Applications are now open for the Seed Challenge for African and Middle East startups. The Seed Challenge is powered by Orange Ventures, the investment arm of telecommunications giant Orange.
Orange Ventures plans to invest a total of €500,000 in the MEA startup ecosystem as a result of this challenge, with up to seven seed-stage startups benefitting from an investment of between €50,000 and €150,000.
The Challenge is open to startups in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal, and Tunisia and it is aimed at projects in the start-up phase, with high growth potential, which are essentially based on new technologies.
The investees will be announced in September and they will receive an investment of €150,000 as well as three months of support from challenge partner, Seedstars.
“As a major player in supporting the digital ecosystem in our territories, it is important for Orange to provide a financing solution in addition to our training and support activities for entrepreneurs in Africa and the Middle East,” says Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Africa and the Middle East.
“With the Orange Ventures team, we are proud to launch this first initiative which aims to identify, help and promote exceptional entrepreneurs, who have the courage and drive to launch new projects and who, like us, believe in the potential of this continent.
Orange Ventures and 7 @orangeafrica countries launch the MEA Seed Challenge, a competition to finance #entrepreneurs of seed #startups in #MiddleEast & #Africa
Read about: https://t.co/9GRug7kaJq
and Apply: https://t.co/OA3st6oaIy #SeedFunding #VC #Tech4All #innovation pic.twitter.com/xpCJKzmPP2— Orange Ventures (@Orange_DV) June 3, 2020
“This is the first step before strengthening our investment activities in the Middle East and Africa, aiming to support the future digital champions throughout their different maturity and growth stages,” adds Jérôme Berger, CEO of Orange Ventures.
Orange Ventures is a benchmark venture capital investor in Africa, present on the continent since 2017. With 50 million euros under management, Orange Ventures MEA has invested in five start-ups, mainly in Series A and B, in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and Ethiopia.
Apply here and Submit your application by July 19th.
