Seedstars World, the largest seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes, brought its Ghana round to a successful close during Seedstars Accra. The event took place this Thursday, at SBIncubator Ghana, and 9 selected startups were invited to present their companies in front of the local jury panel.

The local winner, Nvoica by Growth Factor , which solves the problem of cash flow issues caused by late payments by enabling SMEs get paid in 24hrs when dealing with credit clients, was named “Best Startup in Ghana” for its innovative sustainable solution. “Winning Seedstars Accra means a lot to Nvoicia. It’s a win for the team and most importantly the Small Business Owners we developed Nvoicia for. We see this as a call to be better and to do better. It was quite an experience pitching alongside some of the best startups in Ghana. We look forward to the Regionals and ultimately the Global Summit.”, explains Kelvin Tyron, Founder  at Nvoica. 

Besides representing Ghana at the Seedstars Africa  Summit, the winner will win an all-inclusive trip to the Seedstars Africa Summit and the chance to win a spot at the Seedstars Global Summit in Switzerland where the winner will take home a 500K USD investment prize In addition, the winner will receive 3 months access to the investment readiness program.

The 9 startups pitched in front of a prestigious jury, including Klenam Fiadzoe, Technology Entrepreneur,  Coiz Ltd; Adu Ampofo, MD Velia Consulting; Hamdiya Ismaila, General Manager, Venture Capital Trust Fund; Grace Safoa Buaka, Investment Manager, Oasis Capital Ghana; Nana Okyir Baidoo, Senior Associate Investment Banking, Fincap Securities; Baafour Otu-Boateng, Principal, Investisseurs & Partenaires; Fredrik Andersson, Investment Manager, Seedstars.

Seedstars Accra also featured Mr Patrick Quantson, Head of Digital Transformation, of Stanbic Bank Ghana, who presented the welcome address and Mr Nelson Amo of Accra Angels Network  The local Ambassador of Seedstars World, Tom Chris Emewulu, organized the event with Seedstars World’s local partner SBIncubator Ghana. Further support was provided by SFAN and Disrupt Africa. 

The event attracted interest from over 70  startups, and around 200 attendees.

Tech Shelta, an AgriTech company that helps greenhouse farmers maximize their efficiency in production and incomes, came second and Simundi Limited, with its product ‘KeepSales created to eliminate mismanagement of money and data of shop owners in Ghana with technology, grabbed the last spot in the top 3. The other startups invited to pitch were Codetrain, GasApp, Jumeni Technologies, Agripool, Nocofio and Kwidex Technologies.After this stop at Ghana, Claudia Makadristo, Regional Manager for Africa at Seedstars, says ‘’Accra shows year after year that it able to produce high quality startups and so of course this year the competition was fierce yet again’’

Continuing on its world tour of fast-growing startup scenes in emerging markets, Seedstars World’s next stop is Zanzibar, Dar es salaam and Dakar, to select the best startup in Tanzania and Senegal. Seedstars World is looking for smart startups that solve regional issues and/or develop profitable products for the global market. Startups are invited to apply here: https://www.seedstarsworld.com/

ABOUT SEEDSTARS 

"They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds." - Mexican proverb 

Seedstars is a Swiss-based private group of companies with a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. The groups’ activities cover over 80 emerging ecosystems through a variety of events such as the Seedstars World Competition, acceleration programs, physical hubs called Seedspace, venture capital investments and company building activities. 

ABOUT SEEDSTARS WORLD COMPETITION

Seedstars World is the world's largest startup competition in emerging markets. For the past six years, Seedstars Teams travel around for a 9-month world tour and scout for the best early-stage startups in 65+ countries, organizing 100+ events. One winner is selected to represent each country visited, and is invited to attend one of the 5 Regional Summits, reuniting all local winners of each region to network with regional investors, mentors and corporates. Local winners are also awarded the chance to represent their countries at the Seedstars Summit, the competition’s final happening in Switzerland, where startups compete for up to $500,000 in investment. The Seedstars Summit is the flagship event of Seedstars, filled with breakout sessions, panel discussions, specialized workshops and the best minds from emerging markets.