Entries for Startup of the Year 2026 are now closed! At this stage, it’s no longer about who applied; it’s about who holds up under scrutiny. Because once the Top 10 is announced, the lens shifts. Founders aren’t pitching to a general audience anymore - they’re...
Winning Innovation City’s Startup of the Year (SOTY) isn’t just about the accolade; it has become a proven "unfair advantage" for South Africa’s most ambitious founders. Since its inception, the competition has acted as a high-signal filter, taking startups with early traction and catapulting them...
At Innovation City, we spend a lot of time talking about growth; how businesses acquire customers, build products, and scale. But there’s a layer that sits underneath all of that, quietly determining whether that growth actually materialises: Payments. Not as infrastructure, but as a system that...
At WiT (Web in Travel) Africa 2026, one thing was very clear: the next era of travel will not be shaped by technology in isolation. It will be shaped by the tension between technology, trust, infrastructure, and local complexity. Setting the tone for the day, stephan...
Every year, we get a clearer picture of what’s actually being built in South Africa. Not in theory. Not in decks. In real businesses with real customers, real traction, and real pressure. That’s what Startup of the Year has become at Innovation City; a filter for signal. And...
