Raino was among the 10 startups selected to pitch at the Samurai Incubate Africa pitch event as it seeks regional startups for its $3.4 million fund. TechMoran had earlier announced the pitch event as organized by Leapfrog Ventures but Samurai Incubate Africa and Growth Africa took the lead. The other startups included Bluewave, TalkLift, Uzapoint, Medbit, OZE, Ridesafe, Julla, Tovuti, Afrijob and Hoji. Bluewave Insurance creates an innovative mass market microinsurance products accessible via mobile devices while Hoji is an automated research platform helping NGOs and research consultants automate their research and decision making process. Afrijob is a pan-African jobs platform connecting African talent in Africa and in the diaspora to opportunities at home while Julla is a point of sale financing platform enabling users to purchase items now and pay later. Medbit, like its name is an online medical platform allowing patients the ability to book appointments and seek treatment online and via the mobile phone while OZE provides investment-readiness data to SMEs. Ridesafe offers real-time Emergency Response to motorbike riders and passengers in the event of an accident. TalkLift is an AI platform for helping businesses manage conversations with their customers from different communication channels while Tovuti is a software solutions firm offering point of sale, card and mobile payments and retail solutions to its customers. Uzapoint is an ERP tool for SMEs. It was surprising that the NGO-style Raino Tech4Impact won the hearts of the judges and raised equity funding and not the other conventional startups at the pitch event. However, the judges vindicate the social entreprise. “The reason why I choose Raino Tech4Impact is because in Africa the population is growing very fast and the problem of food shortage and wastage is also growing and is now a very big problem and the point is how much of a difference. So I felt we can have more synergies between us and help grow this business and make it bigger,” Samurai Incubate Africa CEO Mr. Takuma Terakubo explained. Founded in 2014, the social enterprise uses technology to build solutions in health, agriculture, sports, green energy and offer business support services in a move to champion Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It’s founder was also surprised on being the best startup at the pitch event. “I am very surprised to have been selected as the winner, I honestly didn’t expect it because I was very late and I even used a boda boda to get here. I am very happy because this money will go towards helping those people who at the bottom of the pyramid to compete with a lot of fish imports. This money will give them a leverage to have an edge in competing power and be able to sell their fish more effectively and at the end of the day be able to grow and improve their livelihood,” said Francis Nderĩtũ, the Managing Director of Raino Tech4Impact.
