AfricArena, in partnership with the GIZ, Expertise France through the project Innovi - EU4Innovation funded by the European Union, and Smart Capital through the Startup Tunisia national programme, held the North Africa regional Summit in Tunis Tunisia at the city of culture. The two-day conference featured pitches from 25+ startups operating in the region, as well as keynotes and panel discussions from the top minds in business, tech and investment in North Africa.
About AfricArena
AfricArena (https://www.africarena.com/) is an African tech ecosystem accelerator. Through a series of events (both live and digital), AfricArena accelerates the growth of tech startups and the ecosystems in which they operate by providing a platform where they can share their business model, gain valuable networks and attain funding.
The Summit
The two-day Summit featured the top 25+ startup pitches from Seed to Series B stages as well as keynote presentations from Khaled Ben Jilani (Africinvest), Zach George (Launch Africa), Karim Beguir (Co-Founder & CEO - Instadeep) and Dr. Ola Brown (Founder of Flying Doctors).
There was an array of panel discussions including highlights from JICA, Double feather Partners and UNDP facilitating discussions around DFI's and building bridges of innovation between Japan and Africa.
The Panelists were curated from over 50 ecosystem thought leaders on and off the African continent, covering topics from Investments, ecosystem building and talent retention on the African Continent. These series of events are supported by the GIZ, Expertise France through the project Innov’i - EU4Innovation funded by the European Union and are implemented in partnership with Smart Capital.
"What a great dynamic brought by AfricArena to Tunis! A dynamic which connected the Tunisian ecosystem with North African Startups and investors from all over Africa and Asia.
It was during four intense days, and united around the same values, that all the actors undertook quality exchanges and concluded partnerships of high added value.
The DOT confirms its support for AfricArena and looks forward to the next edition!"
Zeineb Messaoud
Two days before the two-day Summit, pitching startups were invited to take part in a 2 day-long bootcamp facilitated by Startup Village, the DOT and AfricArise, focusing on investment readiness and pitch refinement ahead of the pitching tournament.
Parallel to the Founders Bootcamp there was the very anticipated, invite-only North Africa Investor Unconference - where Africa-focused startup investors and VCs participated in discussions and workshops centered around co-investing and easing the process for investing in tech startups on the continent. More than 40 Investors attended and was seen as one of the first gatherings of all the ecosystem players in the North Africa region and connecting them to non-regional investors like Breega, Launch Africa, Jika, DFP and 500 Global, just to mention a few names.
“We had an extremely exciting week of events in Tunis from the 28th to the 31st of August starting with the AfricArena VC Unconference followed by the AfricArena North Africa Summit, We assembled and mobilised investors from the different corners of the region and brought tremendous value by connecting the most promising startups in the ecosystem to some of the most prominent and sought after investor funds”, says Christophe Viarnaud, Founder of AfricArena & CEO of technology firm Methys.
Congratulations to all the startups who competed during AfricArena North Africa Summit ! We have witnessed throughout the week the spirit of collaboration and the commitment to seek further cooperation paths. The Africarena summit was a great opportunity to showcase talent, resilience and openness. We hope to further develop this dynamic and boost cross-continent collaboration » says Clara Guilhem, Project lead at Expertise France, Innov’i - EU4Innovation
The Winners Corner
AfricArena received over hundreds of applications from Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria and Libya and selected the top 25 most promising startups that participated in the 2 day summit. All the startups who qualified for the summit received $10,000 in AWS credit to help them Rise, Raise and Scale their tech enabled ventures with the help of Amazon Web services, but unfortunately not everybody can qualify for the Grand Summit in Cape Town..
And the winners are…
Saint Gobain Smart City Open Innovation:
Omar Farahart Founder of Terwadaat (Egypt)
"Tawredaat - توريدات is a 360-degree B2B e-commerce platform formalising the procurement process for construction and finishing materials."
FMO Sustainable Tech program:
Benjamin Rombaut from Sand to Green (Morocco)
They cultivate deserts through a unique agroforestry model and solar desalination.
Nawel Kheira Benaissa from Green AI (Algeria)
Green is a high efficiency biodigesters system made to help farmers with hard access to energy to supply electricity by converting organic wastes into gas fuel for water pumping and manure and biofertilizer for farming.
Most Innovative business Model: Iheb Triki from Kumulus water (Tunisia)
Kumulus Water aims to solve the problem of water scarcity through its machines, which can produce up to 30 liters of water per day using only solar power and humidity as resources to provide drinking water in a sustainable and economical manner.
Most promising entrepreneur: Safia Shatta from Mango Gate (Sudan)
They digitize and give access to Individuals and organizations who need language courses online.
Best Seed Startup: Ahmed from Pharmacy Marts (Egypt)
Pharmacy Marts is an End to End business-to-business (B2B) solution for pharmacies in Egypt. The fastest growing Health-Tech platform in Egypt, Connecting multiple players in the Pharma supply chain through a marketplace, ensuring optimum access to medicine.
Best Series A: Ismail Bargach from WafR (Morocco)
WafR is a closed loop mobile wallet.
Best Growth (Series B+): Houcem Maiza from Galactech (Tunisia)
They don't waste gamers' time, One App is enough, That's Galactech.
Additionally AMI Assurances Awarded Kumulus, Galactech with the addition of a 3rd surprise winner Fares Belghith from Kamioun (Tunisia)
Kamioun corner shops a mobile platform to help them procure products they need on their shelves before and will help them digitise other aspects of their business
The 3 Tunisian startups will be supported by AMI that includes an insurance package & trip to Cape Town covering their flights and accommodation for the Grand summit taking place on 8-9 November 2022.
"Tunisia was thanks to Africarena a platform for discussion of investors between Venus from all over Africa to imagine the strategy of Venture Capital investment in the North African region in order to catch up with the big 4 of the continent. The event was an opportunity for Tunisian Startups to connect with their pairs of places in other North African countries.
The AfricArena North Africa tour has created a momentum for the Tunisian ecosystem, an opportunity to strengthen ties with the region and to position itself for a week as a crossroads of inspiring exchange on innovation and investment in our continent."
Salma Baghdadi Startup ecosystem director at Smart Capital
A series of regional events
This year, AfricArena organised four hybrid events across four regions in Africa, all building up to the annual AfricArena Summit in Cape Town at the end of the year. The regional events will bring together startups, investors and corporations operating in the region with 20+ startups from the region being selected to pitch at the regional event. While bringing invaluable awareness and networking opportunities to the region’s ecosystem, the events will also act as a semi-final pitch session, used to select 50 startups in an sector agnostic track from seed to Series B to pitch at the Grand Summit in Cape Town in November 2022.
Tickets
A Delegate Ticket for the Grand Summit can be purchased here.
Startups wanting to pitch at our East Africa Summit can register here.
End.
For any questions or clarification on this press release, reach out the AfricArena team at: contact@africarena.com
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