Southern Africa Innovation Support Programme (SAIS) and Seedstars announce the second batch of fifteen start-ups that are part of the Investment Readiness Program (IRP) 2019-2020.

The participating start-ups have been chosen for their SDG-focused tech solutions and were selected to go through the IRP to maximise their start-up education and bring their solutions closer to being investment ready.

With the objective of increasing funding received by early-stage start-ups in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, SAIS and Seedstars hold the Investment Readiness Program aimed to improve the quality of entrepreneurs, and save both founders and investors’ time in the fundraising process.

This is done through educational programs, ecosystem strengthening and networking activities, with a focus on Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Mauritius, and Mozambique.

After receiving 300+ applications from those countries, a total number of 158 start-ups and their founders were invited to take part in the Online Seedstars Academy, a tailored-made resource library with personalised training materials put together for the start-ups by the Seedstars Investment Team and network of mentors.

The 158 start-ups were also able to attend live training on the Art of Communications as well as 22 tips to Investment Readiness, in their own language (English, French or Portuguese), in order to maximise the understanding and interactivity of the training sessions for the start-ups.

“Based on their application, attendance, and thanks to a thorough interview process by the Seedstars Investment team, 20 start-ups were then selected out of this cohort to take part in the Investment Readiness Program (IRP),” stated SAIS and Seedstars.

The first part of the IRP consisted of a month-long module, focused on Key Business Metrics, that aimed at increasing the robustness of the start-ups and preparing them for fundraising. It included four training modules, one-on-one mentorship and peer-to-peer networking.

Starting at the beginning of February 2021, the training is followed by two months of 1:1 mentorship to ensure the start-ups receive support that is tailored to the specificities of each start-up.

The second batch of start-ups that is continuing in the second phase of the SAIS IRP program include:

We Deliva SA. - Deliva is a Food Ordering and Delivery Platform that provides Customers, Drivers , Restaurants and Wholesalers tools to expand and scale.

Sparco Inc. - The company has built tools to allow businesses to collect money from their customers anywhere and also have access to a pool of delivery companies.

Mangwee - Mangwee is a Zambia-based mobile money transfer and remittance platform that enables learning institutions to process payments.

Adongo Blockchain Ltd - Decentralised online ad exchange platform that makes digital advertising fast, easy, affordable and data driven.

Flamingoo Foods Company Ltd - Using cutting-edge climate tech, the company forecast food deficit and surplus areas before they are known and proactively react to food insecurity.

NOBLE AGRITCH - The company design & develop low cost & tailor made farming technologies using locally available resources for increased productivity

Genietech Group ( beautyApp) - Beauty product and service choice orientation platform connecting seekers of beauty and well-being services or products with their suppliers

BrillantTS Africa [C32-PEX] - C32 - The next generation alternate digital payment and open banking platform and mobile app for the next billion underbanked and unbanked.

ACE Smart Technologies Ltd - A robust EdTech in Zambia who successfully launched an eLearning portal in partnership with Zamtel and ECZ with 25,000+ pupils

Astech-Congo - Umoja Funding - Stay connected to your school or university, wherever you are and in real time from your smartphone thanks to Shule online.

Masenze Strategic Advisors - Affordable and accessible access to practical, relevant and user friendly legal information via chat platforms such as facebook messenger.

SUMET - Digitalise FMCG distribution by connecting suppliers and the informal retailers saving their money, effort, and time through data-driven AI

VOID - Tecnologia e Comunicação - UBI is a platform that connects people to their city. Anytime anywhere, through solutions that make the everyday simple and straightforward

BANKADA - Home delivery and taxi passengers requests are solved in one digital system. Same taxi that carry passengers also delivers goods of 2kg above

GWork - We make remote teams in SMBs smarter by ensuring that they are continuously learning from their behaviour and improving their performance.

The organisations add that at the end of March, the 15 startups will participate in an Investor Roadshow where they will have the opportunity to present their companies and meet with investors that are interested in learning more about their solution. In the end, select startups will receive a grant sponsored by SAIS.