The finalists of the Daikin–Samurai Incubate Ideathon, who will pitch their ideas at Nairobi tomorrow, is out.
Daikin, one of the leading air – conditioning companies in the world, wants to find their next partners, here in Africa through this competition. The event is a joint initiative between Daikin and Samurai Incubate Africa Inc. the world’s first venture capital based in the Republic of Rwanda that invests and incubates mainly seed startup companies in East Africa.
The Ideathon had 160+ African startups applying for the pitch event, out of which 9 finalists have been shortlisted after interviews and discussions, said Rena Yoneyama, Managing Partner, Samurai Incubate Africa Inc. The winner of the Airtech Bootcamp Africa event will have a chance to work on a project, fully covered by Daikin. The participants or the winner of the Ideathon may also stand a chance to receive USD 100K -150K in investment by Samurai Incubate Africa.
It is amongst first and a unique opportunity for the African startups to scale their business ideas and get a chance to work with the world’s renowned corporate. The finalists are:
1) Ajobank (Nigeria) is a P2P mobile lending app that gives low- and middle-income earners access to collateral and interest-free loans.
2) eMotion (Senegal) is an app technology that will create a network of Solar Powered Electric Minibus services to fight issues around mobility and pollution.
3) Innovative Clan (Cameroon) is a software company that has FinTech solutions tailored to the African market to digitize its economy.
4) Marks Rate Limited (Kenya) is a crowd financing platform that allows small businesses to raise funds at a negotiated rate of return to finance their sales orders and obtain working capital from the general public.
5) Neopetra (Morocco) is a clean-tech startup developing green building solutions as an adaptation measure to climate change.
6) Siyon-Jay Premium Company (Nigeria) is a company that helps introduce and sell new products and services into the African markets.
7) Toolboksi (Tanzania) is a platform that matches households and businesses with verified handymen for various repair, maintenance and installation services.
8) Worknasi (Tanzania) is an online platform for listing, renting and managing coworking spaces, shared office spaces, full-service offices and meeting rooms.
9) Weza Ventures (Kenya) is a platform that uses machine learning on mobile phone data to rapidly score credit-worthiness of customers for loans and access to goods in credit.
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