FloodGates Limited, a technology company with a mission to advance the world through digital solutions, has won the #Tech4Democracy Venture Day Africa Competition held in Cape Town, South Africa on the 7th of March 2023. The company will now represent Africa at the Global Finals in Washington DC, USA. The competition featured five finalist startups selected from over 200 startups in Africa.
#Tech4Democracy is a global initiative by the US Department of State, IE University, and Microsoft aimed at identifying entrepreneurs developing innovative digital technologies that contribute to the advancement of democracy around the world. The initiative comprises five Venture Day competitions in five continents: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, and South America. Entrepreneurs were evaluated based on their contribution to democratic values, technological innovation, viability/scalability, interest for potential investors, and experience, knowledge, skills, and diversity of their teams.
FloodGates Limited presented their Digital Identity and Business Services platform called Trustur, which provides users with verifiable digital identity credentials and simplifies access to government services, financial services, and more. Trustur solves the problem of citizen exclusion from critical governance and development services by ensuring that citizens have access to these services through their mobile devices and can be securely authenticated in-person or remotely.
The competition provides startups with mentorship, incubation/acceleration, partnership opportunities with IE University, democratic governments, companies, investors, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders involved in the initiative. The winners from each continent will compete for a monetary prize in a final global competition planned in Washington, D.C. in March 2022. FloodGates Limited stands to benefit from $150,000 in technology sponsorship from Microsoft and guidance from business and technical experts.
The FloodGates Limited team expressed their pride in winning the competition and representing Africa in the Global Finals. They also extended their congratulations to all the other finalists and startups building a better Africa. Nyasha, who represented FloodGates Limited in Cape Town, was grateful for the opportunity to present online and receive the award on their behalf. The FloodGates team is excited to participate in the Global Finals and continue advancing the world through digital solutions.
