2 Zimbabwean startups qualify for PitchDrive – a tour and chance to get funding from investors

Bitfinance and Real Food, 2 Zimbabwean startups, have qualified for participation in a tour of different technology cities around the world. The announcement was recently made by Co-Creation Hub, an innovation center based in Nigeria. The center in partnership with Google for Entrepreneurs brings a program called PitchDrive which facilitates the tour.

PitchDrive is a three-week tour of 5 tech hubs in Europe and it will bring together 14 startups from across Africa. The technology hubs that will be visited are located in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Zurich, and Paris. During this tour, start-ups will get the opportunity to learn about different technology markets, explore new international opportunities and get a chance to pitch to investors with the aim of raising €20M in funding. 

PitchDrive also brings a networking opportunity for these different start-ups and technology leaders from both Africa and Europe. This could help decrease the gap between the tech ecosystems of the two continents as knowledge can be easily shared in the network. For this year’s edition of PitchDrive, 118 startups who were looking to raise their first significant funding applied. Of those 118, 14 were chosen after undergoing a thorough selection process.

Apart from those 2 local startups, others that made it to the finalists are 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 and ClinicMaster: Uganda. 

So what do the two Zimbabwean start-ups do? Bitfinance is one of the few digital currencies start-ups in Africa. They offer different cryptocurrencies on their exchange called BitcoinFundi. The digital currencies that they currently offer are Litecoin, Dash, and Bitcoin. The startup recently scaled up their exchange services to include the first two cryptocurrencies mentioned. 

On the other hand, Real food Zimbabwe is a startup that is taking a different approach to grocery delivery. The startup delivers different locally grown fresh whole food packages for vegetarians and meat lovers. What’s different about their approach is that you don’t actually get to choose the ingredients. Instead, you get a box with ingredients for a particular recipe and get to cook that dish. The recipes also change every week.

It’s interesting to see how these two Zimbabwean will utilize this tour and how it will impact what they’re doing. More importantly, if they will get some funding and what they will do with that.