Nigeria’s Farmcrowdy is the only African company in the 2017 Class of Techstars Atlanta, in partnership with Cox Enterprises. Onyeka Akumah’s crowdfunding for small-scale agriculture company is one of the ten companies selected from applications for the program which came from 42 countries with over a third from international companies. Techstars Atlanta saw the most applications from Nigeria, Israel, India and the U.K.
Techstars is a worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, and strong partners and mentors help make this happen.
This new class will now begin an intensive, three-month bootcamp-style program, with weekly mentor meetings, classes and training in subjects ranging from marketing to sales to funding, and technical and business support. They will work out of Techstars Atlanta’s Ponce City Market space.
The program culminates in Demo Day on Oct. 10, where the companies make their pitch to hundreds of investors.
Building a diverse cohort was important to the Techstars Atlanta team, says Tyler Scriven, Techstars Atlanta’s Managing Director.
“Techstars overall seeks to include diversity, whether its related to the founder’s company idea, ethnicity or gender,” said Scriven. “I’m proud that our 2017 class captures these areas, as well as geographic diversity. A variety of perspectives and cultures helps us build better companies.”
Here are the 2017 companies for Techstars Atlanta, in partnership with Cox Enterprises:
- 2ULaundry | Charlotte, NC | On-demand laundry and dry cleaning services.
- Bloveit | Atlanta, GA | Curated date night experiences.
- Collider Tech | Chattanooga, TN | Stand-alone, end-to-end additive manufacturing technology.
- Farmcrowdy | Lagos, Nigeria | Crowdfunding for small-scale agriculture.
- Fraudmarc | Atlanta, GA | Cyber security service aimed at protecting corporate identity.
- Landing Lion | Atlanta, GA | Landing pages for the modern marketer.
- MoQuality | Atlanta, GA | AI platform for mobile QA.
- TheMonetizr | Riga, Latvia | In-game monetization platform for merchandise purchases.
- Rapid RMS | Chattanooga, TN | Retail POS system for fuel service stations and convenience stores.
- Vlipsy | Canton, OH | Video clip soundboard.
Techstars global portfolio of more than 1,000 companies have raised over $3.5 billion in funding, and last year’s Techstars Atlanta class has raised over $7 million. Nearly 75 percent of Techstars graduate companies receive follow-on funding and/or became profitable soon after program end.
