Don’t miss your chance to bear witness as a cohort of sub-Saharan Africa’s exceptional entrepreneurs launch their early-stage tech startups to the world. Startup Battlefield Africa 2018, our premier pitch competition, takes place on 11 December in Lagos, Nigeria.
Join us to cheer on the competitors and enjoy a series of outstanding panel discussions from the region’s top tech and VC leaders. Spectator tickets cost $10 + VAT — they’re going fast, so grab your tickets today.
With more than 300 technology hubs connecting entrepreneurs across Africa, the continent’s startup scene continues to evolve and grow rapidly, which makes it an exciting time and place to be an early-stage startup founder or investor. That’s why — in addition to the Startup Battlefield competition — we’ve added exciting panel discussions to this action-packed day. We recruited a slate of experts to share their insight, discuss emerging trends and talk about what it takes to succeed in Africa’s diverse startup ecosystem.
You’ll hear from leading founders and investors alike. Here’s a sample of what to expect, and be sure to check out the full list of speakers.
- Chris Folayan, the founder and CEO of Mall for Africa, a global economy e-commerce infrastructure company that lets Africans buy directly from international online retailers in the U.S. and Europe, as well as local online retailers in Africa
- Nichole Yembra, chief financial, risk and investment officer for Venture Garden Group (VGG) and a managing partner at GreenHouse Capital
- Olaoluwa Samuel-Biyi, co-founder at SureGifts, a Nigeria-based gift card retailer and technology provider
Of course, Startup Battlefield is the star of the show, and here’s a brief rundown of how it works. The format consists of three preliminary rounds with up to five startups going head-to-head in each round. Teams have just six minutes to pitch and present a live demo to a panel of judges consisting of top tech founders and VCs. Following each pitch, the judges get six minutes to ask in-depth questions.
No more than five teams move to the finals, where they’ll pitch again to a new set of judges — and answer a second round of Q&A. The judges confer and select one outstanding startup as the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Africa 2018 champion. The winning founders receive US$25,000 in no-equity cash, plus a trip for two to compete in Startup Battlefield in San Francisco at TechCrunch Disrupt 2019 (assuming the company still qualifies to compete at the time).
The TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Africa 2018 action takes place in Lagos, Nigeria on 11 December. Tickets are limited; when they’re gone, you’re out of luck. Buy your spectator ticket today. We can’t wait to see you in Lagos!
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