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LangBot, a gamified and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered language teaching chatbot, has been named the winner of the Ethiopian leg of global early-stage startups competition Seedstars World, earning the chance to pitch at the grand final in Switzerland next year.

Seedstars World, which is hosting local events across Africa ahead of the global final, has already picked winners in Mozambique, Tunisia, Tanzania, South Africa and Uganda.

LangBot will now join the winners from those countries at the final, where it will pitch for the chance of securing US$500,000 in equity investment. This came after seven Ethiopian startups pitched to a panel of judges at local innovation hub iceaddis.

The startup beat off competition from individualised teaching platform Mak-Addis Tutors, chat-based money transfer service Meda Messenger, business automation startup SemayDocs, news provision service smsCrush, e-learning device SRE, and on-demand taxi app ZayRide.

The jury comprised of Marc Lepage, Africa knowledge and innovation advisor at UNDP Ethiopia; Eleni Gabre-Madhin, chief executive officer (CEO) at Ethiopia Commodity Exchange; Shem Asefaw, entrepreneur and angel investor at ShemTECH Ventures; Eyob Tolina, director at Schulze Global; and Fanny Dauchez, associate for Africa at Seedstars World.

Previous years’ winners of the Ethiopian edition of Seedstars World have included software development startup AhadooTec, for its e-learning and school management system Fidel; and last year’s winner Hulubet – an online events marketplace and aggregator.

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