It may be a long way from home but it took just two years for a trio of young techies to take their web-based startup from a classroom in Ghana to the world's technology capital, California's Silicon Valley. In November 2011, Ghanaian entrepreneurs David Osei, Kamil Nabong and Philips Effah founded Dropifi, an online tool that helps businesses sort customer feedback online. About 20 months later, it has become the first African company to join the 500 Startups program, a Silicon Valley-based seed accelerator and investment fund. "I never thought of moving to the Valley as soon as this, because basically we want to build a global startup company right from Ghana that is going to service the whole world," says Osei, Dropifi's chief executive. "But coming to the Valley is definitely a step ahead of what we had imagined."
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Dropifi is the first African company to join the Silicon Valley-based 500 Startups program
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It is an online tool helping companies monitor customer feedback
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Launched in 2011, Dropifi has over 6,000 clients in more than 30 countries
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McClure says this was the program's first direct investment into a company from @placeholder.