Bare Emerges Winner Of The Unhacked Virtual Pitch Competition

AI-focused Ghanaian startup, Bare, has recently won the maiden edition of the Unhacked Virtual Pitch Competition. Bare uses artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose skin issues and give product recommendations for black men and women globally.

The Unhacked Virtual Pitch Competition is an African-focused technology startup competition, where emerging startups pitch their companies for a chance to emerge as winners.

Bare will take home a $1,000 cash prize, mentorship and training sessions, 20 hours of high-level legal advisory and engagement with an investor network.

The competition was organized by Vazi Legal, an African innovation driven law firm that represents investors, startups, and technology enabled enterprises at all stages of development.

During his pitch, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder of Bare, Abimbola-Kofoworola Oladeji, said that “we are using technology to diagnose and improve treatment of skin issues for black men and women globally. Black people spend upwards of $5B yearly on skin care products. We are looking to capture 5% of that market starting from Nigeria and Ghana”.

Modupe Odele, the co-founder of Vazi Legal stated the reason why the law firm organized such a competition : “Having been rendering legal services in the space for about two years, we thought it was a way for us not only to give back but also to interact with the tech community across the continent. One of the things important to us was the kind of founders we wanted to hear from. We wanted a diversity of representation in terms of gender. We are very committed to seeing more women in tech so each applicant needs to have at least one female cofounder who has at least 10% ownership in the start-up.”

The competition’s first runner-up, Jidi Trust also from Ghana offers local language (Twi and English) financial literacy courses and digital book-keeping for SME businesses with minimal charges each time the app is used.

Coming third place was Tuverl from Zimbabwe. The startup has a mission to build a technology platform to make road trips in African countries cheaper, faster and more convenient. It aims to reach 10,000+ consumers over the next 5 years.

Other finalists at the pitch competition were Student Build from Nigeria, Kazi App from Kenya, Dorcspark Drones from Ghana, Next Wear Tech Hub from Nigeria, and Adannar from Nigeria.

The UnHacked Virtual Pitch Competition received 143 applications from over 10 African countries with eight finalists being selected to pitch