Winners of the African App Launchpad Cup have been announced

The winners of the third edition of the African App Launchpad Cup, aimed at supporting African tech startups in the field of digital applications and game development, have been announced by Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA).

ITIDA, the executive arm of Egypt’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), founded to spearhead the development of the country’s IT industry, partnered with IBM for this year’s edition of the competition, which is part of the presidential initiative “African App Launchpad,” which aims to develop the skills and abilities of 10,000 African youth, in addition to offering support to 100 African startups in the field of digital applications and game development.

The competition featured two tracks: application development and game development, with prizes totaling up to $72,000 awarded to the winners. With its hybrid cloud strategy, IBM will assist startup companies and next-generation developer communities in gaining access to a variety of its data and AI innovations.

In total, 245 startups from 16 African countries applied to compete in the final round, with 50 making it to the first qualifying round and 28 making it to the final. Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, was present via video conference as the results were announced.

Six startups took the top three spots in each of the competition’s two tracks, earning a total cash prize of $48,000. The other teams that advanced to the finals received a cash prize of US$1,000 from MCIT.

Africa Innovation Technology Group from Cameroon took first place in the App Development track, followed by Boxconn Technologies from Ghana and Qme from Egypt, and Arete Consulting from Egypt took third place. Dimension11 from Nigeria took first place in the Game Development Track, and Alkemiza from South Africa took third place.