Ten start-ups emerged as top innovators shortlisted to proceed to the Demo Day of the NPI 2.0 Prize, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has announced.
The shortlisted innovators include Yalo Technologies, BetaLife Health, Magic Carpet Studios, MaterialsPro, Doktorconnect, PaveHQ, VPay Africa, TribaPay, Kunda Kids and Sycamore.
The NSIA said on Wednesday in Abuja that the ten innovators were shortlisted after a week-long accelerator programme (physical bootcamp) that culminated in the recently concluded mini-demo day event, where 25 innovators pitched their solutions before an expert panel of business and technology leaders.
The successful businesses, the Authority said, were drawn from multiple sectors of the nation’s economy after evaluations based on key parameters like scalability, product-to-market fit, financial projections, unique value proposition, competitor analysis and targeted market size, among others.
The companies, which would participate in a five-week, all-expense paid training at Draper University, Silicon Valley USA, would, on Demo Day, vie for a combined prize money of $220,000.
The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Aminu Umar-Sadiq expressed delight at the growing acceptance of the NPI programme in the Nigerian technology ecosystem.
The Authority recognises the pivotal role that technology plays to propel positive socio-economic outcomes, hence our commitment to expand the development of this sector,” Umar-Sadiq said. “Through the NPI, we remain focused on advancing innovative solutions to domestic challenges, capacity building for early-stage businesses and economic empowerment through job creation”, he added.
The is NSIA’s strategic initiative to identify, nurture and build early-stage businesses for transformative impact.
The prize, which is currently in its second year, has rapidly gained acceptance within the technology and start-up ecosystem, as more credible and eligible Nigerian innovators showed significant interest in winning it.
Organisers said responses to the invitation for the submission of application by prospective contestants in the first quarter of the year yielded over 7,000 applications, which was pruned down to 100 businesses at virtual accelerator stage before further reduction to 26 businesses for the physical bootcamp.
Finally, 25 businesses progressed to the mini-demo day out of which the top ten innovators emerged from.
The organisers said the four-stage competition focused on enhancing the Nigerian technology eco-system and aligns with NSIA’s mandate to catalyse economic development in Nigeria.
