PIVOT East 2014 pitching conference to be held 24th-25th June in Nairobi Kenya will have 25 exceptional mobile startups from across the region that will compete to win market recognition and investor interest.

The shortlisted startups were unveiled after an intense evaluation process by a panel involving over 20 investors which included Somo(society), ParcelSolution (utilities), Epic (Entertainment), RTSOP (Entreprise) and FarmDrive (Finance).

The criteria used by the panelists helped evaluate the startups' purpoted customer pain, opportunity and customer segments, the solution and its fit to the problem, the revenue model and analysis of the competitive landscape.

The startups that have made it to the finals are;

? Finance category; Valuraha, Chamasoft and Chura from Kenya and Beyonic and

Ensibuuko from Uganda .

? Enterprise category; Thinvoid (Uganda), Online Hisab (Ethiopia), Buymore, ASim

Mobile and Offers Africa from Kenya.

? Entertainment category; Safari Tales, Muva Studios, Momentum Core and MapJam

from Kenya and Ubongo from Tanzanai .

? Utilities category; Maramoja Transport, Gari Sms, Mavazi, Sendy and Mafundi from

? Society category; SokoNect, Totohealth, SokoText from Kenya and Zapmedic and

Moquestions from Uganda. Here is the full list of the finalists with a brief

description of their product.

Chace Bank being part of the innovative initiative as the gold sponsors termed the ideas from this startups as innovative and creative and could transform the socio-economic development of the East African region.

Out of the total 25, 18 startups were from Kenya. 5 startups from Uganda and Tanzania and Ethiopia representing one startup each with a 6th startup placed in a waiting list and may pitch at the conference if finalist in the category drops out for any reason.

Finalists will receive training, coaching and mentorship in the weeks to come before the pitching conference. The programme aims at nurturing the next wave of high potential mobile innovations into sustainable business, ensuring that mobile innovations are high in the agenda of regional, governments, corporate and development agencies for amplified development impact and to raise the quality of mobile startups in the region.