The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), in collaboration with RiseUp
Summit, announced the winners of the African App Launchpad Cup on Saturday, the last day of RiseUp Summit 2019, held
at the American University in Cairo (AUC).
Agora, Bouita, Arcanium Studios, 247Medic, Find Me Football and Alkottab Game Studio received a total of $60,000 in
cash prizes divided per each track -- gaming and application development tracks -- to help build and grow their
businesses.
The selected startups were chosen from a group of 28 finalists who belong to more than nine countries from across
Africa.
For the gaming track, Agora from Egypt won the first prize, worth $15,000, while Alkottab Game Studio walked away
with $10,000 for the second prize and Arcanium Studios came third, winning $5,000.
For the application development track, Bouita from Algeria won the first prize of $15,000, while the second and the
third prize were equally shared between Find Me Football from Egypt and 247Medic from Nigeria, winning $7,500
each.
ITIDA vice president, and TIEC Chairperson Hossam Othman said that all the competing ideas were innovative and
across diverse industries such as health, sports, and tourism, adding that there were a lot of creative ideas from
Nigeria, Algeria, and Egypt.
"It’s the first of its kind competition in Africa and it comes as part of the government’s role in supporting
entrepreneurship and tech innovation across Africa," the statement read.
“We were impressed when we saw how the entrepreneurship scene across Africa is generating innovative ideas like what
we saw at the pitch competition today. Collaborating with ITIDA on the African App Launchpad Cup is another step
that we believe will widen the opportunities we are offering to the startups through the RiseUp summit,” Abdel-Hamid
Sharara, Co-founder and CEO of RiseUp, said.
The winners got a chance to join an accelerator programme provided by TIEC of ITIDA and were granted exhibition
spaces during the RiseUp Summit, in addition to certified training grants for all teams through the African App
Launchpad.
ITIDA collaborated with RiseUp to launch the pitch competition in Africa a few months ago. The competition invited
startups working in either gaming or application development from nine different African countries to participate in
the contest that offers grants totaling $60,000.
The competition is part of the Africa App Launchpad, a presidential initiative that targets building the capacity of
10,000 learners and establishing 100 startups while positioning Egypt as a hub for startups in Africa by gathering
some of the continent’s best startups in one place.
This year, over 190 startups applied to present at the pitch and 30 were selected from countries including Egypt,
Nigeria, and Ghana.
