Latitude59 is seeking early-stage entrepreneurs for the second year in a row with the launch of its Kenya Edition Pitch Competition, which will take place in Nairobi on November 28.

Latitude59, Estonia's start-up and tech event, aims to connect African startups with global investors and offers a substantial of €1m cash prize for successful participants.

The competition targets early-stage business-to-business (B2B) start-ups with proven traction and core teams based in Africa. 

A selection will be made from among all the applying startups and 10 selected startups will receive professional pitch training and mentoring before competing at the A.S.K Dome in Nairobi. 

With travel costs covered, the winning startup will secure a fast-track invitation to participate in the Latitude59 2025 semi-finals in Tallinn, Estonia.

Latitude59’s CEO Liisi Org has encouraged early-stage B2B startups from Kenya and across Africa to apply.

“Last year’s strong results showed us that African start-ups are competing at the highest level. So we are back in Kenya for the second year in a row and invite founders all across Africa to apply and present their start-ups at the Latitude59 Pitch Competition,” said Org.

She stressed that side events such as the Investor Day will also be held on November 27 and November 29.

The teams will compete for various partners’ prizes and one African startup will receive an invitation to participate at the semi-finals of Latitude59 2025 in Tallinn, Estonia.

Latitude59 will cover the cost of the roundtrip to Estonia. For two years in a row, the prize pool for the Latitude59 Pitch Competition in Estonia has been one million euros.

Last year’s winner, Chumz.io, a Kenya-based fintech start-up has hailed the Latitude59 Kenya Pitch Competition as impactful. The app, which helps users set and achieve saving and investment goals through behavioral-based prompts and mobile money deposits, has been on an exciting journey ever since.

“Since last year, we hit 200,000 registered users in Kenya and we are testing our solution to go live in Rwanda this year. Our next big leap is to hit 1,000,000 users in Kenya by 2026 and be operational in Uganda, Tanzania and Botswana by then as well,” said Samuel Njuguna, the co-founder and CEO of Chumz.io.