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Fintech startup Nala has been named winner of the Tanzanian leg of the Seedstars competition, securing a place at the global final and the chance to pitch for up to US$1 million in equity investment.

Seedstars has been on a tour of emerging markets, and has already picked African winners in Egypt, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Ghana, Rwanda, Libya, Uganda, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Angola, Nigeria, Cameroon, Botswana, South Africa and The Gambia.

It held its Tanzanian event as part of the Seedstars Africa Summit taking place in Dar es Salaam this week, with startups pitching to a jury for a place in the global final in Switzerland next April.

The overall winner was Nala, a simplified mobile money application that allows users to make faster, smarter and safer transactions without an internet connection. The victory caps an impressive year for the startup, which in April secured US$50,000 in funding from DFS Lab and in September was named winner of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge.

Nala will now take part in the Seedstars Summit in Switzerland, where it will participate in a bootcamp and have the chance of pitching for up to US$1 million in equity investment and other prizes.

The post Fintech startup Nala wins Seedstars Tanzania appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

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Nigerian agri-tech startup Hello Tractor has partnered IBM Research to pilot an agriculture digital wallet and decision-making tool that provides demand and supply visibility for farmers, tractor fleet providers and banks.

Launched in 2014, Hello Tractor is focused on improving smallholder farmers’ access to timely and affordable tractor services, along with other farm inputs. Its mobile app aggregates tractor service requests and then pairs them with recommended tractors and operators, while tracking how many hours each piece of equipment is in the field and area serviced.

“Through valued relationships with companies like John Deere, we’ve been very successful in increasing mechanisation access in smallholder communities. To reach the next level, we need to add additional services including predictive fleet utilisation and maintenance; operator and tractor scoring; financing and the crop yield forecasting,” said Jehiel Oliver, chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of Hello Tractor.

To achieve this, Hello Tractor has partnered with IBM Research, which struck a similar partnership with Kenya’s Twiga Foods earlier this year. Scientists at IBM’s research lab in Nairobi are working with Hello Tractor’s developers to apply several technologies, including the Watson Decision Platform for agriculture, blockchain, IoT and cloud, to bring new services to the app for tractor owners and dealers, farmers and banks.

The new services will be tested in a pilot starting in the first half of 2019. The backbone of the agriculture digital wallet is a blockchain-enabled and AI-based decision support platform, which enables capturing, tracking, and instant sharing of data, while creating end-to-end trust and transparency for all the parties involved across the agribusiness value chain.

“Our vision is to leverage AI, blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) to digitise, optimise, and streamline agricultural business processes to create efficiencies and new services from farm-to-fork around the world,” said Dr Solomon Assefa, vice president for emerging market solutions and director at IBM Research Africa.

For the next phase of the project, IBM researchers and Hello Tractor engineers are looking to use machine learning with image recognition to predict the quality of cultivation. Plans are also underway to expand the platform beyond Nigeria to Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

The post Nigeria’s Hello Tractor in AI, blockchain partnership with IBM Research appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

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Nigerian startup Beat Drone is using drones imported from China to execute spraying on farms, engage in crop supervision, and map farmland to improve agricultural yields.

The Beat Drone platform allows a farmer to request a drone and schedule a date, and make payment, before drones are deployed for things like crop counting and mapping.

All of its service, president Odionye Confidence told Disrupt Africa, will help farmers grow their businesses.

“It enables the farmer to achieve optimum results, increased harvest yields and lower cost of operations, thus reducing the cost of food in the open market, eliminating hunger and poverty,” he said.

The Beat Drone team came together in 2016, with Confidence joined by co-founders Chidinma Nwokonko and Yinka Ojomo. With the help of angel funding and a board of directors that includes Paga brand manager Daniel Oparison and Passion Incubator founder Olufunbi Falayi, the startup has had a positive start to life in Nigeria.

“We’ve had increased demand and our product has had immense advantage to the farmers. We have increased their harvest yield by 20 per cent from their previous harvest output,” said Confidence. “We currently have over 30,000 hectares under our operation.”

Beat Drone also recently signed a deal with the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria to access 1.5 million hectares of rice farming lands within the next 12 months. Confidence says the startup is solving a serious problem, with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimating that over 50 per cent of planted crops in developing markets die due to inadequate crop supervision and inefficient application of chemicals to kill weeds, kill pests and nutrients.

“This means they don’t meet the local food demand, thus making food expensive due to dependence on imported foods,” he said.

Such is the scale of the problem that Beat Drone, which charges clients for every operation per hectare, has ambitious expansion problems, and plans to be in 30 African countries within the next five years.

The post This Nigerian startup uses Chinese drones to help African farmers appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

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//

Nigerian startup Beat Drone is using drones imported from China to execute spraying on farms, engage in crop supervision, and map farmland to improve agricultural yields.

The Beat Drone platform allows a farmer to request a drone and schedule a date, and make payment, before drones are deployed for things like crop counting and mapping.

All of its service, president Odionye Confidence told Disrupt Africa, will help farmers grow their businesses.

“It enables the farmer to achieve optimum results, increased harvest yields and lower cost of operations, thus reducing the cost of food in the open market, eliminating hunger and poverty,” he said.

The Beat Drone team came together in 2016, with Confidence joined by co-founders Chidinma Nwokonko and Yinka Ojomo. With the help of angel funding and a board of directors that includes Paga brand manager Daniel Oparison and Passion Incubator founder Olufunbi Falayi, the startup has had a positive start to life in Nigeria.

“We’ve had increased demand and our product has had immense advantage to the farmers. We have increased their harvest yield by 20 per cent from their previous harvest output,” said Confidence. “We currently have over 30,000 hectares under our operation.”

Beat Drone also recently signed a deal with the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria to access 1.5 million hectares of rice farming lands within the next 12 months. Confidence says the startup is solving a serious problem, with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimating that over 50 per cent of planted crops in developing markets die due to inadequate crop supervision and inefficient application of chemicals to kill weeds, kill pests and nutrients.

“This means they don’t meet the local food demand, thus making food expensive due to dependence on imported foods,” he said.

Such is the scale of the problem that Beat Drone, which charges clients for every operation per hectare, has ambitious expansion problems, and plans to be in 30 African countries within the next five years.

The post This Nigerian startup uses Chinese drones to help African farmers appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

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Kampala-based hub and incubator Innovation Village has launched a startup fund focused on investing in companies thus far locked out by existing fundraising mechanisms.

Innovation Village is a launchpad for innovators and entrepreneurs, assisting the launch and growth of high-impact ventures.

The hub and incubator is now expanding its horizons with the launch of the 97Fund, which team leader CK Japheth told Disrupt Africa was targeting a raise of between US$10 million and US$20 million, with capital from public, private and philanthropic investors.

“We have US$100,000 raised so far and in conversations to close US$1 million. Investments will be no more that US$250,000,” he said.

Innovation Village is launching the fund as it wants to continue supporting Ugandan entrepreneurs, most of whom are denied funding under current conditions.

“We’ve mostly seen independent unconnected initiatives like workshops, short-term training opportunities, and grants, but more popularly innovation competitions that select the top three out of 100 or more submissions,” Japheth said.

“The prize money is normally between US$500 and US$5,000, and goes on an iPhone or laptop because you can’t do anything with the prize money. It is also possible that the winners are just good at pitching, not that they necessarily have a promising venture. The 97Fund distributes opportunity to the 97 who would normally not be picked up in the competition and can demonstrate they have what it takes to solve big challenges.”

The fund will operate as an open-ended fund, similar to unit trusts. It is targeting competitive long-term financial returns, matched by high social and economic developmental returns, to its investors.

The post Uganda’s Innovation Village launches startup fund appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

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The Seedstars Africa Summit begins today in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, connecting 36 African tech startups with training opportunities and investors.

Seedstars has already picked African winners in Egypt, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Ghana, Rwanda, Libya, Uganda, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Angola, Nigeria, Cameroon, Botswana, South Africa and The Gambia.

All winning startups will take place in the Seedstars Summit in Switzerland in April of next year, but they will also attend the fourth annual Seedstars Africa Summit, which is taking place in Dar es Salaam from today.

The three-day event aims to bridge the gap between ecosystems and connect regional stakeholders to promote tech entrepreneurship as a way of impacting people’s lives. Taking part are 17 winners from the Seedstars Africa tour, nine local finalists from Seedstars World Tanzania edition, three startups from Switzerland, and a delegation of three startups from Tanga, Tanzania.

It will start with a day-long Seedstars Growth Bootcamp, where 20 startups will learn more about growth strategy and how to master the art of pitching, and also feature an investor forum. Startups will have the chance to pitch to investors and take part in private meetings, while a conference day will feature invite-only workshops and various discussions. Each of the 17 Seedstars Africa tour winners will have the chance to pitch on stage.

The post Seedstars Africa Summit kicks off today in Tanzania appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

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The potential for crowdfunding has been much discussed in Africa over the past few years, but the space got a real shot in the arm last month with a notable funding round for South Africa’s Uprise.Africa.

Launched in October last year, equity crowdfunding platform Uprise.Africa aims to help innovative local businesses raise capital while gaining market validation. Two campaigns have been hosted on the platform so far – one failing to gain any traction; the other exceeding its raising target.

Last month it secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Silicon Valley-based VC firm Nexxus Ventures, based on a ZAR60 million (US$4.2 million) valuation of the company, to enable it to launch new deals on its platform in the coming months. Uprise.Africa and Nexxus will partner on identifying high-potential South African businesses seeking funding for expansion.

From the team behind project-based crowdfunding platform Thundafund, Uprise.Africa is a leader in the equity crowdfunding space in South Africa, but crowdfunding in general is also taking off across the continent. There have been recent launches in countries like Rwanda, Libya and Angola as platforms look to provide funding-starved entrepreneurs with alternative ways of financing their businesses.

Patrick Schofield is the founder of Thundafund and Uprise.Africa. He agrees crowdfunding is on the move on the continent, but says it is becoming established in ways that are locally appropriate.

“Where your traditional models of of equity, debt, rewards and donations crowdfunding lead the fields internationally, what we are seeing Africa is variants of these being established more linked to existing funding structures. In all countries in Africa that have reasonable internet penetration, local crowdfunding platforms have been launched,” he said.

Some barriers still remain to be overcome, however. Schofield says the concept of crowdfunding is still often misunderstood by people who know the term but not the detail.

“Trust, however, is more difficult to establish and takes time and some good examples of success, regardless of whether it has been shown as a reputable business model on the international stage. People want to see it work in practice, in the local context,” he said.

“On the donations crowdfunding front, it is quickly gaining traction. On the investment front, regulatory frameworks and exchange control structure are still a barrier to growth.”

Regulation, moreover,varies hugely from country to country. In South Africa, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has established a formal licencing structure, while in Rwanda the regulator is open to work with pioneers in the industry to build the regulatory structure as they develop. Other countries, however, are further behind.

Yet the concept of crowdfunding is not new to Africa. The community funding of causes is an age-old format. In Kenya, the tradition of “harambee” sees communities club together to hold events such as weddings and funerals, and M-Pesa is bringing tech to this concept by setting up a wallet that allows people to collectively contribute.

Kenyan startup M-Changa is taking this a step further with its online platform that allows people to post campaigns, raising for things like events, school fees and medical treatment, and fundraise from wider networks.

“Crowdfunding in the sense of community fundraising has existed in Africa for centuries. M-Changa can be described as a digital harambee for instant understanding of the concept in Kenya,” said general manager Matt Roberts-Davies.

“Crowdfunding makes it possible for someone to raise funds in a secure, transparent and convenient way. This makes crowdfunding incredibly valuable where trust is rare, such as in East Africa. It might take some time for the concept to go mainstream as it has globally.”

He agrees with Schofield, however, that challenges are still prevalent in terms of encouraging uptake.

“The need to use such a platform can be difficult since people are used to raising funds in their own way and are reluctant to switch,” said Roberts-Davies.

“The idea of using a technology platform is new. It is picked up easily by those who are well educated and exposed. This digital form of crowdfunding is important because of the transparency, it has been very slow to catch on in Africa however.”

The future is bright, however.

“I see different types of platforms emerging to include rewards, real estate, peer-to-peer lending and equity,” he said.

“As payments become more digital, all forms of crowdfunding are likely to improve.”

The post Are we finally entering the age of African crowdfunding? appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

from Disrupt Africa https://ift.tt/2B7IhPH

//

The potential for crowdfunding has been much discussed in Africa over the past few years, but the space got a real shot in the arm last month with a notable funding round for South Africa’s Uprise.Africa.

Launched in October last year, equity crowdfunding platform Uprise.Africa aims to help innovative local businesses raise capital while gaining market validation. Two campaigns have been hosted on the platform so far – one failing to gain any traction; the other exceeding its raising target.

Last month it secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Silicon Valley-based VC firm Nexxus Ventures, based on a ZAR60 million (US$4.2 million) valuation of the company, to enable it to launch new deals on its platform in the coming months. Uprise.Africa and Nexxus will partner on identifying high-potential South African businesses seeking funding for expansion.

From the team behind project-based crowdfunding platform Thundafund, Uprise.Africa is a leader in the equity crowdfunding space in South Africa, but crowdfunding in general is also taking off across the continent. There have been recent launches in countries like Rwanda, Libya and Angola as platforms look to provide funding-starved entrepreneurs with alternative ways of financing their businesses.

Patrick Schofield is the founder of Thundafund and Uprise.Africa. He agrees crowdfunding is on the move on the continent, but says it is becoming established in ways that are locally appropriate.

“Where your traditional models of of equity, debt, rewards and donations crowdfunding lead the fields internationally, what we are seeing Africa is variants of these being established more linked to existing funding structures. In all countries in Africa that have reasonable internet penetration, local crowdfunding platforms have been launched,” he said.

Some barriers still remain to be overcome, however. Schofield says the concept of crowdfunding is still often misunderstood by people who know the term but not the detail.

“Trust, however, is more difficult to establish and takes time and some good examples of success, regardless of whether it has been shown as a reputable business model on the international stage. People want to see it work in practice, in the local context,” he said.

“On the donations crowdfunding front, it is quickly gaining traction. On the investment front, regulatory frameworks and exchange control structure are still a barrier to growth.”

Regulation, moreover,varies hugely from country to country. In South Africa, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has established a formal licencing structure, while in Rwanda the regulator is open to work with pioneers in the industry to build the regulatory structure as they develop. Other countries, however, are further behind.

Yet the concept of crowdfunding is not new to Africa. The community funding of causes is an age-old format. In Kenya, the tradition of “harambee” sees communities club together to hold events such as weddings and funerals, and M-Pesa is bringing tech to this concept by setting up a wallet that allows people to collectively contribute.

Kenyan startup M-Changa is taking this a step further with its online platform that allows people to post campaigns, raising for things like events, school fees and medical treatment, and fundraise from wider networks.

“Crowdfunding in the sense of community fundraising has existed in Africa for centuries. M-Changa can be described as a digital harambee for instant understanding of the concept in Kenya,” said general manager Matt Roberts-Davies.

“Crowdfunding makes it possible for someone to raise funds in a secure, transparent and convenient way. This makes crowdfunding incredibly valuable where trust is rare, such as in East Africa. It might take some time for the concept to go mainstream as it has globally.”

He agrees with Schofield, however, that challenges are still prevalent in terms of encouraging uptake.

“The need to use such a platform can be difficult since people are used to raising funds in their own way and are reluctant to switch,” said Roberts-Davies.

“The idea of using a technology platform is new. It is picked up easily by those who are well educated and exposed. This digital form of crowdfunding is important because of the transparency, it has been very slow to catch on in Africa however.”

The future is bright, however.

“I see different types of platforms emerging to include rewards, real estate, peer-to-peer lending and equity,” he said.

“As payments become more digital, all forms of crowdfunding are likely to improve.”

The post Are we finally entering the age of African crowdfunding? appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

from Disrupt Africa https://ift.tt/2B7IhPH

//

The potential for crowdfunding has been much discussed in Africa over the past few years, but the space got a real shot in the arm last month with a notable funding round for South Africa’s Uprise.Africa.

Launched in October last year, equity crowdfunding platform Uprise.Africa aims to help innovative local businesses raise capital while gaining market validation. Two campaigns have been hosted on the platform so far – one failing to gain any traction; the other exceeding its raising target.

Last month it secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Silicon Valley-based VC firm Nexxus Ventures, based on a ZAR60 million (US$4.2 million) valuation of the company, to enable it to launch new deals on its platform in the coming months. Uprise.Africa and Nexxus will partner on identifying high-potential South African businesses seeking funding for expansion.

From the team behind project-based crowdfunding platform Thundafund, Uprise.Africa is a leader in the equity crowdfunding space in South Africa, but crowdfunding in general is also taking off across the continent. There have been recent launches in countries like Rwanda, Libya and Angola as platforms look to provide funding-starved entrepreneurs with alternative ways of financing their businesses.

Patrick Schofield is the founder of Thundafund and Uprise.Africa. He agrees crowdfunding is on the move on the continent, but says it is becoming established in ways that are locally appropriate.

“Where your traditional models of of equity, debt, rewards and donations crowdfunding lead the fields internationally, what we are seeing Africa is variants of these being established more linked to existing funding structures. In all countries in Africa that have reasonable internet penetration, local crowdfunding platforms have been launched,” he said.

Some barriers still remain to be overcome, however. Schofield says the concept of crowdfunding is still often misunderstood by people who know the term but not the detail.

“Trust, however, is more difficult to establish and takes time and some good examples of success, regardless of whether it has been shown as a reputable business model on the international stage. People want to see it work in practice, in the local context,” he said.

“On the donations crowdfunding front, it is quickly gaining traction. On the investment front, regulatory frameworks and exchange control structure are still a barrier to growth.”

Regulation, moreover,varies hugely from country to country. In South Africa, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has established a formal licencing structure, while in Rwanda the regulator is open to work with pioneers in the industry to build the regulatory structure as they develop. Other countries, however, are further behind.

Yet the concept of crowdfunding is not new to Africa. The community funding of causes is an age-old format. In Kenya, the tradition of “harambee” sees communities club together to hold events such as weddings and funerals, and M-Pesa is bringing tech to this concept by setting up a wallet that allows people to collectively contribute.

Kenyan startup M-Changa is taking this a step further with its online platform that allows people to post campaigns, raising for things like events, school fees and medical treatment, and fundraise from wider networks.

“Crowdfunding in the sense of community fundraising has existed in Africa for centuries. M-Changa can be described as a digital harambee for instant understanding of the concept in Kenya,” said general manager Matt Roberts-Davies.

“Crowdfunding makes it possible for someone to raise funds in a secure, transparent and convenient way. This makes crowdfunding incredibly valuable where trust is rare, such as in East Africa. It might take some time for the concept to go mainstream as it has globally.”

He agrees with Schofield, however, that challenges are still prevalent in terms of encouraging uptake.

“The need to use such a platform can be difficult since people are used to raising funds in their own way and are reluctant to switch,” said Roberts-Davies.

“The idea of using a technology platform is new. It is picked up easily by those who are well educated and exposed. This digital form of crowdfunding is important because of the transparency, it has been very slow to catch on in Africa however.”

The future is bright, however.

“I see different types of platforms emerging to include rewards, real estate, peer-to-peer lending and equity,” he said.

“As payments become more digital, all forms of crowdfunding are likely to improve.”

The post Are we finally entering the age of African crowdfunding? appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

from Disrupt Africa https://ift.tt/2B7IhPH

//

The potential for crowdfunding has been much discussed in Africa over the past few years, but the space got a real shot in the arm last month with a notable funding round for South Africa’s Uprise.Africa.

Launched in October last year, equity crowdfunding platform Uprise.Africa aims to help innovative local businesses raise capital while gaining market validation. Two campaigns have been hosted on the platform so far – one failing to gain any traction; the other exceeding its raising target.

Last month it secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Silicon Valley-based VC firm Nexxus Ventures, based on a ZAR60 million (US$4.2 million) valuation of the company, to enable it to launch new deals on its platform in the coming months. Uprise.Africa and Nexxus will partner on identifying high-potential South African businesses seeking funding for expansion.

From the team behind project-based crowdfunding platform Thundafund, Uprise.Africa is a leader in the equity crowdfunding space in South Africa, but crowdfunding in general is also taking off across the continent. There have been recent launches in countries like Rwanda, Libya and Angola as platforms look to provide funding-starved entrepreneurs with alternative ways of financing their businesses.

Patrick Schofield is the founder of Thundafund and Uprise.Africa. He agrees crowdfunding is on the move on the continent, but says it is becoming established in ways that are locally appropriate.

“Where your traditional models of of equity, debt, rewards and donations crowdfunding lead the fields internationally, what we are seeing Africa is variants of these being established more linked to existing funding structures. In all countries in Africa that have reasonable internet penetration, local crowdfunding platforms have been launched,” he said.

Some barriers still remain to be overcome, however. Schofield says the concept of crowdfunding is still often misunderstood by people who know the term but not the detail.

“Trust, however, is more difficult to establish and takes time and some good examples of success, regardless of whether it has been shown as a reputable business model on the international stage. People want to see it work in practice, in the local context,” he said.

“On the donations crowdfunding front, it is quickly gaining traction. On the investment front, regulatory frameworks and exchange control structure are still a barrier to growth.”

Regulation, moreover,varies hugely from country to country. In South Africa, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has established a formal licencing structure, while in Rwanda the regulator is open to work with pioneers in the industry to build the regulatory structure as they develop. Other countries, however, are further behind.

Yet the concept of crowdfunding is not new to Africa. The community funding of causes is an age-old format. In Kenya, the tradition of “harambee” sees communities club together to hold events such as weddings and funerals, and M-Pesa is bringing tech to this concept by setting up a wallet that allows people to collectively contribute.

Kenyan startup M-Changa is taking this a step further with its online platform that allows people to post campaigns, raising for things like events, school fees and medical treatment, and fundraise from wider networks.

“Crowdfunding in the sense of community fundraising has existed in Africa for centuries. M-Changa can be described as a digital harambee for instant understanding of the concept in Kenya,” said general manager Matt Roberts-Davies.

“Crowdfunding makes it possible for someone to raise funds in a secure, transparent and convenient way. This makes crowdfunding incredibly valuable where trust is rare, such as in East Africa. It might take some time for the concept to go mainstream as it has globally.”

He agrees with Schofield, however, that challenges are still prevalent in terms of encouraging uptake.

“The need to use such a platform can be difficult since people are used to raising funds in their own way and are reluctant to switch,” said Roberts-Davies.

“The idea of using a technology platform is new. It is picked up easily by those who are well educated and exposed. This digital form of crowdfunding is important because of the transparency, it has been very slow to catch on in Africa however.”

The future is bright, however.

“I see different types of platforms emerging to include rewards, real estate, peer-to-peer lending and equity,” he said.

“As payments become more digital, all forms of crowdfunding are likely to improve.”

The post Are we finally entering the age of African crowdfunding? appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

from Disrupt Africa https://ift.tt/2B7IhPH