Calling SA disruptors!

Applications are open for the second Seed Engine Business Accelerator which is offering R100 000 each for up to ten tech business ideas and a 13 week boot camp.

The programme offers coaching, mentoring, workspace and access to investors on demo day where more than R2 million per venture can be raised for second round funding.

Seed Engine has already selected six ventures for its first 13 week accelerator boot camp from more than 300 applications which is currently underway in Sandton, Johannesburg with the first demo day taking place on 3 May. A number of these businesses have been selected for international start-up competitions and have started to raise additional capital.

Says Marc Elias, CEO of Seed Engine, ‚”The search is on to find up to ten distinctive and disruptive business concepts. There’s been a dearth of tech start ups in South Africa, but we are turning this around by growing an integrated ecosystem which will contribute to job creation. We are looking for early stage entrepreneurs who have ideas which have international application. Seed Engine is South Africa’s first true business accelerator and we are looking to grow ideas into top commercial realities. We offer entrepreneurs extensive support and access to the right investor networks.‚”

The Seed Engine accelerator model includes seven main features:

1. A highly competitive application process

2. Seed capital in exchange for equity

3. Focus on small teams, not necessarily one founder

4. Intensive mentoring and coaching and a fixed calendar of events

5. Ten ventures per accelerator programme

6. Introduction to investors for further funding

7. International exposure.

Entrepreneurs can enter by going to www.seedengine.co.za and completing the application process. The next programme begins in June 2013. The application should clarify points of difference, scalability, disruptive strategies and team details.

Seed Engine is a Redwood Capital initiative powered by proud supporters of entrepreneurship, as well as support for employment creation in South Africa.

Investors interested in finding out more about these ventures are invited to Demo Day on 3 May in Johannesburg.

Christo Fourie, Head of the Industrial Development Corporation Venture Capital Business Unit commented, ‚”I was very impressed with the quality of investment pitches made by the Seed Engine ventures. They all made a clear and concise presentation on the uniqueness of their technologies, of what the value proposition is to their respective target markets, of how they intend to access these markets and most importantly of what their revenue models will be. Each one of the ventures has the potential to be a huge success.‚”

First Seed Engine Business Accelerator winners currently in residence

Founders

IntelliCred.com is an online brand protection and authentication business, enabling businesses to protect their brands, control their members and affiliates and increase their revenues through secure and trackable channels and trust seals.

Shana Kay

Cirqls.com brings trust into the online shopping experience by connecting buyers and sellers via their social circles, creating a new channel of e-commerce.

Mark Karimov (CEO), Donovan Solms (CTO)

After-Class.co.za is a social education network offering peer-to-peer support for students and teachers across school borders, allowing users to share relevant curriculum based content and updates with their communities

Bryan Vlok

Zehoo.me is a mobile document aggregator that grabs, filters and organises users’ documents from multiple sources, in a simple and easy to use manner. The app is geared to enhance the user experience they currently grapple with the problem of having multiple boxes of information.

Robin Bayhack (CEO), Adrian Sandu (CTO)

ChowHub is an online restaurant discovery and order platform built to satisfy its customers. The team have developed a user-friendly system that will ultimately be the destination food platform for all restaurants and customers.

Ismail Dhorat, Alireza Sadeghi

OnQ optimises restaurant processes, making them more efficient throughout the dining and retail experience. The cloud based POS brings a new element of disruption to the industry.

Dimitri Mallis (CEO)