#CTSUW celebrates the fact that CApe Town is the most dynamic tech ecosystem in Africa.

Cape Town Startup Week 2018 is running from 3rd December to 6th December, with a collection of celebratory events hosted at the top coworking spaces and facilitated by community leaders in the tech entrepreneur sector. CTSUW has its origins in the Heavy Chef end of year event held in December 2017 which featured the ‘Top 5 Most Exciting Startups In SA’. The finalists in 2017 were JUMO, Yoco, Wala, Zoona and Sweepsouth. The event shone a light on the amazing work that had been done after a long, challenging year. At the end of the evening, the world’s youngest officially-recognized deejay, DJ Arch, closed off the night with some block-stopping beats. In 2018, Heavy Chef has teamed up with Startup Grind and Silicon Cape to extend the celebration into a three-day festival of startup celebrations. The concept has since garnered support from primary Western Cape ecosystem players such as Workshop17, Inner City Ideas Cartel, Startupbootcamp, Future Females, CiTi and Bandwidth Barn. Our aim for Cape Town Startup Week is to position the Cape Town metropole as the most inspiring tech ecosystem on the planet.

2018-CTSUW-VW.jpg

The Facts:

  • 3.95 million population

  • 60% of population is under the age of 35

  • Best run city and fastest growing economy in South Africa

  • Lowest unemployment rate in South Africa

  • 12% growth in property values per year over last decade - 2x the national average

  • 63% internet penetration - one of the largest open access fibre networks in Africa

  • 780km of fibre laid to date and completed network will span +1800km

  • 275 free wifi hotspots around the city and 300+ planned for rollout in the next 2 years

Funding and investment:

  • Number of SA VC funds are up 41% for the period 2013-15

  • 58% of SA’s VC funds are located in Cape Town

  • Number of South African VC transactions are up 46% in 2013-15

  • SA VC rates of return in 2013-15 have generated a 20% ROI per annum

  • More than 1190 individual investors are invested in SA startups