Thursday 27th July. Lagos, Nigeria. Co-creation Hub (CcHUB), Nigeria’s leading social innovation centre in partnership with Google for Entrepreneurs, has announced the names of the 14 selected startups set to participate in PitchDrive, a three week five-city European tech hub tour across London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Zurich and Paris with the aim to raise €20M in funding from investors. This partnership will bring together 14 elite African tech companies to pitch to investors, explore international opportunities and offerings, learn about cutting edge frontier technology markets and build a network amongst technology leaders from both the African and European continent, bridging the divide across the tech ecosytems.

A few weeks ago, applications to African startup founders who were looking to raise Series A funding was made open. The feedback was an impressive 118 who went through a rigorous and objective selection process which produced the top 14 finalists. The selected startups include, Kudobuzz: Ghana, Ongair: Kenya, Gebeya: Kenya/ Ethiopia, Piggybank: Nigeria, Gloo: Nigeria, Prepclass: Nigeria, Tradedepot: Nigeria, Lifebank: Nigeria, Fashpa: Nigeria, Firefly media: Senegal, GoMetro: South Africa, ClinicMaster: Uganda, BitFinance: Zimbabwe and Real food: Zimbabwe.

Starting in London on 14th of August 2017, the selected startups will visit Google’s Campus London, TQ Amsterdam, Factory Berlin and Impact Hub in Zurich, concluding at NUMA Paris. Upon completion of the tour, they would have pitched to over 300 investors, with the specific goal of raising over €20M. Notably, this is the first tour of its kind connecting African tech companies with European capital, and the PitchDrive team is aiming to open up the sector to investors who desire to include emerging markets in their portfolios.

‘Bosun Tijani​, CcHUB Founder and CEO says, “The idea of PitchDrive is a phenomenal and an incredible opportunity for not only the selected 14 startups, but also the investors. The turnout of applications for PitchDrive lean to the ‘start small dream big’ saying and through this platform, we hope to help secure a number of breakthrough capital deals for the selected 14 startups. And, like the Garage story of Google, we hope that one or two or possibly all of these startups will have a similar story. I can say that they are in for a tough but rewarding journey with us.”

“We are glad for the support of Google for Entrepreneurs on the PitchDrive tour and look forward to the journey ahead.”
PitchDrive will provide all travel, accommodation and visa support, as well mentorship and support from notable tech founders well versed in fund raising, including David Grunwald of Google for Entrepreneurs, Iroko Founder and CEO Jason Njoku, Saidah Nash Carter of Reuters and Stephen Newton of Illuminate Africa.

David Grunwald​, Head of Global Partnerships at Google for Entrepreneurs, adds, ”Entrepreneurs from across Africa are building world-class tech companies, and we are delighted to be able to use the power of the Google for Entrepreneurs network to showcase their fantastic products to audiences in some of Europe’s most important tech ecosystems”.

The PitchDrive team is looking forward to meeting with the investors across the 5 European countries. The destination Africa to Europe PitchDrive is officially activated.
www.pitchdrive.xyz – #PitchDrive
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For additional information or interview requests with ‘Bosun Tijani, Founder and CEO of CcHUB, contact Jessica Hope of Wimbart | jessica@wimbart.com | 0044 [0]7814 714 992

CcHUB is a social innovation centre dedicated to accelerating the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity. The technology hub is the first in Nigeria to serve as an Open Living Lab in which user-driven innovation is fully integrated in the co-creative process of new services, products and societal infrastructures.

CcHUB’s methodology is hinged on engaging a community of progressive stakeholders (end-users, subject matter experts, government agencies, businesses, academics, civil societies etc.) who bring their creativity and knowledge to play in co-creating solutions to social challenges faced by the average Nigerian through our open living labs. The resulting innovations are then supported to become sustainable market solutions by providing proactive business support, advice, mentorship and funding through our pre-incubation & research unit. For more information, visit www.cchubnigeria.com

PitchDrive, from CcHub, will see fourteen elite start-up founders from across Africa to explore the incredible world of European start-up ecosystems through the eyes of the Google for Entrepreneurs partners in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Zurich and Paris. Pitch to investors, explore global opportunities and learn from frontier markets. Visit www.pitchdrive.xyz

Google for Entrepreneurs provides financial support and the best of Google’s resources to dozens of co-working spaces and community programs across 140 countries. We also create
Campuses: physical hubs where entrepreneurs can learn, connect, and build companies that will change the world. To learn more about Google for Entrepreneurs, visit google.com/entrepreneurs or follow us on G+ (+GoogleForEntrepreneurs), Twitter (@GoogleForEntrep) and Facebook (fb.com/GoogleForEntrepreneurs).