Here Are South Africa's Top 5 Most Exciting Startups 2019

With over 600 nominations, months of preparation and weeks of anticipation, here are the winners of South Africa’s Top 5 Most Exciting Startups 2019.

Last night, at an inspiring event hosted by Heavy Chef and Workshop17, MCs Caley Africa and Siyabonga Mbaba Wilson announced the top five final selection after the Chairman of Heavy Chef Foundation, Mr Louis Janse van Rensburg recapped the adjudication process.

The Top 5 were selected from a shortlist of 12 startups. The twelve companies had been chosen after entries closed in November and a panel of six judges pored over the results. Shortlisted companies were, in alphabetical order:

• 3x4 Genetics

• DigsConnect

• Dorp

• Finchatbot

• Franc

• LULA

• MamaMoney

• Myfanpark

• Offerzen

• Pineapple

• Trusted Interns

• Quicket

Louis Janse van Rensburg, the Judge Chair of the 2019 selection committee then curated a second round of judging before pulling together the final five.

At the event, hosted at the mezzanine event venue at Workshop17 Watershed, Van Rensburg handed five envelopes to the judges to read out the winners.

The final five, in alphabetical order:

• 3x4 Genetics

• DigsConnect

• LULA

• MamaMoney

• Myfanpark

Van Rensburg said after the event: “This was an extraordinary tough challenge. Anyone who says that South Africa is ‘going down’ has another thing coming. it was such a privilege to attain a close-up view of the remarkable talent the SA startup sector is displaying. It was extremely tricky for the judges to make the final selection. There are some real standouts in the final 12, and even in the running before the shortlist.”

JUDGES:

• Alexandra Fraser, Fraser Consulting

• Shirley Gilbey, Director, UK-SA Tech Hub

• Keet van Zyl, Knife Capital

• Lauren Dallas, CEO Future Females

• Louis Janse van Rensburg, CEO Glengarry Capital (Judge Chairman)

• Lukhanyo Neer, Investor, GM TMF Youth Hub

• Paul Keursten, CEO Workshop17

• Sandras Phiri, GM Startup Grind

PREVIOUS WINNERS:

• 2017: Yoco, SweepSouth, Wala, Zoona, Jumo

• 2018: Aerobotics, DataProphet, LifeCheq, LifeQ, Thursdays

The award evening was the final event in the Cape Town Startup Week 2019 schedule, held at Workshop17 between 3-5th December.