Seedstars Casablanca To Hold Competition Tomorrow
It is time to cause some ripples in the North African startup ecosystem. Come 6th of July, 2018, Casablanca will play host to yet another installment of the Seedstars’ initiative which is centered on unearthing some of the most promising enterprises in some of the world’s vital emerging tech ecosystems.
The Swiss-based company will be coming to Morocco’s tech hub to afford some of the best seed-stage startups in the North African country the opportunity to have a stab at glory. Morocco’s tech ecosystem is known to hold remarkable potential, and at this year’s Seedstars Casablanca (which will be the fourth edition of the Seedstars World event in the country), eight selected seed-stage startups straight out of Morocco will have the chance to pitch for glory.
Regarded as the one of the most popular startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes in some quarters, the latest Casablanca edition in the Seedstars World series is expected to provide up to USD 1 Mn in equity investments to one startup that is adjudged to hold the most potential, as well as the opportunity to represent the country in this year’s Seedstars Summit. There will also be some consolation prizes.
Having seen applications close since June 15th, startups that have been selected to compete for the grand prize at this year’s Seedstars Casablanca are those who check all the boxes regarding some established qualification criteria. As part of the qualification requirements, the startups that have made the cut are those who are less than two years old, have raised less than USD 500 K in funding, and have a recognizably-viable product. Ideally, the handpicked startups must also hold some existing degree of traction, as well as a framework that supports regional and global scalability.
With African winners having already emerged in the aftermath of the last edition of the competition which was Egypt and Tunisia in April, Morocco is the next destination of the competition where eight selected startups will be looking to follow in the footsteps of the last year’s winner, Hooplacar, and go home with the spoils. Amongst the eight startups that will be looking to do battle on the ‘pitch’ (pun intended) are fintech platform; UnitedCoin, recycling platform; Valenvi, travel platform; Tripblan, e-health enterprise; Medtrucks, construction materials platform; Zelij Invent, transit app; Weego, rental platform; Popaddress, and Indatacore; a company whose services revolve around data science.
With this event, Seedstars appears to be staying true to its vision which is hinged on impacting the lives of individuals in emerging economies through technology and entrepreneurship, with emphasis on developing the United Nations through the achievement of the envisaged Sustainable Goals. The event, which is scheduled to take place at the famous LaFactory, is expected to pull together stakeholders and captains of industry, as well as a jury that will include notable personalities such as Outmane El Hassani; director at OCP Entrepreneurship Network, Mehdi Ghorfi; partner at PGS Invest, and a host of others.
The Seedstars World initiative has been at the forefront of connecting stakeholders, raising companies from seed-stage to global-reckoning through public-private partnerships, and funding promising startups in emerging ecosystems. Seedstars Casablanca is billed to foster the company’s drive which is centered on impact investing and impact entrepreneurship.
