Unearthed and Investing in African Mining Indaba have partnered for Startups Unearthed Africa, which offers four African emerging technology businesses the opportunity to pitch their innovative industry solutions at the world’s largest mining investment conference on Wednesday 6 February 2019 in Cape Town.
The four startups with ground-breaking technologies that have been selected to access the valuable prospect to present to leaders from 220+ mining companies, 750+ investors and dealmakers, and 34+ government ministers are:
Kriterion, who use Artificial Intelligence to provide actionable intelligence to asset-dependent enterprises in the mining, construction and other heavy industries;
Passport 360, a one-stop solution for mining contractor management and compliance;
Rocketmine, Africa’s premier drone service provider, who focus on delivering safe, reliable, accurate and cost-effective data to industry; and
Evacu8, whose real-time monitoring systems ensure that employees enter and exit the workspace safely and assist workers in emergency evacuations so that nobody gets left behind.
Applications for Startups Unearthed Africa were open to any business across the continent that had a prototype, product or service that can impact industry. Companies did not need to have worked on a mining project before, they just needed to have exciting technology solutions that can make a difference.
In addition to awarding four pitching spots, each startup will receive one full complimentary pass to Mining Indaba that runs from Monday 4 to Thursday 7 February 2019.
Industry Lead – Crowdsourcing at Unearthed, Holly Bridgwater will moderate the startup session showcasing these transformative mining technologies.
It was fantastic to see the diverse range of quality startups who applied to pitch. We received applications from 30 companies who are utilising technologies such as machine learning, robotics and IoT for solutions that address issues across all areas of the mining value chain," she said.
"It was difficult to select four, but I am excited that we have the opportunity to share some of the amazing tech being built across Africa with an audience of potential customers and investors at one of the world’s largest mining conferences,” said Bridgwater.
Investing in African Mining Indaba Managing Director Alex Grose said that the mining industry has been perceived as an old-fashioned sector, but it’s not the case as technology has rapidly been changing the way the sector operates.
From AI and Big Data to new satellite technologies and more efficient production, mining companies are embracing innovation. We are very proud and excited to be running this fantastic initiative together with Unearthed, set to bring new ideas to one of the world’s oldest industries as well as provide four African tech startups with exposure to the world's largest mining companies,” said Grose.
Kriterion Co-Founder and Director of Engineering and Operations Ricardo Ludeke said that the startup is proud to present their ideas, technology and capability surrounding Artificial Intelligence to the global audience at Investing in African Mining Indaba.
We are honoured to be part of showcasing that African startups can offer value to the future of the African and global mining markets,” Ludeke said.
Passport 360 Strategy and Business Growth Lead Jared Kangisser said that having the ability to showcase their system and its benefits at the largest conference in Africa is truly wonderful.
Enabling organisational efficiency and problem-solving using technology is something I am very passionate about,” said Kangisser.
Evacu8 Founder Sinethemba Ncede said that their goal is to save lives and money at the same time with a combined software and hardware solution.
At Evacu8, we are excited about attending Mining Indaba 2019 in Cape Town. This is a great opportunity for our startup, and we look forward to networking with other startups and mining houses,” said Ncede.
Rocketmine Managing Director Chris Clark said that they are looking forward to showcasing the value that their autonomous drones can deliver to potential clients and investors at Mining Indaba.
Instead of transporting people, we transport data. We are all about getting data to the decision-makers as fast and safely as possible," said Clark.
Interested in seeing these impressive entrepreneurs pitch their exciting technology solutions at Startups Unearthed Africa on Wednesday 6 February at 1:30 - 2:30pm on Stage C? Register for Mining Indaba here: https://www.miningindaba.com/