Winetech winner to compete in Africa Cup

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The Africa Cup

Unicorn Group, a pan-African investment company targeting innovative ideas, start-ups and early-stage companies in tech and tech-enabled sectors, will sponsor the following prizes for the winners of the final competition at the Summit – the Africa Cup:

First entrepreneur: R5m investment offer and three weeks of acceleration in a choice of one of the following three locations: Silicon Valley, Lagos or Budapest. All travel and stay expenses will be paid from the investment offer.

Second entrepreneur: R2,5m investment offer and two weeks of acceleration in a choice of one of the three locations. All travel and stay expenses will be paid from the investment offer.

Third entrepreneur: R1m investment offer and acceleration in South Africa.

The Winetech Pitching Den

The Winetech Pitching Den is sponsored by wine industry body, Winetech. The aim is to attract agritech start-ups developing innovative solutions and addressing key issues confronting wine producers.

Twenty finalists will go through to the Winetech Pitching Den where they will pitch their start-ups to a panel of judges at the annual SA Innovation Summit. The summit will take place in Cape Town from 11-13 September 2019.

The start-ups will receive exposure to investment opportunities and channels to market. This will afford them the opportunity to transfer their innovations to the more than 650 industry representatives in the country.

The search for solutions

The competition is looking for disruptive, innovative, cost-effective and practical solutions to reducing the wine industry’s impact on the environment. In addition, it is also searching for pioneering ways to use technology to rethink production methods and encourage stable growth for small and large industry participants. It will focus on the following areas: Climate change, water reclamation and resourcing, genetics, machine learning, AI and big data, and any other areas which increase efficiency, profitability and environmental sustainability.

By connecting industry-ready innovations with wine producers, Winetech aims to boost the industry and help build a sector robust enough to withstand volatile economic and environmental climates.

Entries for the Winetech Pitching Den close on 3 June 2019. For more information visit the Innovation Summit website.