A showcase for start-up companies

CAPE Town is fast positioning itself as the tech hub of Africa with innovative start-up companies springing up almost monthly.

This week 10 start-up tech company finalists pitched to investors and tech gurus at the Startupbootcamp Afritech demo day, where they were able to showcase their business ideas based on finance, insurance and transport.

Cape Town company Lüla has an app that connects companies with private shuttles which provide transport for their workers.

Founder and chief executive Velani Mboweni said the company was working on pilot programmes with companies to provide “safe, affordable and convenient transport”.

He said the system was the first cashless, mobile payments ticketing system for shared transport.

Lüla has attracted seven companies’ attention with a combined pool of around 20 000 workers.

Akiba Digital is a financial savings platform and personal savings coach that uses artificial intelligence machine learning and gamification.

The app is aimed at tech-savvy millennials who struggle to save money. Co-founder Kamogelo Kekana said the app was a financial education distribution platform powered by a digital coach, Gugu.

“Tools include incentivising positive spending and savings behaviours, financial literacy, and behavioural coaching and accountability via Gugu, delivered in a fun and quirky gamified experience,” said Kekana. |