Seven African tech start-ups receive seed funding as part of the second stage of the MEST program

London – September 16, 2010 – Meltwater Foundation, the non-profit arm of Meltwater Group, one of the world’s leading Software as a Service (SaaS) companies, today announced the opening of a non-profit incubator in Accra, Ghana.

The incubator is the second stage of Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), a three-phase entrepreneurial program designed to foster the growth of software companies in Africa.

Phase 1 of MEST is a rigorous two-year program where fully sponsored students, known as Entrepreneurs in Training (EITs), receive hands-on education in software development, basic business fundamentals and entrepreneurship.  The fourth and last semester of the program is dedicated to the incubator application, which consists of an investor pitch, a business plan, and a software prototype. All applications are evaluated on normal commercial conditions.

In phase 2, the incubator stage, the MEST entrepreneurs get seed funding and incorporate their companies. Their main focus in the incubator is partly to develop a commercially viable go-to-market strategy and partly to further develop their prototype, therefore enabling it for a commercial launch. Expected duration of this stage is one to two years.

In phase 3, the MEST entrepreneur’s primary focus is commercial deployment and scaling of their business. During this stage, the Meltwater Foundation continues to provide support through the recruitment of international mentors with relevant industry experience who serve as board members or company advisors.

The seven companies given incubator funding cover a range of software services:

- Streemio – A mobile music streaming service, providing on-demand access to music on-the-go
- Nandi Mobile – Provides suites of technologies to help leverage the high mobile penetration in Africa to ensure better customer relationships. Solutions include Gripline, a customer service engagement solution, and Infoline, a service enabling businesses to provide relevant information via SMS
- Leti Games – Offers a selection of single- and multi-player online role-playing games, primarily for the smartphone market
- Tutamee – An online video company, providing TutaFlix, which streams high quality educational films
- Esanoya – Assists SMEs in making operations smoother with Slix.tr, a real-time enterprise micro-sharing platform which centralizes companies’ people and data
- Arto Connect – Provides Dealeezy, a location-based mobile service, enabling consumers to discover targeted deals from local merchants
- Retail Tower – Providing software solutions to online retailers which allow them to manage their inventory across multiple channels from one platform

“The progression of so many companies to the MEST Incubator stage is a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of our students, and the remarkable business ideas that they’ve developed,” said Jorn Lyseggen, CEO and founder of Meltwater. “The beauty of software is that all you need is a computer at the cost of a couple of hundred bucks, and after that it is all up to yourself. Your success is a function of your drive, talent, and imagination. Following the MEST entrepreneurs from the start, I have seen that they have abundance of the latter. On behalf of everybody working at MEST and the Meltwater Foundation I wish the new entrepreneurs the best of luck on the challenging, but extremely exciting road ahead.”

MEST aims to provide African students with the entrepreneurial skills to establish global software companies to help stimulate local economies and create jobs.  Returns generated from investing in the incubated companies cycle back into the non-profit program, creating a sustainable model for enabling software entrepreneurs in Ghana.