From December 2-5, 2019, Digital Renter will be joining 24 other finalists from 24 African countries for the Seedstars regional competition in South Africa.
This will be to select the best startup to represent Africa in the Seedstars World startups competition in Switzerland. Here, other Regional finalists will come from Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Latin America, Central Eastern Europe & Central Asia to compete with the African finalist at the Global competition.
It will be an amazing chance to meet with investors, build a global network and grow businesses. Do not forge, there is up to USD 1000,000 investment on offer to the winning startup and additional money prizes.
Before a jury of four, Fongoh Martin, founder of Digital Renter was able to prove his startup was the next African Real Estate marketplace for seed investors to invest in . He marvelled them; Rebecca Enonchong, Anthony Same, Willy Delort Heubo and Serge Ntamack with his wonderful Web/Mobile App solution in 8mins.
Fongoh Martin pitching at Seedstars Douala
The 3hour pitching session took place at ActivSpaces Douala on October 11, 2019. This event was announced to startups in the country, months ahead of the D-day. More than 20 startups applied but just 10 were selected to mount the stage on the pitching day.
“We had a pre-pitching session on Tuesday October 8, before Seedstars’ Regional event Manager for Africa, Adaeze Zita. Out of the 25 who pitched on Tuesday, 10 of us were selected to go on stage on Friday October 12 in order to select the local finalist, said Martin.
So, 10 founders mounted the pulpit, pitched their ideas, answered questions from the jury but Digital Renter was proclaimed winner of the Seedstars Douala competition.
Why? It solves a real life problem, it is providing a new approach to solving poor property management and the team is very committed and resilient; Digital Renter has been existing since 2016, when the Anglophone crisis started. Their persistent existence in the crisis hit region, Buea shows how strong/dedicated the team is.
“Startups came from different sectors like Health, Agriculture, Education, Real Estate and E-commerce, Transportation and logistics etc. I was really scared before going on stage. I knew I was competing with other startups who have gone for different competitions and are better than Digital Renter. It took us so many pitch rehearsals and product updates to win this competition”. Martin added.
When asked what he is doing as preparations to face hiscounterparts from the other African Countries, Martin revealed his team is working very hard to complete their Mobile Application, expand to their target market (Douala, Yaounde, Bafoussam etc.) and get financial and investment plans ready.
Digital Renter is an all-in-one real estate site that gives house searchers the local views about homes for rent, homes for sale, plots of land for sale, markets and trends to help them figure out exactly what, where, and when to buy, sell or rent.
Digital Renter was also the winner of the 2018 Enkap Hackathon sponsored by Maviance Cameroon.
Digital Renter wins Enkap Hackarhon
It has a team of four dedicated young Cameroonians.
Digital Renter in one of the startups incubated at ActivSpaces since 2016. Winning competitions like this is a good way for the startup to market itself and its product.
Seedstars World on the other hand is a Switzerland based startup competition that takes place in emerging markets.
It gives training, identify and select the best seed-stage startup from each country. It awards the winners with an opportunity to compete in a Regional Event to get qualified to join the Seedstars Global Summit in Switzerland. There, one of them will be crowned Seedstars World Global Winner.
Seedstars and ActivSpaces have been working as partners to organise the seedstars pitching competitions at the local level for 3 years.
ActivSpaces wishes all startups going in for the Regionals in South Africa goodluck.