After a year of roaming the world and analyzing startup ecosystems in fast growing economies, Seedstars is proud to present the grand finale of Seedstars World, the largest emerging markets startup competition. For its fifth anniversary, Seedstars promises its very best Summit to date, gathering 65+ handpicked startups coming from Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Africa. Spanning a wide variety of verticals, from Fin-tech to Ed-tech, Med/Bio-tech, Agri-tech, Insure-tech, Clean-tech and High/Nano-tech, they will reunite in the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne, Switzerland to compete for different prizes and the title of Seedstars Global Winner, qualifying to win up to $1M in equity investment.
The 2018 edition will also attract startups enthusiasts, investors, business angels, government officials, incubators, NGOs and journalists from all over the world for an international and unique hands-on networking experience.
84% of the world’s population is located in emerging markets and 59% of global GDP comes from these markets. Figures and statistics confirm it, emerging markets are the future. Did you know that by 2025 annual consumption in emerging markets will reach $30trn? And that two-thirds of the global growth is coming from emerging markets?
Realizing that these figures represent opportunities to impact billions of lives, Seedstars has been connecting with the digital changemakers of the emerging world, to provide them with access to high growth opportunities. That is why, with the help of partners such as Enel, School of Management Fribourg (HEG Fribourg) & TRECC (Transforming Education in Cocoa Communities program, part of the Jacobs Foundation), BBVA , Tag Heuer, Merck KGaA and CVCI (Chambre Vaudoise du Commerce et de l’Industrie), the fifth edition of Seedstars Summit will be celebrated with the purpose to address crucial questions: where do we want to be five years from now regarding technology and innovation? How will the entrepreneurship from fast-growing markets impact the world economy?
The 2017 Seedstars Summit was a success, with more than 1’000 attendees from all over the world, around 60 startup finalists and 116 investors, who took part in more than 450 one-on-one meetings. Speakers such as Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom, and Alexander Galitsky, Managing Partner of Almaz Capital, animated discussions around major themes of fast growing markets. The Best Woman Entrepreneur prize was awarded to Monica Abarca, from qAIRa (Peru), an air-pollution monitoring drone, whilst the most Innovative Startup prize was presented to PiQuant, a South Korean hardware startup dedicated to decreasing the harmful impact of chemicals in food. Nevertheless, the highlight of the event was the crowning of Mario Jordan Fetalino III, CEO of Acudeen Technologies (Philippines), as the Seedstars Global winner.
Though from different sectors, countries and industries, selected international startups which received a direct pass to Lausanne have a few things in common: they are all game-changers, innovators ready to tackle the industry challenges, and shape the future through technological impact on their community. Here you can find a list and short description about each one of them.
Over 70 experts from world renowned companies will spend two days (Monday and Tuesday) mentoring the selected entrepreneurs, providing them with in-depth insights and business mentorship. The Investor Forum will happen on Wednesday, when the startups will present their one minute pitches, and attend the one-on-one meetings with Swiss and international investors (curated by Seedstars), and when the 12 finalists will be announced. On Thursday, the main Summit day, there are several workshops in the morning. Two partnerships are already confirmed: Fedex will coordinate a workshop on the future of e-commerce and GSMA will conduct one about the collaboration between startups and telecom operators. Past editions featured experts from companies such as Google, Udacity, Merck KGaA, Nestle, Amazon, IBM and US Aid, and for this year many more are to be scheduled up until the event. In the afternoon, key speakers will take the stage to inspire attendees with their words and lead insightful discussions on the future of innovation in emerging markets, and the Global winner will be announced.
Four keynote speakers are already confirmed: Gwendolyn Regina, who most recently spearheaded Mashable’s global expansion into Asia; award recipient, tech founder and CEO of AppsTech Rebecca Enonchong, representing Africa; Tallis Gomes, one of the most outstanding references for entrepreneurship in Latam and Gibran Huzaifah, the Seedstars World Alumni superstar that will join the Summit on its 5th anniversary. A fish-farmer-turned-agriculture-tech-entrepreneur, Gibran Huzaifah founded eFishery, the company that is revolutionizing the relatively untapped $5.4 billion-valued Indonesian aquaculture market.
On the investors side, Ace & Company, Omidyar Network, Index Ventures and 500startups will be joining us, alongside many others from the US, Europe and emerging markets worldwide.
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