Seven Nigerian tech companies have qualified for seed funding after taking part in the COVID-19 Innovative Challenge (CIC).

Launched last month by Ventures Platform and the Lagos State Science and Research and Innovation Council (LASRIC) in partnership with Venture Garden Group (VGG) and several other key players in the Nigerian tech ecosystem, the innovation challenge offers training and funding to startups with solutions with the potential to tackle the novel coronavirus.

Seven startups were selected to take part after more than 500 entries were received, with these companies then pitching their solutions via video officials of the Nigerian Centre of Disease Control (NCDC), Ventures Platform and VGG, as well as medical experts and key members of the Nigerian tech ecosystem. 

All seven startups have successfully qualified for US$3,000 in financial support from VGG, which will also mentorship and technical assistance.

The selected startups include Wellvis Health, which offers solutions that promote primary care; Prunedge, which develops innovative solutions to improve the efficiency of processes; Infodemics, which uses existing social hierarchies in a community to efficiently and effectively communicate health risks; and Wellahealth, a digital triage bot.

Completing the cohort are MyServiceAgent, an AI-powered intelligent IVR system; Innover Technologies, which has developed a project named COVID-19 Nigeria; and CmapIT Analytics, a GIS and data visualisation software that helps to analyse geospatial data and visualise it.

“As a leading player in the Nigerian tech ecosystem, we are happy to collaborate with like-minded organisations to create and deploy tech solutions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic,” said VGG chief executive officer (CEO) Bunmi Akinyemiju.