On the 10th November 2017 at Seedstars World Nairobi, 11 Kenyan startups warmed up for the pitch that would make a huge difference to the future of their companies. The global seed-stage startup competition, Seedstars World, has been hosting events all around Africa and they’ve already chosen the top startups from 16 other African countries.

Each winner of the local rounds gets to attend the global finals which will be held at the Seedstars Summit in Switzerland, April 2018.  This is where they will compete against other entrepreneurs from around the world in a bid to win a share of $1 million in equity, as well as other prizes to help their company grow even faster.

Amongst the startups competing were two of our very own Nairobi Garage Members: BuuPass and Sokompare. We’re incredibly proud of what they’ve achieved!

Meet the panel and finalists

After some networking and getting to know one another – the 11 passionate entrepreneurs went on stage to pitch their dreams and ideas to the panel of business professionals.  The panel included: Fanny Dauchez (Seedstars World), Neil Edward Wood (Open Capital Advisors), Sapna Shah (Novastar Ventures), Martin Karanja (GSMA), Duncan Muchangi (Jumia) and Aristarichus Weru (Stanbic Bank Kenya).

The 11 startups were:

• Brillant Innovations Limited
• BuuPass Kenya Limited
• ConnectMed
• Jobsikaz Africa
• M-Shule
• PortableVoices Creatives
• Sinbad Technologies Limited
• Sokompare
• The Konnector Limited
• TozzaPlus
• WazInsure

The Seedstars World Nairobi Winners are…

For the winning startup, we will be hosting a half day bootcamp at our premises to meet with mentors from Kenya to go over their pitch and business proposal to make tweaks and improvements.

• 1^st place: M-Shule – podcasting and audiobook production company
• Runner up: Our very own BuuPass – a digital marketplace for bus and train tickets
• 2^nd Runner up: Sinbad – a platform for obtaining marine cargo insurance

Check out all the photos and videos here.

Where to now?

All of the winners from over 20 African countries will be invited to compete at the regional summit, which will take place in Maputo Mozambique on 14^th December 2017. For more information about this event, click here

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