More than 100 tech startups from 31 African countries, including winners of the TotalEnergies Startupper Challenge, participated in the 2024 AfricArena Grand Summit.
During the two-day Summit, 45 startups presented their pitches on AfricArena’s stage. The event was co-hosted by TotalEnergies, AWS Startups, the Technology Innovation Agency, GIZ SAIS, ESquared Investments, Wesgro, and the City of Cape Town.
Out of the 45, nine were selected winners across 9 categories. Below ar the winners:
- Best AI & Deep Tech Startup Award: OkHi ( Nigeria)
- Agri Tech Startup Award: Djoli (Ivory Coast)
- Best Fintech Startup Award: Joro Cash (Morocco)
- Best Climate Tech Startup Award: Gjenge Makers ( Kenya)
- Best SaaS Startup Award: Cynoia ( Tunisia)
- Best Seed Startup Award: Letsoela Agro-Aviation (Lesotho)
- Best Startupper Award: Anda (Angola)
- Most Value Add Investor Award: Knife Capital.
- Most Promising Entrepreneur: Solimi (Togo)
In his welcome address, Christophe Viarnaud, CEO of AfricArena, acknowledged the challenges of the past two years for both founders and investors, highlighting their efforts to navigate the fundraising winter while tackling complex issues.
He reminded the investors, startups, and ecosystem builders at the event that an economic slowdown presents a prime opportunity to invest, especially in the African tech asset class.
“Now is the time to invest, Africa is not waiting for the future, we are shaping it,” he said.
Viarnaud reflected on AfricArena’s beginnings in 2017 when Africa was receiving just $300 million in venture funding. He noted that this year’s [2024] venture capital investment has surged to over $2 billion.
Each winner received $25,000 in AWS Activate credits as part of their prize.
This year, AfricArena organized five hybrid events in major cities like Nairobi, Tunis, and Abidjan building up to the annual AfricArena Summit in Cape Town, South Africa.
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In 2019, House Africa, a Nigerian 🇳🇬 blockchain-based startup, won the Fantom Foundation Challenge 2019 at the AfricArena Conference held in Cape Town, South Africa… pic.twitter.com/kMuMOQrFPf
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) September 18, 2023
The regional events brought together startups, investors, and corporations operating in the region and across Africa. Between 20 and 30+ startups from Africa were selected to pitch at each of these regional summits.
These events acted as semi-final pitch sessions where over 25 startups were chosen to pitch at the Grand Summit in Cape Town in December 2024.
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