GreenHouse Capital will invest a minimum of $100,000 in companies that qualify and reach specific milestones at the end of the program. GreenHouse Lab has opened applications for the first female-focused tech accelerator program in Nigeria.The three-month accelerator focused solely on early-stage, women-led technology start-ups in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as African run start-ups domiciled in the US or UK with products that are scalable in African markets.The program is residential and will be hosted at Vibranium Valley – VGG’s tech campus in Lagos.GreenHouse Lab has opened applications for the first female-focused tech accelerator program in Nigeria.The first of its kind in Nigeria, GreenHouse Lab is a three-month accelerator focused solely on early-stage, women-led technology start-ups in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as African run start-ups domiciled in the US or UK with products that are scalable in African markets.GreenHouse Lab is run by GreenHouse Capital, an investment holding company within Venture Garden Group (VGG) – a provider of innovative, data-driven, end-to-end technology platforms to solve real socio-economic challenges in impact sectors critical to sustainable economic development.In a statement made available to Business Insider Sub-Saharan Africa over the weekend, the technology-focused venture capital firms said it has invested in 15 companies and combined and have raised $40 million in Capital.Tosin Durotoye, Director of GreenHouse Lab, said: “without women at the tech table, we’ll fail to tap into the vast brainpower and opportunity for innovation necessary to propel Nigeria and Africa as a whole, forward.”“Our mission at GreenHouse Lab is to level the playing field by providing early-stage, women-led, high-growth technology start-ups with investments and support infrastructure within the range of $250,000 and provide exceptional teams with the resources and mentorship network they need to drive growth and scale their companies both in emerging and international markets.”About the programThe program is residential and will be hosted at Vibranium Valley – VGG’s tech campus in Lagos.GreenHouse Lab features an intensive curriculum delivered in-person and virtually and leverages existing entrepreneurship education frameworks focused on a variety of key topics including, but not limited to, product development, market segmentation, human capital, marketing, and fundraising. Other channels of engagement include weekly lunch presentations, guest lectures, and office hours with the Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIRs).The accelerator ends with a demo day where companies get to pitch their businesses to a wide network of local and international investors.As a VC firm with a portfolio of companies, GreenHouse Capital will also invest a minimum of $100,000 in companies that qualify and reach specific milestones at the end of the program.Criteria for selectionGreenHouse Lab seeks companies with the right team to build a successful company and as such, will select startups that are extremely passionate about their chosen vertical and demonstrate the necessary commitment to building the company of their dreams.Each startup must have at least one woman on their leadership team which should consist of at least two members and at least one technical member.Eligible companies must be early-stage, investment-ready tech startups that have identified a critical need in Africa and are building an effective, sustainable and scalable solution.Each company must have developed, at a minimum, a beta-product and be in the process of refining their go-to-market strategy, building out sales channels and generating revenue.The three-month accelerator begins in mid-August and ends in mid-November. Selected startups will be required to commit full-time to the program.The application portal for the 2018 cohort opens on July 2, 2018, at www.greenhouse.capital/greenhouselab and closes on July 20.Also from Business Insider Sub-Sahara Africa:Nigerians knock President Buhari as farmer, herder clashes claim 82 lives in JosTech giant extended its Launchpad Accelerator programme to 12 African countriesNigeria’s online savings platform secures $1.1 million seed funding to develop its products and expand massivelyThese 6 banks invested N155.45 billion into the sinking fund in 3 years Nigeria approves framework that will see a new price for dataInstagram now allows you post an hour-long video with IGTV, here’s how it worksThis is how N1.
