Last Saturday 24 of October, KiandaHub and the Seedstars World, successfully held in Espaço Bahia the first edition in Angola of the competition for startups in the pre-investment phase in emerging markets. Eleven startups were invited to compete, and the local winner, Jobartis, an online platform for employment and professional development, was selected as the best startup in Angola. Jobartis will go to Switzerland in February of 2016 for the final presentation round, and may earn 500.000 USD in investment capital.
11 startups performed in front of a prestigious jury including Clausir Ramos - Member of Unitel's mobile application content and solutions department, who said “It was a great challenge because entrepreneurship is something new in the Angolan market. This event will give Angolan startups the opportunity to compete on the global stage and learn from entrepreneurs around the world". Other members of the jury:
- Armando Teixeira - Director of FACRA - Angolan Venture Capital Fund
- Jofre Karymba - CEO of KAINVEST
- Joel Epalanga - General Manager at KiandaHub
- Dima Diall - Strategic Account Executive at Microsoft
- Marcello Schermer - Regional Director for Africa at Seedstars World
The regional winner, Jobartis, was named the best startup for its sophisticated solution that combines a large employment platform with a training portal. Luis Verdeja, co-founder and CEO of Jobartis, told us about the title's aconquista and what it means for you and your company: "It has been a very exciting journey and I am grateful for the recognition of our hard work that we received with this award".
A Bitfyr, with an application (Moments) that reinvents the way users interact before and during the events came second ProxyPay, an integrated hosting platform that makes it easy for small and medium-sized businesses to receive online payments using the Multicaixa network ranked third in the top 3. Finally, the SOBA, fashion combination with strong social responsibility component won the vote of the audience present at the event.
The other startups invited to introduce themselves were:
- TEC RETINA - Business to Business Social Network
- TECMICRO - Company focused on the residential automation industry in order to improve the living conditions of its users.
- Makelabor - A network that allows entrepreneurs and businesses to find people who want to collaborate to help them develop their ideas or projects, as well as find investors
- Interactive Load - Creating games based on African culture as well as advertising platform focused on helping individuals and small businesses to sell better.
- The Manifest - Provide the Angolan population with a quick and easy way to access the news that interests them the most.
- Kwanza Online - Simplifying people's lives by providing a solution for online shopping quickly and securely.
- LNL (Luanda Night Life) - an evaluation platform that informs, influences and updates its users about restaurants, bars and hotels in Luanda.
Seedstars Luanda was supported by Unitel, which acted as the main sponsor of the event and will give additional support to the entrepreneurs who participated in the event. The local ambassador to the Seedstars World, Vanda de Oliveira da KiandaHub, organized the event with the support of local partners such as the Less wires, Red Bull, National Radio of Angola and JCAC Communications.
Continuing its journey through the ecosystems of startups in emerging markets, the next Seedstars World is in Buni Hub in Dar Es Salaam, to select the best startup in Tanzania.
Seestars World is looking for smart startups that solve regional problems and / or develop profitable products for the global market.
See more photos of the event:
