10 Startups Selected as Finalists of Grindstone Accelerator’s Fifth Cohort

TechInAfrica – Grindstone Accelerator is a jointly owned program by Knife Capital and Thinkroom Consulting. The program helps high-growth innovative small businesses to become sustainable and get an investment opportunity. This year was its fifth cohort sponsored by the SA SME Fund and Deloitte.

It’s a year-long accelerator program launched in 2014 with black-owned companies become the majority of the participants of this 5^th cohort. In November last year, Knife Capital announced the names of the fourth’s selected startups. All cohorts were run in Cape Town and this year will be the first time for the program to be kicked off in Gauteng.

*10 Startups Selected as Finalists of Grindstone Accelerator’s Fifth Cohort via ventureburn.com*

In March, Knife Capital launched the fifth cohort of the program which was closed on April 22. Cited from Ventureburn, 10 startups out of 400 applications were chosen. Here is the list of the ten selected companies:

LeadRobot – A Johannesburg-based startup founded in August 2018 by Daniel and Devon Solomon. It develops a data analytics and marketing automation tools using artificial intelligence (AI) to enrich, cleanse, and predictively score incoming leads to empower sales and marketing technologies and teams.
MSat Global – A Johannesburg-based digital satellite and IP technology solutions founded in 2007 by CEO Zweli Mkhuma
Crayon – A Johannesburg-based talent sourcing platform founded in February 2018 by Derrick Carolin.
Farosian – A Johannesburg-based specialist social media startup founded in 2015 by CEO Farhad Bhyat.
Lüla – It operates an app that connects corporate commuters to private shuttles.
Excel@Uni – A Cape Town-based technology partner for universities and funders to help students excel at university. It was founded in 2013 by CEO Lungelo Gumede and CPO Ludwick Marishane.
WizzPass – A Johannesburg-based visitor management and contractor management system in Africa founded in 2015 by Bradley Hornby, Ulrich Stark, and Tyron Fouche.
Marc1 – A Johannesburg-based startup with its Internet of Things (IoT) point of sale solutions. It tracks customer mobile and WiFi footprint to help retail companies improve their sales.
Ashanti-AI – A Johannesburg-based startup that mainly focuses on data engineering, analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI).
LiquidGold – A Johannesburg-based startup founded in 2014 by CEO Orion Herman and Simone Fillis. It introduces waterless technology and nutrient recovery solutions.