The popular Think incubator housed in Rwanda has announced its second cohort of 10 finalists who are scheduled to receive investment and incubation from Tigo and the telecom’s parent company Millicom at the already established state-of-the-art Think incubation centre.
Selected from a list of applications coming from 14 countries, the finalists are represented from six African countries that include Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Nigeria and South Africa as well as one entry from the US.
With Uganda being ahead of Kenya with two representations, Kenya will be represented by a product dubbed Two4one – a mobile platform that is aimed at incentivizing people to eat out, go out and hang out more often.
From Uganda is an interactive online mentorship platform dubbed SeedBox that aims at connecting young African entrepreneurs to people across the globe as well as Bitnexa, a bitcoin exchange for merchants and individuals using mobile money to exchange local currencies with bitcoins.
Burundi on the other hand is represented by SoftProviders, a multi-function and adaptable mobile payment platform that aims to leverage patented M-PAY technologies while Nigeria will be taking GutsHaven – a web platform that connects a local community of freelancers to those needing completion of small projects and South Africa will be incubating Howxit, a mobile app for real-time communication using text, voice and audio.
From the host country Rwanda is three solutions that include Get It, a sales and distribution platform delivering household items to remote customers through a text-to-order service, Mergims – a mobile app that allows Rwandan migrants to pay airtime, tuition fees and utility efficiently and Malaika Travel & Tours, a travel app designed to crowd-share rides and excess luggage allowances.
Then there is the entry from the United States, The Exchange Visionary Labs that is seeking to become like Google’s glass only in 3D with contact lenses that display an augmented reality. How cool…right? I hope African countries can get to enjoy this solution soon.
These selected startups are set to join Think Incubation Centre in May and are set to receive $15000 (KSh1.3 Million) in equity investment, consulting services, curriculum and access to Tigo resources as well as mentors in the global tech industry.
“We are excited about the promising top 10 finalists. Investing in the final selected companies from among this group is a hallmark of Tigo’s commitment to innovation and to growing the IT startup environment across Africa,” said Tongai Maramba, the General Manager at Tigo Rwanda.
This second cohort comes after last year’s selection that saw the success of four startups including Rwandan TorQue and Nigeria’s Cribpark that received investment and access to key networks, assessment of growth as well as an office space for their development.
