recent startup pitch events in london, summer 2019

As a tech startup mentor, I'm often invited to attend pitch events. I've attended several this Summer and wanted to write a short summary about them.

The Startups for Africa Showcase, Google Campus
There were 5 startups, each delivering 5 minute pitches, followed by a Q&A session. Startups included:
• Smiling Through Light, which employs local women to provide clean, reliable and sustainable energy in Sierra Leone and Africa. Mariama Kamara. #smilingthroughlight
• Survey54, that provides research data for businesses operating in emerging markets, including Africa, and the Middle East. Stephan Eyeson. #survey54
• AfriClick, a networking and dating app for black African and Caribbean professionals and creatives. Dayo Akinrinade. #africlick
• Kapsule, a pharmaceutical distributor assuring affordable, authentic and accessible medicines delivered to patients in Africa via blockchain technology. David Chen. #kapsule.life
• FroHub, the social marketplace for black hair, beauty and fashion. Rahel Tesfai. #frohub
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Some interesting highlights:
Mariama explaining her company's focus on stories to develop rapport and promote sales. 
Western consumers have reached the point of “survey fatigue.” However, this trend is not prevalent in Africa yet and many Africans are happy to chat with researchers! AfriClick allows sickle cell carriers to date safely. Africans pay around 20x more for their medicines, but as many as 1 in 6 products are counterfeit which leads to many thousands of deaths every year.
Thanks to Bayo Adelaja of #doitnownow for hosting such a thought provoking showcase! 
Contact her, or the founders to find out more, or if you'd like to invest!A shout out to new and diverse tech startups!
This week I attended the Startups for Africa Showcase at Google Campus. 
There were 5 startups, each delivering 5 minute pitches, followed by a Q&A session. Startups included:
• Smiling Through Light, which employs local women to provide clean, reliable and sustainable energy in Sierra Leone and Africa. Mariama Kamara. #smilingthroughlight
• Survey54, that provides research data for businesses operating in emerging markets, including Africa, and the Middle East. Stephan Eyeson. #survey54
• AfriClick, a networking and dating app for black African and Caribbean professionals and creatives. Dayo Akinrinade. #africlick
• Kapsule, a pharmaceutical distributor assuring affordable, authentic and accessible medicines delivered to patients in Africa via blockchain technology. David Chen. #kapsule.life
• FroHub, the social marketplace for black hair, beauty and fashion. Rahel Tesfai. #frohub
Some interesting highlights:
Mariama explaining her company's focus on stories to develop rapport and promote sales. 
Western consumers have reached the point of “survey fatigue.” However, this trend is not prevalent in Africa yet and many Africans are happy to chat with researchers! AfriClick allows sickle cell carriers to date safely. Africans pay around 20x more for their medicines, but as many as 1 in 6 products are counterfeit which leads to many thousands of deaths every year.
Thanks to Bayo Adelaja of #doitnownow for hosting such a thought provoking showcase! 
Contact her, or the founders to find out more, or if you'd like to invest!A shout out to new and diverse tech startups!
This week I attended the Startups for Africa Showcase at Google Campus. 
There were 5 startups, each delivering 5 minute pitches, followed by a Q&A session. Startups included:
• Smiling Through Light, which employs local women to provide clean, reliable and sustainable energy in Sierra Leone and Africa. Mariama Kamara. #smilingthroughlight
• Survey54, that provides research data for businesses operating in emerging markets, including Africa, and the Middle East. Stephan Eyeson. #survey54
• AfriClick, a networking and dating app for black African and Caribbean professionals and creatives. Dayo Akinrinade. #africlick
• Kapsule, a pharmaceutical distributor assuring affordable, authentic and accessible medicines delivered to patients in Africa via blockchain technology. David Chen. #kapsule.life
• FroHub, the social marketplace for black hair, beauty and fashion. Rahel Tesfai. #frohub
Some interesting highlights:
Mariama explaining her company's focus on stories to develop rapport and promote sales. 
Western consumers have reached the point of “survey fatigue.” However, this trend is not prevalent in Africa yet and many Africans are happy to chat with researchers! AfriClick allows sickle cell carriers to date safely. Africans pay around 20x more for their medicines, but as many as 1 in 6 products are counterfeit which leads to many thousands of deaths every year.

Thanks to Bayo Adelaja of #doitnownow for hosting such a thought provoking showcase! 

Contact her, or the founders to find out more, or if you'd like to invest!
​All hashtags are for Instagram.
​

SETsquared Graduate Acceleration Showcase 2019
I was invited to attend a series of pitches at Deloitte's auditorium at New Street Square, London in June, where 19 startups from the universities of Southampton, Bath, Bristol, Exeter, and Surrey pitched their startups. 

The shadow minister for BEIS Dr Alan Whitehead MP attended, and gave an introduction to the final pitch session of the day.

Just a few of the startups that pitched included:

• Boon - uses AI to generate gift suggestions based on personality type.
• Neuro AI - who have designed a chip to improve performance for businesses using AI, which can be both resource intensive and slow to work with.
• Intro - changing the way people network by using heatmapping to allow event organisers to understand how customers use and move through the space available during an event, also allowing attendees to digitally track who they met with at an event. 
• Compact Cane - led by a female Mechanical Design Engineering graduate. Their digital cane allows blind people to navigate better with its ability to detect curbs and steps, also removing the stigma of the traditional white cane which has been reported by people who are blind.

It’s great to see all the fresh ideas coming our way!

If you're a VC, or Angel, please get in touch with SETsquared regarding investment opportunities.

Zinc Accelerator, Show and Tell
The aim was to showcase Zinc's mission lead startups, focused on supporting people and locations at risk of being left behind by globalisation and automation.
From mental health and unemployment, to the exposure of sexual harrassment, and the difficulties that poor access to transportation creates, it was an enlightening un-demo day.
The entrepreneurs did a great job of painting a picture of what life looks like for the people and communities affected by these issues.
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Author

Kay Kukoyi (K.N. Kukoyi CSM FITOL).

Kay is the founder of Purposeful Products and Tech Startup Academy™. 
She is a software delivery specialist, speaker, and the author of 5 books for SMEs and entrepreneurs, including the international Amazon bestseller, Don't Hire a Software Developer Until You Read this Book. 
Kay is an Enterprise Nation small business advisor, and a tech startup mentor for WeWork Labs, the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator, and the We in Social Tech Accelerator. She has a diploma (DiP IM) in Internet Marketing, is a Certified ScrumMaster®, qualified coach, and a Fellow of The Institute of Training and Occupational Learning.
Kay has spent more than a decade leading, and working in software delivery teams, on high-profile, multi-million pound tech projects for companies including Sky News and The SThree Group.
https://www.crunchbase.com/person/kay-kukoyi

Purposeful Products is a business and technology consultancy that supports small businesses and pre-seed /early stage tech startups led by founders without a technical background. 
The company creates and delivers tech-specific workshops and programmes for incubators and accelerators, and runs an "Open Incubator" called the Tech Startup Academy™, which includes a full programme offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to gain an accredited diploma, as well as a range of individual workshops - all specifically designed for tech startup founders.
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We’re on a mission to help new founders get from “idea to launch” the SMART way as they bring their software products to life. Having heard far too many horror stories about the confusion, misadventures, and “tech startup dramas” experienced by software entrepreneurs without a technical background, we're here to provide insights and help software entrepreneurs to avoid pitfalls as they build their businesses.