Four African tech startups have been selected to join the Merck Joint Startup Programme and one of these startups is blockchain-based.
The Merck-Make-IT African startup program is a collaboration between Merck Accelerator, the Make-IT in Africa initiative, and Hybr. The program is aimed at accelerating businesses in the areas of bio-sensing and interfaces, liquid biopsy, clean meat, and AI-enabled health solutions.
The accelerator program had attracted 19 startups from Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Uganda for a week-long bootcamp in Nairobi in the areas of healthcare, life sciences and performance materials.
With Chekkit App, you can scan blockchain-powered codes unique to every product to view the history and journey of that product.Among the four that got selected include:
- Akili Labs – A South-African startup that designs modular, connected smart point-of-sale molecular diagnostics systems
- Bluewave Insurance – A Kenyan-based startup which makes insurance more accessible and available for low-income earners
- Chekkit – A Nigerian-based startup which designs anti-counterfeit solutions for the food and drug supply-chain on the blockchain
- Epilert – A Tunisia-based startup building a wearable bracelet with integrated bio-sensors.
The four selected startups now get an opportunity to explore potential collaboration opportunities with Merck and a chance to scale their businesses through training, access to corporate partners and the chance to showcase their solutions at the South African Innovation Summit and Medical Trade Fair.
About MERCK
Merck is a leading science and technology company operating across healthcare, life sciences and performance materials. Scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to Merck’s technological and scientific advances.
Like our content? Please support our work by tipping us.
