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Tyler Scriven, the Managing Director of Techstars Atlanta, is traveling to Nigeria next week to meet the country’s most innovative technology startups.
The Silicon Valley transplant is on the lookout for Nigeria’s most promising entrepreneurs. He wants the best and the brightest to join Techstars Atlanta’s accelerator program in July. Selected startups receive a $120,000 investment along with access to top-notch mentors.
The trip, which kicks off on February 27th, is a chance to connect scalable African businesses with international investment. Hosted by Ingressive’s Tour of Tech, Scriven will experience six intense days of networking and meetings with key influences in Lagos.
“First and foremost, I am hoping to meet as many phenomenal founders as possible, with the goal of having Nigeria represented in our upcoming Techstars cohort,” said Scriven. “Second, I’m excited to familiarize myself with the ecosystem and to exchange ideas with startup community leaders in Nigeria.”
He settled on Nigeria as his first international recruitment because of the country’s track record of producing savvy and globally minded entrepreneurs.
It’s no secret that Nigeria has a rich history of yielding extremely talented and globally-minded entrepreneurs,” added Scriven. “Historically many of those entrepreneurs pursue careers in Europe and the U.S., with the maturation of the physical, political, and economic infrastructure in the country that tide is quickly shifting. Today, I believe that there are few better-developing economies in which to build a great startup.”
Nigeria is gaining attention of global accelerators and investors
In fact, enclaves such as the Yaba district in Lagos are fast gaining recognition as thriving startup hubs. Mark Zuckerberg’s surprise visit to Nigeria last year also put the country’s bustling tech ecosystem in the global spotlight.
Techstars is a global fund and accelerator program that supports entrepreneurs at every stage of their life cycle. Some of the more notable companies that have emerged from Techstars accelerators in recent years include Digital Ocean, SendGrid, Twillio, Sphero, ClassPass, PillPack, and Plated. In aggregate, Techstars companies have raised nearly $3 billion after completing the internationally renowned accelerator program.
Techstars Atlanta is run in partnership with Cox Enterprises. Ten to twelve companies are selected each year and invited to Atlanta to participate in an intense 3-month acceleration program with world-class mentors and seasoned entrepreneurs.
The next batch will begin on July 15th, and applications for the 2017 class of Techstars Atlanta are currently open here.
If you are interested in a sit down with Tyler during his startup office hours, please sign up here: https://techstarseurope.typeform.com/to/mlzanB
Follow Kunbi Tinuoye on Twitter@Kunbiti
