Nigeria’s finalist in the Seedstars World Competition 2020/21, Ladda lost out to Malaysian FinTech startup Finology. Finology, a startup that enables seamless access to financial products via the use of proprietary technology and digital distribution channels, emerged as the Global Winner of $500K in equity investment.
The Seedstars competition, which was virtual this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had 94 startup ecosystems across Latin America, Africa, Middle East, Eastern and Central Europe and Asia. The Seedstars team narrowed down over 5,000 startup applications to the top five startup finalists.
The five finalists of this year’s competition included startups from five regions:
- Ladda (Nigeria)- A startup democratizing access to investment for retail investors backed up by financial literacy.
- Fulfillment Bridge (Tunisia)- A cloud based global e-commerce logistics platform offering warehousing in 4 continents, fulfillment, shipping, return management and more.
- Finology (Malaysia)- Finology enables seamless access to financial products via the use of our technology & ready digital distribution channels.
- Pegasi (Venezuela)- Makes healthcare information accessible, clear and useful for patients, physicians and service providers in the developing world.
- IMAN (Uzbekistan)- A marketplace that brings together merchants, shoppers, and investors at the point of sale using the principles of Islamic finance.
Founded in 2020, Ladda is led by Tosin Oladeinde. Ladda is a mobile finance app that offers users access to micro-investment opportunities. Ladda emerged the regional winner in Africa.
After deliberation, Finology emerged as this year’s Global Winner. Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Seedstars Alisée de Tonnac shared, “Finology showed us a lot of promise in their mission to bridge together financial institutions and individuals by making financial products accessible for everyone. The Seedstars team believes that they will effectively help lead the way forward in the ever increasing digitization of the financial sector. A big congratulations from Seedstars to the Finology team!”
The jury for this year’s edition included Salman T. Jaffrey, CIO of Wa’ed Ventures, Shannon Kala-yana-mitr, CEO of 5G Catalyst Technologies and Advisor at Gobi partners, and Charlie Graham-Brown, CIO of Seedstars.
To rewatch the Grand Finale broadcast of the Seedstars World Competition for 2020/21, visit: http://seedsta.rs/SSW20GrandFinale.
