Three months of call for startups. An intense and collaborative teamwork together with 36 partners – main actors of the East African innovation ecosystem. 304 applications in total.
As we are preparing for the start of the bootcamp week (second phase of “Next Generation Africa”) which will be held from 1st to 5th November in Kampala at The Innovation Village, let’s review some of the results of the call that closed on 3 September.
The phases
Next Generation Africa is an annual project that officially kicked off
in April 2021 and is divided into several successive phases:
– Scouting and call for startups: 08th of June – 03rd of September 2021;
– Pre-screening, one-to-one interview, shortlist preparation of applications: 08th of June – 05th of September 2021;
– Evaluation and selection committee of the best 30 (involving partners and donors): 06th to 19th of September 2021;
– Admission notice and online onboarding / networking activities: 20th to 29th of September 2021;
– Bootcamp in Kampala, Uganda: 01st to 5th of November 2021;
– Mentoring program for startups selected as finalists: November 2021 – February 2022;
– Roadshow in Italy for the best 4 teams: events in Milan, Rome, Bologna, Turin: March 2022.
General overview
Almost three months after the opening of our call for East-African startups “Next Generation Africa” (powered by the Embassy of Italy in Uganda and BeEntrepreneurs APS), we received 304 applications.
215 of the 304 projects received featured a team with female cofounders.
Startups distribution by countries
There are 22 African countries from which at least one application has arrived.
Among the most represented countries we have:
– Uganda with 182 total applications;
– Rwanda with 29 applications;
– Kenya with 28 applications;
– Nigeria with 20 applications.
As regards the distribution by geographical area, on the other hand, 89.1% of the projects belong to East Africa, 9.2% to Western Africa and 1.7% respectively to Northern Africa, Southern Africa and Central Africa.
Startups distribution by sectors
Which sectors do the tech startups that have applied to the call belong to?
Agribusiness, agritech and circular economy are confirmed as the main area with 32.2% of applications, followed by edtech with 14.8% and ict and financial services with 13.5%.
With 6.9% it follows tourism and hospitality and energy and mobility with 6.6%.
Startups distribution by stage of development
The stage of development and growth of projects is very heterogeneous: slight predominance of startups in the early stage (32,6%, prototype ready and close to the market), followed by projects in growth stage (22%, on the market and making money), seed stage (21,7%, working on a product), idea stage (20,1%) and established business (3,6%, achieved break-even point).
Finally, 21.4% of projects have partnerships with corporations or institutions while – as regards funding – the difficulties in accessing investments are very evident, in fact as many as 53.6% of startups have not closed rounds yet.
39.5% of the projects that claim to have raised funds are distributed in grants from international or local organizations (14.5%), equity (14.1%), family & friends (8.6%), bank loan (2, 3%).
The average investment ticket collected by the startups is $ 17,800 while the one raising is $ 300,000.
Francesco Rubino, manager of startup programs for BeEntrepreneurs APS commented on the results of the call:
«We didn’t expect such a surprising result. We were not only impressed by the quantity of applications but above all by the quality, equally distributed in all sectors. Year after year we notice a growing quality of entrepreneurial projects, a clear sign that the ecosystem is being structured and is trying to move towards maturation. BeEntrepreneurs through the Startup Africa Roadtrip project continues to be alongside aspiring African entrepreneurs to support their growth».