This year’s battlefield will be hosted in Lagos on December 11th, in front of a live audience and top judges, to choose “Sub-Saharan Africa’s Most Promising Startup” whose founders will win the cash prize plus a trip for two to compete in Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch’s flagship event, Disrupt in 2019. TechCrunch states that the Africa’s tech scene has continued to develop at a rapid pace since last year’s Startup Battlefield Africa. The firm is eager to take part in covering Africa’s booming tech sector extensively, with a love to see startup ecosystems develop.
How to Participate
Startups must fit into one of these three categories; social good, productivity and utility, gaming and entertainment to participate. Five startups in each category will be selected to join in for the Battlefield Africa in Nairobi. Apart from clear relevance to one of the three themes, qualifying startups should:
Be early-stage companies in “launch” stage Be a resident from our eligible countries Have a fully working product/beta, reasonably close to or in production Have received limited press or publicity to date Have no known intellectual property conflicts
The participants are chosen from the application pool by TechCrunch editors who run the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield competition.
Judging Criteria
TechCrunch and Facebook will select four judges for each theme. They will be noted entrepreneurs, investors and technologists with experience relevant to the category. Each company will have five minutes to present, with Live demos strongly encouraged. The judges will also have five minutes to ask questions. For each category; Productivity & Utility — The judges will pick startup with the product or service most likely to go into full commercial production and have the biggest impact on human potential and/or the largest exit. Social Good — The judges will look for the startup with the product most likely to catalyze social and economic development through technology. Gaming & Entertainment — The judges will pick startup with the product or service most likely to see wide consumer adoption and have either the biggest exit and/or impact on gaming and entertainment.
Who is eligible to apply?
Startups from the following countries can apply: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The application deadline is September 3, 2018 and finalists shall get notified on October 19, 2018. If you are interested in applying, click here.
