Publicis Machine, the South African subsidiary of France-based marketing firm Publicis, has launched an accelerator programme aimed at hospitality technology developers, VentureBurn has reported.
The initiative, a local version of the parent company’s London-based Drugstore accelerator, will seek out local startups developing technologies for the restaurant sector such as payment processing services and mobile apps.
Drugstore aims to connect startups to clients of Publicis agencies. In this case, the local programme has partnered with an undisclosed restaurant chain.
The accelerator will run for a week and put three startups through incubation classes, giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to collaborate with Publicis’ strategy team to develop their business to the standard required by the unnamed restaurant chain.
Publicis will invest in each startup out of a R50,000 ($3,600) fund, and the winning team will take a majority chunk of $2,500 and a potential contract with the restaurant chain. Drugstore will take place in Johannesburg in November 2015.