Five up-and-coming tech startups from Rwanda are set to pitch this Wednesday, October 28 at an online Seedstars Kigali competition. One local winner will move on to the next round at the regional stage for a shot at $500,000 in equity investment at the grand finale.

Seedstars, a Swiss-based private company, holds a yearly global pitch competition for promising tech startups in emerging markets. Seedstars World is one of the world’s largest seed-stage startup competitions in emerging markets.

For the 2020 round, the organization is holding the competition online. Currently, the startups selected to be part of the competition are training to compete for the local title which will allow them to move on to the regional stage to battle over 20 other winners from all across Africa.

From the regions, five winning startups will then advance to the global pitch.

"We are quite excited to see who will be the winner of Seedstars Kigali 2020 after receiving over 50 applications from interesting startups in the ecosystem,” said Lorraine Davis, community and events manager in Africa at Seedstars.

For the Rwandan chapter, Seedstars has sourced five startups at a seed-stage with potential to scale. They include: 

Mobile Application Platform for Africa (MAPA) Ltd - a platform for small and medium enterprises, companies and service providers that helps them set up their online shop quickly and easily without the need for hiring software experts.

Nyereka Tech Ltd - a young startup that provides easy access and reliable electronic components or devices with related professional skills via its eCommerce platform.

Safe Sana Ltd - LP gas users can stay safe and healthy without fear of fire explosion leading to loss of lives and properties as the Safe Sana offers its tech solution.

Octan Group - A modern application that automates meal ordering and tracking services within a restaurant and offers a food pickup option.

Rokkup - An on-demand staffing app, instantly connecting employers with local flexible workers.

This year, Seedstars is running more than 100 online local competitions across over 90 emerging economies where it is present.

In 2019, a Rwandan software development startup Exuus won the local title with its Save, a digital and interoperable decentralized ledger for saving groups. Benefactors, an SME financier through factoring - where future payments from buyers are sold to a third party - had won the previous year.