Africa
Competition
Entrepreneurship
Details
We’re looking for 10 innovative, high-growth scale-ups to showcase their solutions to the world. Are you operating in Africa, generating revenue and looking to raise your Series A round in the range of $500K and $10M? This is the opportunity you’ve been looking for!
In 2017-2019, we selected 60 scale-ups from across the continent as part of 4 showcase programs, resulting in a number of Series A deals totalling over $100M. Building on this success, the ‘VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A’ – in collaboration with AWS Activate – is now a central component of our efforts to support investors connecting with high-quality deal flow.
This is an exclusive opportunity to introduce your company at once to everyone who’s anyone in Africa’s early-stage investment space.
Criteria
- Your company is for-profit and registered as an independent legal entity
- You have a product or service available on the market and generate revenue
- Your product or service is clearly innovative and/or your business model is new, disruptive and designed for scale
- You have a very strong management team of at least 3 people
- Your team is based in one or more countries on the African continent
- At least one of the founders has an African nationality
- You are seeking Series A investment in the range of $500K – $10M
- While there will be exceptions, most likely your startup has already received external investment, structured as either debt or equity, or received grants from donor organizations
Selection Criteria:
- Commercial Value of your Product/Service (25%): Your company addresses a real problem in the market. Your product or service is different from others in the industry. Your business model is new and designed for scale.
- Strategy for Growth (25%): The market size is significant and there is potential to expand locally and into new markets. Your startup is scalable and has a clear strategy for growth. You can show demonstrable progress.
- Management Team (25%): Your team has the qualifications needed to make the business successful.
- Market Traction & Financials (25%): They will evaluate your market traction, revenue streams, and unit economics. If any outside funding has been raised before, it’s a plus.
If you are selected for the Showcase, you are expected to:
- Engage with assigned mentors (partner VC investors) and VC4A team to prepare your 3-minute and 20-minute presentations, as well as 2-pagers with investor data as part of the deal book;
- Be prepared to pitch and engage with VC investors in the period of October – November 2020 and be part of the VC4A Venture Showcase.
Benefits
- Being recognized as 2020 VC4A Venture Showcase entrepreneur
- Participation in the VC4A Venture Showcase deal room, including 150+ early-stage investor organizations
- Professional edited 3 minute virtual pitch
- 30 min deep-dive session with investors in a private room
- Mentorship and pitch training by partner VC investors
- AWS Activate offers selected cohort AWS credits ranging from $10,000 to $25,000, tools, resources, and more to quickly get started on AWS
- Joining the alumni network and having exclusive access to fundraising opportunities
About Venture Capital for Africa
VC4A is an ecosystem builder that leverages its infrastructure, network and expertise for the programs that contribute to Africa’s startup movement. Since 2008, the organization designs, structures and implements successful entrepreneurship programs on the continent. VC4A runs an online platform featuring the world’s largest database of African startups and connecting local entrepreneurs to learning resources, mentors, investors and partner programs. Visit VC4A.com for more information.