Seventeen startups have been selected for the Space-Tech Challenge 2020. Space-Tech challenge aims to develop the African Space industry, especially the downstream sector, by empowering innovators, entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses in the space-tech sector across Africa.Â
The winners will receive four months of online incubation and virtual mentorship, and ongoing access to a peer-to-peer network through TechTribe. The overall winner will win a SecureWatch Premium 5GB, valid for three months to the value of USD12,500. First and Second runner-ups will also receive prizes for their performances. Top three finalists will pitch their innovation to a MAXAR representative.
The selected seventeen finalists will progress to the next stage of the challenge, involving an intensive two-week business development support programme. After this stage, the startups will participate in a ‘pitching den’ to be assessed by a panel of judges and industry representatives.
The finalists for the program are:
- South Africa:
- Digital mapping startup Abiri,
- Environment and tech-focused startup Sturtium,
- Geospatial data science company Hydro Blu,
- Cloud based digitisation and farm management platform Smart AgrIoT,
- Natural disaster mapping solution Risk Response,
- Sustainable farming tech company, UpFarm,
- Earth Observation data for recovery of stolen products startup, Contre IPC,
- ABCD Electricity, which uses solar irradiance data to estimate the electricity production capabilities of new PV installations,
- and The South African Space Technology for Sustainable Development Foundation, a non-profit organisation.
- Nigeria:
- Rwanda
- HeHe, a post-harvest platform that uses remote sensing technology to forecast supply and consumer data to forecast demand and allocate logistics resources,
- and FloodWiz, which provides easy-to-use data on flood patterns to assist with disaster management.
- Botswana:
- Environmental and geospatial consultancy firm Green Aces
- Zambia’s:
- Fourth Line, an agribusiness that handles product distribution for smallholder bee farmers.
and Russia’s GeoAlert, an AI-powered mapping platform.
Interesting stuff, watching closely, with excitement. Please keep me posted.