Google for Startups/CcHUB 2019 PitchDrive II for hardware and deeptech based startups

Application Deadline: May 20th 2019

PitchDrive II by CcHUB, in partnership with Google for Startups, will engage 10 of Africa’s top hardware and deeptech based startups on a tour of exciting tech cities in Asia.

The focus of PitchDrive II is to facilitate Africa-Asia collaborations to strengthen deep technology companies in Africa by creating a platform for startups to:

Take key learnings from the Asian technology market and apply them locally to improve their businesses

Discover and engage suppliers or manufacturing partners to strengthen their businesses

Explore funding opportunities

Do you run a deep tech (AI, ML, Mixed reality, etc) or hardware based startup?
Are you a legally registered enterprise able to demonstrate a minimum of 12 months revenue-generating operations?
Can you demonstrate income generation in the last 12 months?
Are you based in Africa?
Are you (Founder/Co-founder/ CEO) available for the tour from August 15th till August 31st?

The Tour

Brace yourselves as we journey from Kigali, Rwanda through five exciting tech capitals in Asia.

Kigali

RWANDA

We start PitchDrive II with a 2-day bootcamp in one of Africa’s most exciting tech-hubs – the city of Kigali. From the humble beginnings of an agrarian-based economy, Kigali is now home to some of the largest multinational tech companies operating across the continent including Google, Facebook, and Amazon. Through Government initiatives in long-term planning, investing in IT infrastructure and forward-looking skills, Rwanda’s capital has quickly grown into a leader in the knowledge-based sharing economy and is thriving like never before. There’s no better place to kick-off PitchDrive II that in this exciting smart city fondly referred to as the “Singapore of Africa”.

Singapore

REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

Our first stop in Asia is the Republic of Singapore – a natural financial and communications hub for South-east Asia boasting an extremely high number of programmers and venture capitalists. When it comes to attracting talent, Singapore ranks second in the world and first in Asia.

The city-state’s robust collaborative networks and talent pools stem from it’s world-class universities, leading multinational businesses and a rapidly growing ecosystem of startups, business incubators and venture capitalists. With strong government support in R&D spending and a comprehensive IP regulatory framework, Singapore has become an ideal destination for top tech firms.

The capital hosts about 80 of the top 100 tech firms in the world and is often labelled a ‘miniature Silicon Valley’.

Shenzhen

CHINA

Next stop is Asia’s ‘Home of Hardware’- Shenzhen, China. This mega-city of 13 million people is home to tens of thousands of factories. From a former fishing village to a manufacturing hub, Shenzhen is at the heart of China’s transformation into a hi-tech innovator.

Ambitious tech firms and startups flock to this city to dominate key hi-tech industries such as robotics, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence. This is the home of entrepreneurial research and development. A product that may take 12 to 18 months to bring to market somewhere else in the World might take only four to six weeks in Shenzhen. Why? Because all factors align to support innovation.

Even local government in Shenzhen gives grants for filing patents and for starting maker spaces. This is the ultimate manufacturing hub that connects innovation, manufacturing, and knowledge all over the world.

Hong Kong

CHINA

Our third stop is the tech hub of Hong Kong, home to an exciting startup scene featuring over 2,000 startups.

A hot-bed for deep-tech talent, Hong Kong-based startups are doing it all – from software as a service, Internet of things, data analytics, biotech, artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality and augmented reality, as well as new material. The city’s proximity to the manufacturing and telecoms powerhouse that is Shenzhen has no doubt helped make it a strategic location for innovation in Asia. The city has welcomed the recent expansion by big tech firms such as Facebook and Alibaba, and is enjoying accelerating investment in it’s fintech sector.

With rising corporate engagement in incubation and accelerators programmes, new initiatives to promote start-ups springing from universities, Cyberport and Hong Kong Science Park, and a string of notable funding rounds for start-ups, it is anticipated that Hong Kong’s technology sector may soon reach a tipping point and will be propelled into much faster growth.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Google for Startups/CcHUB 2019 PitchDrive