Early-Stage Startups Award (Upto $1M) by VCA4
CA4 is looking for 10 innovative early-stage startups to showcase their business to the world. You are based in Africa and your tech-enabled solution is already on the market. It starts to show some traction and you have expansion plans in mind? Don’t miss out on this opportunity to raise in the range of $150K and $1M and apply right here right now!
VC4A Venture Showcase Seed is the sister program of the annual VC4A Venture Showcase Serie A. Did you know that between 2017-2019, they selected 60 scale-ups from across the continent as part of 4 showcase programs, resulting in a number of Series A deals totalling over $100M?
Building on this success, the ‘VC4A Venture Showcase – Seed’ – in collaboration with AWS Activate, AfriLabs, and ABAN – is a central component of their efforts to support investors connecting with Early-Stage Startups. This is an exclusive opportunity to introduce your company at once to everyone who’s anyone in Africa’s early-stage investment space.
SELECTION CRITERIA
- Commercial Value of your Product/Service (25%)
Your company addresses a real problem in the market. Your product or service is different from others in the industry. Your business model is new and designed for scale. - Strategy for Growth (25%)
The market size is significant and there is potential to expand locally and into new markets. Your startup is scalable and has a clear strategy for growth. You can show demonstrable progress. - Management Team (25%)
Your team has the qualifications needed to make the business successful. - Market Traction & Financials (25%)
They will evaluate your market traction, revenue streams, and unit economics. If any outside funding has been raised before, it’s a plus.
Benefits
- Being recognized as 2020 VC4A Venture Showcase entrepreneur
- Participation in the VC4A Venture Showcase deal room, including 150+ early-stage investor organizations
- Professional edited 3-minute virtual pitch
- 30 min deep-dive session with investors in a private room
- Mentorship and pitch training by partner early-stage investors
- AWS Activate offers selected cohort AWS credits worth $10,000, tools, resources, and more to quickly get started on AWS.
- Joining the alumni network and having exclusive access to fundraising opportunities
Eligibilities
- Your company is for-profit, registered as an independent legal entity with less than 3 years of customer service operations;
- Your company has a product or service already available on the market and serving its first customers;
- Your highly scalable business model is visible through a growing number of customers or transactions, your pipeline shows future contracts and potential sales;
- You have a good estimate of your addressable market and potential social impact reach > 1M+ people/year with potential plans to expand across borders;
- Your product or service is clearly innovative and/or the business model is new and disruptive;
- Your founding team has 2+ years of time invested and at least one of the co-founders is based on the African continent with an African nationality;
- You are seeking Seed/pre-Series A investment in the range of $150K to $1M*;
- While there will be exceptions, your company has received investment above 25K USD from “Founder, Family, Friends & Fans” but not exceeding 1M+ USD;
- Founder(s) who previously started a successful company is a plus.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Apply through the given link.
Application Deadline: September 11, 2020
