Stitch x Raba Tech Summit: Cape Town 2023
A few weeks back, Stitch and The Raba Partnership hosted investors from across the globe, along with founders and tech builders from across the continent, at our second annual tech summit in Cape Town.
The multi-day event featured insightful conversations between leaders from some of the most exciting global and African tech businesses, concluding with a startup showcase during which eight businesses took to the floor to present their solutions to the room.
Day one: Hearing from investors and leaders in the fintech space
On the first day of talks, we were joined by Agustin Cerisola (dLocal), Mark Lenhard (Zepz), Hannes Wessels (Binance), and Kiaan Pillay (Stitch) to discuss how the payments landscape is changing across the globe, and why African markets are priority for some of the world's largest fintechs.
Our second panel dove into real-world use cases for crypto with Chris Harmse, CFA (BVNK) and Chris Maurice (Yellow Card).
Shortly after, Spencer Horne (Cloudline), Hiro Iwanaga (Talus AG), and Eugene Roodt (Nile.ag) took us through exciting innovations in agriculture and climate on the continent.
Our last panel looked at how VCs are approaching investment in Africa, with Ashish Aggarwal (PayPal Ventures), Fope Adelowo (Helios Investment Partners) and Gbenga Ajayi (QED Investors).
On day two, ahead of the startup showcase, we heard from George Rzepecki (The Raba Partnership) and Nav Harikumar (MIT Investment Management) on perspectives on the venture market, followed by a founder roundtable where Katlego Maphai (Yoco) and Cordel Robbin-Coker (Carry1st) shared more on their fundraising journeys, closing out with a presentation on the State of Global Fintech from Eva Alonso (Ribbit Capital).
Day two: Looking back on the startup showcase
At Stitch, we aim to make it easier for businesses of all sizes to build and scale. A big part of that is enabling easier access to the financial system, but particularly in the early stage, we know startups also need access to capital, support and partnerships. That’s why we’re so passionate about hosting events like the startup showcase, to support ecosystem growth - particularly in Africa.
Eight founders from South Africa and Kenya – working on solutions ranging from a fintech-as-a-service API, to digital lending, to an end-to-end platform for real estate management – joined us to share more about what they’re building. The startups were selected by third-party investors from a list of 150 applications spanning 21 African countries. The event saw hundreds of guests walk through our door, connecting and attending talks throughout the day.
Companies that presented included: Airbuy Africa, Churpy, FlexClub, ImaliPay, Kapu, Kiotapay, TUNL and Stub
See more in our video recap below.
