YouVerify, OnePort, and 14 other companies have been selected by VC4A for the 2021 seed and series A showcase
YouVerify, OnePort, and 14 other companies have been selected by VC4A for the 2021 seed and series A showcase
It has been announced that 16 African technology companies have been selected to participate in the Seed and Series A Showcase organized by Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A). In order to contribute to Africa's startup movement, VC4A acts as an ecosystem builder, leveraging its infrastructure, network, and expertise for the programs it supports.
The finalists were chosen from a pool of approximately 1000 applications by a 72-member investment committee comprised of representatives from the continent's leading venture capital funds, including Plug and Play Capital, Seedstars Ventures, Goodwell Investments, and others.
Companies in the 2021 portfolio have been thoroughly vetted by venture capitalists (VCs) through a rigorous referral and selection process. Furthermore, the committee believes that they represent the best seed and series A investment opportunities available on the continent at the time of writing.
All of the companies that were chosen provide products or services that are technology-intensive or innovation-based in the healthcare, finance, transportation, commerce, and education sectors. All of these products are currently available in more than one African market at the same time.
Previously, participating showcase portfolio companies raised a total of more than $160 million in venture capital in rounds ranging from $400 thousand to $20 million, with rounds ranging from $400 thousand to $20 million since 2017. Previous showcases have included companies such as Foodlocker, a Nigerian agritech startup, and Utiva, which are both based in the United States.
Portfolio of SeriesA track
YouVerify is the only Nigerian startup to be selected for the Series-A round of funding in 2021. Other companies in this category include Alpha Direct Insurtech (Botswana), Arifu (Kenya), Chari Co (Morocco), Cinetpay (Côte d'Ivoire), CloudFret (Morocco), Fatura (Egypt), and Rology (Italy), among others. Rology is an insurance technology company based in Nairobi (Egypt).
Gbenga Odegbami, the founder of YouVerify, launched the company in 2017. By utilizing data-driven decisions, the startup assists businesses in automating due diligence and compliance in a variety of industries, particularly the financial services and telecommunications industries.
Youverify is an API provider in Africa that allows for address and identity verification. The company's vision is to assist organizations in making automated and efficient business decisions by leveraging data and insight from third-party sources. Also hoped for is the ability to expedite previously manual back-office processes.
The company, which raised $1.5 million in a seed round last year, is attempting to solve identity problems across the continent.
Portfolio of seeds track
There are eight startups in the Seed track portfolio that are participating. Oneport Inc. is the only Nigerian startup on the list, and it is the most successful.
Appload (Mozambique), CashBackApp (Kenya), FlexPay (Kenya), Moja Ride (Côte d'Ivoire), SAYNA (Madagascar), ShipBlu (Egypt), and Waya Limited are among the other companies in the group's portfolio (Ghana).
OnePort Inc, founded in 2019 by Hio Sola-Usidame, is a digital freight forwarding platform that provides real-time freight quotes. Oneport's mission is to provide freight forwarding services that are simplified, all-inclusive, and transparent, all while leveraging technology.
Participation
Before presenting their startups to investors at the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit in November 2021, the selected startups will take part in a virtual investor readiness program to help them prepare for raising capital.
A network of top venture capitalists and angel investors will be established for the entrepreneurs, who will also benefit from one-on-one mentoring sessions with domain experts and high-profile guest speaker sessions.
