be prepared

Brief

This year, AfricArena will organize 4 hybrid events across 4 regions in Africa, in building up to the annual AfricArena Summit in Cape Town. The regional events will bring together startups, investors and corporations and other key stakeholders operating in the Region. 25 startups from the Region will be selected to showcase their innovation at each regional event. The day before the Regional Summit, the founders will participate in a full-day boot camp for pitching skills and business development. These Regional Summits will act as a semi-final pitch session before our Grand Summit in Cape Town in December 2021. 

The West Africa Summit will take place in Dakar, Senegal on 22nd and 23rd June 2021. 

Building up to the West Africa Summit, AfricArena will invite the region's most promising tech startups to pitch their innovation in a series of virtual events. If the startups WOW the judges, they will fly to Dakar to participate in workshops and showcase on an even bigger stage.

Expectation

Building up to the West Africa Summit, AfricArena will invite the region's most promising tech startups to pitch their innovation in a series of virtual events, divided by stage: Seed, Series A and Growth. 

  • The Seed Stage pitch session will take place on Tuesday 25 May (APPLICATION DEADLINE is 21 May)
  • The Seed/Series A pitch session will take place on Tuesday 8 June (APPLICATION DEADLINE is 4 June)
  • The Series A/Growth Stage pitch session will take place on Thursday 10 June (APPLICATION DEADLINE is 7 June)

mission

AfricArena's mission is to provide a platform for Africa's most promising tech startups to meet investors and corporations.

Submission Requirements

GEOGRAPHIC AREA

For this challenge we will consider:

Startups based and/or operating in Western Africa.

MATURITY CRITERIA

Existing product/service (Minimal Viable Product), market traction and customer validation.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Required to apply

Pitch deck: 10 slides max (ppt, pdf) 

Submit to Win

Prizes & rewards

NETWORK

For the selected startups

Meet key actors of the West Africa startup ecosystem - VCs, angels, corporates, and other founders

WIN

For all the selected startups

Participate in the Founders Bootcamp powered by the Impact Hub Dakar.

PITCH

For the selected startups

Participate and pitch at the West Africa Summit, and stand a chance of advancing to pitch at the grand stage of the AfricArena Summit.