Africa Tech Pitch LDN is a video pitch competition providing an opportunity for African tech startups to showcase their solutions to the London Tech ecosystem. The organizers are looking for high-impact, high-growth startups that are using technology to unlock untapped opportunities and address a real need in the African market.

The top 5 selected startups will be showcased during London Tech Week at an exclusive reception on 13th June, organised in partnership with Tech London Advocates, an influential community of over 4000 tech leaders, experts and investors.

The final winner will be selected and announced at the Africa Technology Business Forum London on 21st June, a gathering of Africa-focused global tech innovators, business leaders and investors.

If you are an ambitious tech startup in Africa looking to showcase your innovation on the global stage and connect with the London tech ecosystem then apply today!

Application criteria
• You are an Africa-focused technology startup with a unique proposition serving the African market
• You have already launched in the market and are able to demonstrate some traction
• You have a high-growth business model which has potential to scale across borders
• Your solution has capacity to improve and impact the lives of those it serves

Application deadline is Midnight on 31st May 2017

To apply, click here.

In 2006, Netflix created an open competition that would pay the winning data scientist a $1m prize. The task was to build a model that could outperform Netflix’s recommendation engine by 10%.

The winning team used an advanced machine learning technique known as “random forest,” which is now commonly used to optimize for predictive power.  This incredible boost in predictive power, however, came at the cost of interpretability. While the winning algorithm best predicts how the next thousand users will rate various films, it cannot directly explain why Henry from Kansas enjoys Space Jam.

When it comes to fintech, “black box” A.I. is often impractical. Traditional players such as banks or insurance carriers may feel uneasy, and imagine telling a regulator you denied someone a loan because “the model said so.” 

As a result, the most successful machine learning applications in fintech may be those that leverage unique alternative datasets, rather than the cutting edge of artificial intelligence.

Financial technology, also known as fintech, is an industry composed of companies that use new technology and innovation with available resources in order to compete in the marketplace of traditional financial institutions and intermediaries in the delivery of financial services. Financial technology companies consist of both startups and established financial and technology companies trying to replace or enhance the usage of financial services of incumbent companies.

That is why fintech will lag in pioneering AI because explaining to regulators that all decision making has been moved to models will be challenging in the foreseeable future. Regulators expect financial institutions to be making decisions by humans with machines supporting.

So even if you use machines, you need to have a clear understanding of the result so that humans can explain same to regulators. The implication is that if the models deliver great results and you cannot explain same. you cannot deploy them. That means your AI cannot be pioneering to the extent that humans cannot understand what is going on.

Fintech AI will lag voice, search, and other related areas which are not as heavily regulated as finance.

Apple is hiring satellite experts and the indication is that Apple will launch a satellite iPhone soon. A satellite telephone, satellite phone, or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites.It means that anyone anywhere on earth can use the phone because satellites cover most parts of the earth.

Two Google executives—spacecraft designer John Fenwick and satellite engineer Michael Trela—both left for a new Apple hardware project, reports Bloomberg. The story suggests they’re spearheading a project focused on satellite broadband communications and image collection, an initiative that may also involve Boeing.

The iPhone maker has recruited a pair of top Google satellite executives for a new hardware team, according to people familiar with the matter. John Fenwick, who led Google’s spacecraft operations, and Michael Trela, head of satellite engineering, left Alphabet Inc.’s Google for Apple in recent weeks, the people said. They report to Greg Duffy, co-founder of camera maker Dropcam, who joined Apple earlier this year, the people said. They asked not to be identified talking about Apple’s private plans. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment, as did Google. Fenwick, Trela and Duffy didn’t respond to requests for comment.

With the recruits, Apple is bringing into its ranks two experts in the demanding, expensive field of satellite design and operation. At the moment, these endeavors typically fall into two fields: satellites for collecting images and those for communications.

This is huge people. If Apple launches satellite iPhone, there will be a new order on this earth. We think they are working on same to bring the era of de-localized communication.