Category: Video

Seedcamp to jump-start African tech entrepreneurs

Seedcamp, a European micro seed fund that invests in early stage startup companies, will be attending the Tech4Africa conference in August this year to identify African startups for potential investment and an opportunity to attend the Seedcamp Week programme held in September in London, UK. This marks the first time that a Mini Seedcamp programme will be hosted in Africa.

A few selected African entrepreneurs will have a rare opportunity to pitch their businesses at a group of people connected to powerful investors, mentors and startups throughout EMEA, with one team being chosen to take part in Seedcamp Week, where its founders will gain exposure to investors and world-class mentors.

Seedcamp is a programme created to jumpstart the entrepreneurial community in Europe, Middle East and Africa by connecting next generation developers and entrepreneurs from a network of over 400 top-tier industry mentors.

It acts as a micro seed fund to invest in startup companies, offering standard investments of €30,000-50,000 to selected companies. The initiative’s flagship event, Seedcamp Week, takes place in London in September every year, and it is here where beneficiaries for the post-3 month programme are chosen.

Following Seedcamp Week, the companies who receive investment stay in London for three months to grow and develop their company, building key and lasting business relationships along the way to help them sustain a viable business.

Reshma Sohoni, CEO at Seedcamp, said about the upcoming event: “We want to provide a catalyst for the next generation of African entrepreneurs and help them take risks, think big, and succeed. Our programme provides entrepreneurs with access to seed funding but also more importantly, gives them exposure to the collective experience of people who can help them to build successful businesses.”

Or as Gareth Knight, managing director at Technovated, the company that is organising Tech4Africa, put it: “In addition to a direct route to seed and venture capital, companies that participate in Seedcamp get enormous validation and access to a world-class network of advisors that help them with every aspect of their businesses”.

Applications open on the 5th July, and close on the 23rd July. Judging will then take place, with teams notified around 2-6th August. Places will be limited to 10 startups. African entrepreneurs that want to apply for the Mini Seedcamp Africa programme will be able to do it through the Tech4Africa Seedcamp page.

The successful applicants will have opportunities to interact with Seedcamp mentors and to present their businesses to Seedcamp. A committee may choose one startup to attend Seedcamp Week in London.

Tech4Africa lighting the spark of the African Web

While the Web continues to grow apace, new business models disrupt traditional ones, social applications dominate our thinking, investment funds innovation. Africa however remains largely untapped, apart and unspoken for. That doesn’t mean Africa is without talent, opportunity, or influence on the global web.

That is why Tech4Africa comes along to become the first Web, mobile and emerging technology conference of its kind in South Africa, bringing global perspective to the African context. The conference will be taking place in Johannesburg at The Forum on August 12-13, 2010.

Tech4Africa focuses on the role mobile, emerging and Web technologies have to play in Africa. Speakers will delve into the funding landscape in Africa and what cloud computing, Web 2.0, the mobile Internet, and other emerging technologies mean for businesses and society.

The event will bring together internationally respected speakers and practitioners who are building the web and technology as we know it, with leading Africans who are themselves paving the way forward.

The keynote speaker, Clay Shirky, is an experienced speaker on topics related to the Web, social media and the Internet. Shirky has spoken at events such as TED Global, SXSW, the Web 2.0 expo in New York and San Francisco, SES San Jose, the Adobe Learning Summit, New York Tech Meetup and the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Other top technologists at the conference include Dustin Diaz, Joe Stump, and John Resig, among other top-notch technologists and entrepreneurs. Check out the amazing line up of speakers here; there are more to follow.

As such, the conference promises to be a pioneering and intimate affair, congregating digital elite for the first time in Africa.
The focus is on interaction, discussion and sharing with attendees the future of the Web and emerging technology in Africa, and the role Africans can and are playing globally.

Hope to see you there!