10 African startups will pitch at NBA Africa’s Triple-Double accelerator demo day.
In order to wrap up the Triple-Double accelerator program, NBA Africa has revealed the ten companies from seven African nations who have been chosen to present their products to a panel of global industry professionals on September 25 at a demo day.
NBA Africa manages the league’s operations in Africa, including the Basketball Africa League (BAL), and is an affiliate of the National Basketball Association (NBA), a global sports and media organization.
Disrupt Africa announced in April that applications for Triple-Double, an accelerator program for businesses that will give financial awards and other forms of support to African startups in their early stages, were now being accepted.
Triple-Double, run by tech incubator ALX Ventures, targets early-stage African businesses creating products in the areas of youth development, artificial intelligence (AI), digital marketing for sports and creative industries, and event management and ticketing.
After being chosen to participate in the program, ten African companies were partnered with mentors from ALX, NBA Africa, and other corporate stakeholders to receive advice on go-to-market strategy, product development, and company growth.
These ten startups will now present at a demo day at the NBA headquarters in New York City on September 25. There, a panel will select the four best startups, who will receive mentorship and financial support in addition to the chance to take part in development programs and workshops led by NBA Africa or its partners.
Four Nigerian startups were chosen: Festival Coins, which provides a customizable, no-code platform for event registration and ticketing; Buzza, which helps sports organizations improve their operations through digital solutions; Naemo Global, which has developed proprietary scouting software that uses data analytics and AI; and Salubata, which makes modular shoes repurposed from plastic waste.
They are joined by Kenya’s HustleSasa, which offers live event services that support payment processing, attendee check-in, merchandise sales, customer data management, influencer tracking, and more; Rwanda’s Backrest, which offers venues and event organizers a wearable technology solution called WristWrist to facilitate cashless payments at event venues; and Ivory Coast’s Gara, a video game and comics platform that encourages and facilitates the distribution of digital entertainment experiences on the continent.
The Power to Girls Foundation in Ghana, which offers the My Power App, a social networking and mentoring platform aimed at empowering and supporting women and girls between the ages of 13 and 20, Egypt’s UBR VR, which offers cutting-edge, fully immersive in-person virtual reality (VR) experiences, and Vambo Technologies in South Africa, which offers a digital language technology platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide real-time translation, content creation, and language learning technology, round out the cohort.
“We have been inspired by the level of talent and creativity from all of the applicants, and we congratulate the 10 deserving finalists who will showcase their innovative solutions at Demo Day later this month,” said NBA Africa CEO Clare Akamanzi. “NBA Africa is committed to supporting the continued growth of startups on the continent, including the four prize-winners whose innovative solutions will further elevate the sport and creative industries in Africa for years to come.”
