Denis Opudo
Nairobi will host series events organized by Merck in collaboration with the Mettā Company. The successful startups will take home about US$3,000 cash prize awards. Besides the prize award, the winning companies will also secure an opportunity to partner with the Metta for a period of one year. The other benefit will be a fully sponsored trip to Darmstadt which the largest Innovation Centre globally for networking. A Merck project in Africa has launched diverse Accelerator Satellite Programmes in partnership with other companies. Most of the pitch events have been conducted in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. The Nigerian LifeBank startup has joined the league of Chile, the United States, German, and Switzerland. This honor comes after securing a chance to represent the continent in the Merck Accelerator programme in German. The African-based startup bridges the gap in the medical supplies shortages by linking medical suppliers through mobile and web platforms.
The Merck Accelerator programme winners will obtain an average of EUR50, 000 (US$61,000) funding, in-depth coaching and mentoring programme. Additionally, the winners will be given workspace for free to help them develop their prototypes and network with other startups from Merck special teams.
According to the head of the Merck Innovation Centre Michael Gamber, the organization delights in obtaining ten best startups. They help the institution to enhance collaboration between startup ecosystem and the business sector through interface and bio-sensing perspectives. He added that this year alone, the organization receives more than 400 applications. Narrowing down to particular startups was a difficult task. The programme acquired more selection specialists from outside to speed up the activity.
A total of ten startups worldwide were chosen to take part in the Merck Accelerator programme in Darmstadt. The programme focuses on performance materials, healthcare, and life science. The lucky 10 companies will enter into the 6 rounds of 3 months accelerator competitions. The effort helps in strengthening upcoming companies to gain the competitive advantage in the long run.
