Five South African startups founded during the COVID-19 pandemic have gained access to a total of ZAR2.5 million (US$160,000) at the culmination of the AlphaCode Incubate programme.
AlphaCode Incubate awards entrepreneurial packages to South Africa’s most promising financial services startups through AlphaCode with the support of Rand Merchant Investments.
Almost 170 tech businesses initially applied for the programme, which aims to grow innovative tech-enabled startups. Only eight were selected to participate in the initial three-month programme that provided funding, guidance from performance coaches and a panel of advisory experts, access to AlphaCode’s co-working space, and opportunities to apply for further early-stage investment.
Those eight startups went head-to-head at a virtual demo day last week, where they had just 10 minutes each to convince a panel of judges that they should remain part of the next phase of the programme.
Five were selected to receive ZAR500,000 (US$32,000) grant funding each, an additional six months of mentorship, and expert execution support. In addition, these startups will be able to apply for seed capital from AlphaCode’s fund.
The five businesses selected were mobile payments platform Abela, legal cost consultancy BriefCo, stokvel management platform Sizanani, data-tech startup Vocalysd, and e-health company Welo.
“What was remarkable about this cohort is that there are seven female founders across the eight startups, several of which have run successful businesses prior to these startups which we know makes for more successful entrepreneurs. Women are grossly underrepresented in the startup ecosystem globally. Representation matters and by having a diverse AlphaCode team and selection panel, we have an inclusive and diverse cohort. Female founders are eager to engage and contribute to the startup sector and it helps when they are given the platforms to truly be heard, acknowledged and appreciated,” said Amina Patterson, head of operations at AlphaCode.
“Another point to highlight is that every year the businesses focus on getting to know their customers, solving their customer problems and getting traction, but this cohort blew the lights out. I believe the pandemic forced the founders to work extra hard getting to know their customers and they had to be incredibly resourceful, resilient and creative in how they validated their products with customers.”
