Nikolai Barnwell

Hivisasa is Africa’s first crowdsourced news site that believes that societies function best when information flows freely among people. Consequently, Hivisasa’s innovative platform allows you to not only discover untold stories but to also write your own. Born five years ago, Hivisasa now reaches over two million Kenyan readers a month, whose engagement helps support 1,500+ pioneering local writers. As a Kenyan company, community is at the heart of everything Hivisasa does. All Hivisasa editors are local and proud to collaborate with writers from all walks of life to bring you the news you need to stay ahead. Hivisasa is backed by Luminate (formally Omidyar Network) and Novastar Ventures.

Mdundo is a music service providing Africa with easy and affordable access of music. We tap into the 135,000,000 downloads of African music every month with our free music service and connect Africas biggest brands to our audience. We collect rights to an increasingly popular unique Africa music catalogue. The customer can download and stream the music legally from our mobile website and android app free of charge and we tab in to Africa’s growing digital advertisement industry. Markets: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Rwanda.

88mph is a seed fund. We invest in early stage mobile-web companies targeting the African market. We are currently testing a new funding model, called DealWeek. We have joined forces with some great founders turned investors who will spend a week with us and some startups evaluating, advising, and making investment deals happen. To apply go to 88mph.ac, the deadline is February 8th, 2015. DealWeek is from Feb 16 -22, 2015. Since 2011, we have invested in 43 startups across Africa - 34 in Kenya and South Africa, and 9 through 440.ng, our joint venture with L5Lab in Nigeria. We have run 5 accelerator programs, a unique and competitive setting where startups spend three intensive months together, meeting with mentors & investors, launching products, and finding customers. Besides funding, startups have access to experienced founders to help them with focus, products, teams, structure, and strategy. We also provide access to Africa’s biggest growth markets via our networks and tech hubs - the Garages - in Nairobi and Cape Town and Lagos.

Hivisasa is Africa’s first crowdsourced news site that believes that societies function best when information flows freely among people. Consequently, Hivisasa’s innovative platform allows you to not only discover untold stories but to also write your own. Born five years ago, Hivisasa now reaches over two million Kenyan readers a month, whose engagement helps support 1,500+ pioneering local writers. As a Kenyan company, community is at the heart of everything Hivisasa does. All Hivisasa editors are local and proud to collaborate with writers from all walks of life to bring you the news you need to stay ahead. Hivisasa is backed by Luminate (formally Omidyar Network) and Novastar Ventures.

betPawa is one of Africa’s most popular online sports betting brands. The betPawa brand is trusted and used by over 10 million people across Africa. Our customers enjoy betPawa for its simplicity, reliability and security. The mobile-first product with fast and secure mobile money payments, is designed to provide a reliable and easy-to-use interface. We offer the smallest stakes in the market and a generous Win Bonus that’s available on all bets with three legs or more to all new and existing customers - meaning all our customers have the opportunity to bet SMALL and win BIG. betPawa prides itself on offering our customers the best clients services in the industry. A dedicated team of agents work around-the-clock to provide localised support in each of the countries the brand operates in. The importance of betting responsibly is constantly championed at betPawa. Robust security measures and State-of-the-Art verification features make betting with betPawa safe. Our secure online environment helps prevent fraudulent activities, protect customers’ data and ensures quick payouts. So when our customers win, they only need to worry about how they will celebrate. As #AfricasHomeOfBigWinners, betPawa currently holds the record for the highest payout in Africa for the online casino game Aviator. The betPawa platform and product is built by PawaTech OU, based in Estonia, and is delivered exclusively to the PawaTech group in Africa. Read more about our sponsorships and community initiatives, on brand.betpawa.com.

Mdundo is a music service providing Africa with easy and affordable access of music. We tap into the 135,000,000 downloads of African music every month with our free music service and connect Africas biggest brands to our audience. We collect rights to an increasingly popular unique Africa music catalogue. The customer can download and stream the music legally from our mobile website and android app free of charge and we tab in to Africa’s growing digital advertisement industry. Markets: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Rwanda.

88mph is a seed fund. We invest in early stage mobile-web companies targeting the African market. We are currently testing a new funding model, called DealWeek. We have joined forces with some great founders turned investors who will spend a week with us and some startups evaluating, advising, and making investment deals happen. To apply go to 88mph.ac, the deadline is February 8th, 2015. DealWeek is from Feb 16 -22, 2015. Since 2011, we have invested in 43 startups across Africa - 34 in Kenya and South Africa, and 9 through 440.ng, our joint venture with L5Lab in Nigeria. We have run 5 accelerator programs, a unique and competitive setting where startups spend three intensive months together, meeting with mentors & investors, launching products, and finding customers. Besides funding, startups have access to experienced founders to help them with focus, products, teams, structure, and strategy. We also provide access to Africa’s biggest growth markets via our networks and tech hubs - the Garages - in Nairobi and Cape Town and Lagos.