Latitude59, Europe’s premier startup and tech event is coming to Nairobi. The event which has been running for 11 years since inception in Estonia in 20111 will be hosted on 6 December 2023.
This will be the first time the event is being hosted in Africa.
Latitude59 brings together players from across the entire digital and startup ecosystem to engage in knowledge sharing and best practice conversations, and to unpack and explore solutions to those challenges facing the digital startup community, especially on the African continent.
Liisi Org, CEO of Latitude59, says the mission of the Latitude59 event is essentially to create a better world through technology and innovation. “Since the first event back in 2011, we have experienced an explosion of energy and massive growth in the global digital startup space, with Africa being no exception,” Org says.
The Kenyan startup scene is considered one of the fastest-growing and most evolved ecosystems on the African continent. Kenya is seen as a mobile-first society, with a young, connected and digitally savvy population that is eager to help drive economic prosperity and societal change within their communities, and across the nation.
Org believes that whilst the main issues facing the digital and startup community in Africa vastly differ from those of its European counterparts, the underlying principles remain the same.
“The golden thread that connects us all is the search for creative solutions to address economic, environmental, and societal challenges. We’ve seen how digital integration and innovation create jobs, empower individuals, and connect previously marginalised societies with the wider global markets.
“With this move into Africa, and Kenya specifically, the Latitude59 event creates a platform which connects the Estonian and Kenyan startup ecosystems. We want to pave the way for open dialogue and knowledge and experience sharing to foster valuable relationships between all stakeholders,” Org says.
Latitute59 Pitch Competition and prize money
One of the highlights of the Latitude59 Kenya edition event will be a startup pitch competition, which presents the winning pitch with the chance to win an investment of €100,000 and a spot in the Startup Wise Guys accelerator program. The Latitude59 Kenya Edition winners will also compete in the main event pitching competition during the Latitude59 event in Estonia in May 2024.
During the Latitude59 Spring 2023 event in Estonia in May, the top three winning startups received a combined total of €1,3.m in prize money. Incidentally, following the successful outcome of its participation at the Latitude59 event, one of these winning startups has just announced the completion of a pre-seed round of €755 000.
Petra Wolkenstein, General Partner of Estonia’s Startup Wise Guys Africa fund, says it is essential to create opportunities for startups to connect and build relationships with trusted partners to help ensure sustainable implementation and acceleration of their businesses. “We are excited to cooperate with Latitude59 in Kenya to provide startups a stage to share their vision and showcase their success,” Wolkenstein says.
Startup Wise Guys are calling all early-stage startup founders from the East African region to submit their applications here for the pitch competition by no later than Saturday, 25 November.
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