Over – a South African-developed iOS app that allows users to add artistic text and artwork to user-generated photos – has won the award for World’s Best Start-Up at U-Start conference held in Milan.
The contender live pitched against 19 competitors from around the globe, succeeding to take home the title after a two day “pitch-off”.
The live competition took place in Milan, at the flagship conference from U-Start, the international investment advisory firm with €3,8-billion in finance under management.
Alongside Over’s title, four regional winners from Europe, Russia, South America and a second finalist from Africa were announced as:
* Italist – an online Italian high-end fashion retailer, chosen as Europe’s winner;
* Linguademia – specialists in encouraging a new approach to foreign language learning through gaming, selected as the best from Russia;
* LoveMondays – an online platform for anonymous employee reviews of businesses, revealed as the top start-up in South America; and
* wiGroup – pioneers in point-of-sale, integrated mobile transactions, chosen as the second African winner.
Aaron Marshall, CEO of Over, said: “It was an incredible experience. Felt a little surreal to be sharing our story with a group of influencers from all over the planet in a sophisticated, beautiful city. The people behind u-start put on a great event. We made some connections that could be hugely beneficial to our mission. I’m feeling inspired, thinking bigger than ever and ready to get back to building. Our team recently doubled in size and we are hustling on some exciting new products.”
The U-Start Conference attracted more than 700 industry shapers and commentators – making it one of the largest conferences of its kind in the world. The start-ups represented four key global start-up markets where U-Start has office presence: South America; Africa; Russia and Europe.
Stefano Guidotti, CEO, U-Start, says: “We are delighted to award Over with the title of Best Start-Up of the World. Having travelled 12 000 thousand miles, from São Paulo, to Cape Town, to Moscow, to Lugano and finally to Milan for the finale, we have witnessed some of the most innovative and exciting businesses to exist globally.
“The decision was not, however, an easy one. Over’s resounding success is representative of the outstanding tech prowess that propels our offer, in addition to Africa’s world-class status as a championing nation for tech’ innovation.
“The vision our organisation has championed from its inception, through to the final, is to partner the best talent and opportunities from the world’s fastest growing economies, with the smartest money available in the global investor market. This ethos is reinforced by Africa’s success at yesterday’s conference.
“All of our focal economies across the emerging markets have continued to steadily evolve as prime generators of future billion dollar tech-companies – confidently satisfying the needs of an ever-growing number of tech-savvy customers, both from a B2C and B2B perspective.
“We are thrilled to be able to heighten the awareness of this international talent under a globally facing, funding focused spotlight. We will continue to champion this message to a global investor audience and are immensely proud of the milestone outcomes to emerge from our flagship event for 2014.”
