Denis Opudo
Loyal1 and GetHosted won the Johannesburg leg of the DEMO Africa tour that took place on 28th June 2018. GretHosted a space rental firm and Loyal1 an end-end rewards applications will compete with other startups in South Africa for a chance to represent the region in the DEMO Africa. The event will take place in October 2018 in Morocco. A total of five startups pitched before a jury during the Johannesburg leg of the DEMO Africa tour.
The jury comprised of, co-founder of Barclays Rise Incubator Kenneth Kayser, Legazy founder Zuko Tisani and South African Dragon’s Den investor Lebo Gunguluza. Loyal1 and GetHosted emerged the winners after they were shortlisted for the second round of the pitch event. You, Baby and I a parenting blog, Afripay and fintech startup CommuScore were among the startups that pitched on that day.
The executive director of DEMO Africa Harry Hare said that having two teams as the winners after the second round is an indication that African innovation is at a higher level. He added that DEMO Africa was pleased with the progress that is taking place in Africa. The other pitch of DEMO Africa tour took place on 5th July 2018 at the Rise Accelerator in Woodstock Cape Town. The winner of the event will compete with Smart Connect the winner of DEMO Africa Zimbabwe event, Loyal1, and GetHosted for a chance to represent SA at the DEMO Africa Launchpad. The Launchpad will take place between 18th and 19th October 2018 in Morocco.
The successful startups from each region will qualify automatically to be among the 30 startups that will pitch at the DEMO Africa Launchpad. Winners will get resources valued at more than $150,000 including resources from Amazon Web Services and Microsoft. This will assist the founders in developing their businesses. Kenyan based Advanced IT Solutions, and Ugandan based agritech TIFAT are the other qualifiers for the regional finals. Applications for the 2018 DEMO Africa cohort are ongoing until 15th Jully 2018, and the interested parties can forward their applications here.
