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The annual VC4A Venture Showcase spotlights the best companies from across the continent ready for Seed and Series A financing. Post revenue and well positioned for regional and international expansion, participating ventures receive unprecedented exposure as well as hands-on help and access to networks that will positively impact their trajectory. Through building a new class of success stories in emerging markets and catalysing the (pre-)Series A market, the VC4A Venture Showcase amplifies the development impact generated by the local startup ecosystem.

Critical to this ecosystem building effort is VC4A’s partnerships model. The Venture Showcase is designed to engage the more than 1000 ecosystem building organizations and partners part of VC4A’s network. Also, the Venture Showcase programs are an integral part of the annual Africa Early Stage Investor Summit, hosted by VC4A and ABAN. The showcase ventures and investment community that come together are a representation of this collective effort to build up Africa’s startup and entrepreneurial movement coming up across the continent.

Want to connect and engage with the VC4A Venture Showcase alumni and/or future programs? Contact the team now.

VC4A extends a special thank you to all program partners who greatly strengthen the value offered to participants and make the program unique. Over the years, the Venture Showcase has received strong backing from donor organizations aligned with the strategic vision of the program, as well as private sector partners who wish to engage with and offer benefits to the portfolio companies.

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Event partners

The VC4A Venture Showcase offers a new model of intermediation between investors and enterprises through engaging the early stage investor community at every step of the process. We work with investor referrals to recruit the companies and we involve investors in the 3-step vetting and selection process (screening, scoring and interviews). We enlist investors as our lead mentors and advisors, and we incorporate the final showcase in the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit, the continent’s flagship event for investors, by investors.

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%)

We will evaluate your market traction, revenue streams, and unit economics. If any outside funding has been raised before, it’s a plus.

Eligibility criteria – Series A

• Your company is for-profit and registered as an independent legal entity;
• You have a product or service available on the market and generate revenue;
• Your product or service is clearly innovative and/or your business model is new, disruptive and designed for scale;
• You have a very strong management team of at least 3 people;
• Your team is based in one or more countries on the African continent;
• At least one of the founders has an African nationality;
• You are seeking Series A investment in the range of $500K – $10M*;
• While there will be exceptions, most likely your startup has already received external investment, structured as either debt or equity, or received grants from donor organizations.

Eligibility criteria – Seed

• 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.