The 5th edition of DEMO Africa concluded last Friday with the crowning of 5 startup
companies that will benefit from the DEMO Africa LIONS programme.
The 2-day event took place at the Sandton Convention Center, Johannesburg. It lived to
its billing – More than 600 delegates attended the now defacto launch pad for African technology startups, more than 30 speakers in 12 sessions including four master classes delivered by the World Bank and the African Business Angel Network (ABAN).
The DEMO Africa LIONS programme is a partnership between DEMO Africa and the LIONS@FRICA initiative that curates a 2-week Innovation Tour of Silicon Valley. The Innovation Tour exposes the startups to the technology and investment ecosystem in
the Silicon Valley with the aim of creating bridges and attracting investments from
investors from the Valley.
While announcing the winners, Stephen Ozoigbo, the CEO at African Technology Foundation, the agency implementing the LIONS@FRICA initiative said the companies
that have been picked have a global outlook and can benefit by seeing how other such
companies are doing in the United States.
“These companies have a global appeal and have the highest potential to becoming
global companies,” said Ozoigbo. “By participating in the innovation tour, we are
helping to connecting these companies to the global innovation ecosystem and also continue connecting them to potential investors,” he concluded.
The companies that made it into the program are:
Sortd
The product suite is aimed at helping people escalate conversations into action right
from the source. Sortd works seamlessly with Email, IM, Skype and Slack. Sortd plays
into an emerging category in the SAAS collaboration space with a vision to create an all-
in-one Communication & Teamwork Platform for “the rest of us” (aimed at small-
medium size businesses).
ConnectMed
ConnectMed is an online machine learning-enabled telehealth platform that allows
patients to seek treatment from GPs over video for common ailments, either directly
through app (ConnectMed Prime) or indirectly through clinic partners (ConnectMed
Care). ConnectMed Prime targets middle and upper income South Africans who have
easy access to internet-enabled devices and use the private healthcare system.
Strauss Energy
Strauss Energy sells electricity to homeowners and organizations at 75% cheaper than
the national grid. The power is generated from the innovative BIPV Stima 2 in1 solar
roofing tiles that they manufacture. 2 Million Houses are required annually according
to a UN Habitat report. In Kenya only 150,000 houses are built annually. Strauss targets
30% of this market and is already working on 1,000 houses in Kenya and an additional
10,000 houses next year.
Solstice Home Energy Solutions
Solstice has developed a low cost energy monitoring solution for Nigerian households
that gives insight into energy consumption patterns by measuring both utility grid and
generator usage. The data the hardware provides can be used by homeowners to track
energy usage, set budgets, and get energy saving tips through our mobile application.
MediaBox
MediaBox is gateway to content in the home. They can make any existing TV old or new
a truly smart device for entertainment, education & access to the internet. MediaBox is
the only aggregation platform in Africa that works with any and all current providers of
content, such as DSTV, ShowMax, Netflix and Supersport.