Tech Incubator Meltwater Backs 11 Startups With $100k Investments

Ghana-based incubator Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology has invested $1.1 million in 11 tech startups that formed part of its 2019 cohort.

Meltwater is a training program, seed fund, and Africa’s largest tech incubator. The 11 startups, which will each receive $100,000, come from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa. Meltwater has links throughout Africa. Since launching in 2008 it has invested more than $20 million in African startups.

Here are 11 African tech startups that the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology recently backed with investments.

Massira
Massira is a social support network and healthcare service aggregator for women that is launching in Ghana. The mobile platform gives African women access to reproductive healthcare resources aimed at improving health and awareness of issues that affect them, according to a MEST blog post.

BezoMoney
BezoMoney is a Ghanaian digital savings platform for traditional savings groups. The fintech company aims to take the traditional concept of saving as a community and digitize it through an online platform that all members of a savings group can access. The company also allows users to boost their creditworthiness by using the system and saving alongside other users, according to its website.

Farmula
Farmula is a Kenyan agritech startup that provides a web and mobile platform to create a direct connection between farmers and businesses using an automated process to increase order efficiency. The company aims to empower smallholder farmers by giving them direct access to the businesses they sell to, cutting out middlemen and increasing their profits as a result, according to Techcrunch.

Adi+Bolga
Adi+Bolga is a Ghanaian startup that uses technology and community to gather data and create conversations around Black skin and skincare. By providing a selfie and taking a quiz on the company’s platform, the user gets a skincare regime and set of products personalized for her or him.

CoFundie
CoFundie is Nigerian platform for crowdsourcing funds to develop buildings. Users can co-invest in high-return real estate projects directly from the online platform. Most of the real estate developments are built using eco-friendly building materials that allow for the development to be completed faster than usual and are designed to theoretically give users a better return on investment in a shorter period, according to the startup’s website.

Saada
Kenyan startup Saada came up with the concept of offering messaging and mobile-money ticketing services on its platform. The purpose of these services is to increase digital sales of tickets and data collection for ticketing companies to analyze and benefit from.

Zuri
Zuri is a Nigerian platform designed to help beauty professionals manage their customers and provides an online booking engine that helps people to find and book beauty services from their phones or computers, according to Founder360. Beauty businesses such as hair or nail salons can add their companies to a database on the Zuri website so that potential customers can find them based on their location.

Niqao
Ghanaian startup Niqao has created a financing platform that connects merchants and lenders. Merchants can offer credit payment plans to their customers, according to Crunchbase. Customers have the option of paying for goods in installments, offering the merchant an advantage over competitors and enabling customers to do more with their money through credit.

Pan-African tech incubator MEST announced investments of 1.1 million USD in 11 startups from its 2019 cohort, mainly coming from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. For the next edition, MEST is having strong eyes on Ivory Coast.

Nadia
Nadia is a Kenyan personalized automated health companion operating on mobile phones. It is designed to provide quick medical attention and prescriptions for users. The mobile app creators claim to offer efficient scheduling for medical services and affordable health coverage, according to LinkedIn.

Kweza
South African company Kweza provides a service that enables informal retailers to order products at the best prices and receive deliveries directly to their stores. This marks the first time that a Meltwater Africa portfolio startup will launch in South Africa, according to Weetracker.

CoVibes
CoVibes is a Nigerian platform operating in the music industry that connects verified music studios and producers, allowing them to list their profiles and manage bookings. The platform also enables artists to find and collaborate with the studios, producers and each other, according to Bizcommunity.  Source: IT Web Africa