • Your highly scalable business model is visible through a growing number of customers or transactions, your pipeline shows future contracts and potential sales;
  • You have a good estimate of your addressable market and potential social impact reach > 1M+ people/year with potential plans to expand across borders;
  • Your product or service is clearly innovative and/or the business model is new and disruptive;
  • Your founding team has 2+ years of time invested and at least one of the co-founders is based on the African continent with an African nationality;
  • You are seeking Seed/pre-Series A investment in the range of $150K to $1M*;
  • While there will be exceptions, your company has received investment above 25K USD from “Founder, Family, Friends & Fans” but not exceeding 1M+ USD;
  • Founder(s) who previously started a successful company is a plus.

*Are you raising your Series A Round in between $500K – $10M? Consider applying to the 2020 VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A. Deadline August 14th.

OUR SELECTION CRITERIA

Commercial Value of your Product/Service (25%)

Your company addresses a real problem in the market. Your product or service is different from others in the industry. Your business model is new and designed for scale.

Strategy for Growth (25%)

The market size is significant and there is potential to expand locally and into new markets. Your startup is scalable and has a clear strategy for growth. You can show demonstrable progress.

Management Team (25%)

Your team has the qualifications needed to make the business successful.

Market Traction & Financials (25%)

We will evaluate your market traction, revenue streams, and unit economics. If any outside funding has been raised before, it’s a plus.

WHAT WE EXPECT FROM YOU

  • Engage with assigned mentors (partner early-stage 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 pitch and engage with early-stage investors in the period of November – December 2020 and be part of the VC4A Venture Showcase.

AN OVERVIEW OF VENTURE SHOWCASE PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS

4DX Ventures
500Startups
ActivSpaces
Acumen
Africa Fintech Forum
AfricInnov
Afrikwity
Anima
Anza
Ashoka
AUC Angels
Bamboo Capital
Boehringer
BondInnov
C5
Catalyst Fund
Cedar Hive
CTID
Dazzle Angels
EAVCA
EchoVC
elea Foundation
Elevation Holdings
FastTrackTech
FINAM
FINCA Ventures
Founders Factory Africa
FutureHub
GEN Africa
Getihu
Global Partnerships
Gray Matters Capital
Grey Elephant Ventures
Grofin
GSMA
Hackoragna
Hlayisani
Ingressive Capital
ITC
iungocapital
Jozi Angels
Kepple Africa Ventures
La Fabrique
LAN
Microtraction
RisingTide
Saviu
Silvertree Holdings
Statera Capital
Turbine
Utopia
Vaalbara
Ventures Platform
Viktoria Business Angel Network
Wangara
Womenintech

SEED SELECTION COMMITTEE

Aaron Fu
Catalyst Fund - BFA

Alexandra Fraser
Dazzle Angels


Ashley Daswa
Impact Amplifier


Audrey Mate
Village Capital



Dayo Koleowo
Microtraction



Jean-Noel Odier
Bamboo Capital Partner


Maxime Bayen
Catalyst Fund - BFA

Maximilian Pichulik
Impact Amplifier

Maya Famodu
Ingressive Capital

Mohamed HORRANE
Outlierz Ventures

Philip Kiracofe
Startupbootcamp AfriTech

Robert Karanja
Villgro Africa





Tor Hjorth-Falsted
Africa by founders

Vincent Li
Future Hub

Yemi Keri
Rising Tide Africa

TIMELINE 2020

July 24 – Sept 11 Application period
Sept 15 – Oct 13 Selection process / investor review / interviews
Oct 14 Seed Venture Showcase participants selection
Oct 20 – Nov 6 Mentorship program with VC investors
Oct 28 – Nov 6 Technical sessions with VC investors
Mid Nov Launch of VC4A Venture Showcase – Seed deal room to 300+ VC investors
Nov – Dec Ongoing showcase to VC4A investor network

Access the shortlisted ventures

In addition to the list of selected ventures we make the top 70 shortlisted ventures curated by investors available to all VC4A Pro account users below.