Agrocenta, the Ghanaian startup which is tackling food access and stock flow issues across Ghana communities, won up to $500,000 in equity investment and some unique growth opportunities at the Seedstars Summit 2018.
At the live final pitching showdown, 12 shortlisted startups went head-to-head, with Agrocenta eventually being crowned the overall global winner of the contest, taking home a $500,000 investment from Seedstars World.
Seedstars World, the biggest startup competition focused only in emerging markets, closed its fifth edition with a huge celebratory Seedstars Summit. After covering 65+ countries during 2017, Seedstars invited and sponsored the coming of 65+ local startup winners to Lausanne, Switzerland, where they had the chance to compete for different prizes, up to $1mn in equity investment and the title of Seedstars Global Winner.
On the Summit Day, the finalist startups pitched on the main stage in front of more than 1,000 hand-picked participants, investors, startup enthusiasts and some of the most prominent names of tech and entrepreneurship in emerging markets. The jury, an international panel which included Benjamin Benaïm, from Seedstars, Nikunj Jinsi and Theta Capital Group decided that this year’s investment will go to Agrocenta from Ghana.
Francis Obirikorang founded Agrocenta having in mind to create an online sales platform that could connect smallholder farmers directly to an online market which has a wider geographic size to sell their commodities. According to Pierre-Alain Masson, co-founder at Seedstars, “Agrocenta won this prize because of the disruption they are creating in the farming industry. It’s very important that investors know that talent is everywhere and that the way startups and tech entrepreneurs in emerging markets are addressing the underlying social challenges in their home countries, be it agriculture or access to finance, basic education, healthcare or energy supply is a tremendous business trend and opportunity.”
For Francis Obirikorang, “winning at the Seedstars Summit will have an enormous impact in my company’s growth and success for the next years. I am sure that, just like other previous winners, it will open funding, learning and growth opportunities. In emerging economies, we lack not only the infrastructure but also access to some fundamental tools like networking and mentoring. Seedstars team is spreading the word about our talent and ideas to their international network dedicated to impacting investment and I know I’ll be able to profit from this. Can’t wait to start building on this momentum!”
Much more than a conference, the Seedstars Summit is an opportunity for stakeholders in impact investment, tech and entrepreneurship in and from emerging markets to network and profit from a unique hands-on growth experience. Startups participated in a two-day boot camp; a private Investor Forum where they had the chance to pitch to be considered one of the 12 finalists to compete on the main stage and attended more than 700 one-on-one sessions with investors.
