Accelerate Africa Unveils First Cohort, Aims to Be Y Combinator for African Startups

Accelerate Africa, a new accelerator program designed to propel early-stage African startups, has revealed its inaugural class after a four-month selection process.

The initiative, led by Pan-African VC firm Future Africa founder Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and general partner Mia von Koschitzky-Kimani, aims to become the continent’s answer to Y Combinator, a globally renowned startup accelerator.

Initially focused on preparing African founders for established accelerators, the team behind Accelerate Africa recognized the distinct challenges and opportunities in the African startup landscape. This led them to create an accelerator program tailored specifically to nurture African ventures.

The first cohort boasts ten geographically diverse startups from across Africa:

  • Six from Nigeria
  • Two from Kenya
  • One each from Egypt and Eswatini

These startups represent a broad spectrum of industries crucial to Africa’s development, including:

  • Artificial intelligence (AI)
  • Clean technology (cleantech)
  • Property technology (proptech)
  • Health technology (healthtech)
  • Automotive technology
  • Human resources technology (HRTech)
  • Logistics
  • Financial technology (fintech)

The program will culminate in a demo day at the Lagos Marriott Hotel, where the startups will pitch to potential investors. Pre-seed and seed investments ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 are anticipated from angel investors and venture capitalists.

Meet Accelerate Africa’s First Cohort Innovators

Here’s a sneak peek at the groundbreaking startups in Accelerate Africa’s first cohort:

  • Afriskaut (Nigeria): Uses AI and data to identify Africa’s top sports talent.
  • Agrails (Kenya): A cleantech company leveraging AI for climate risk management and opportunity creation.
  • Campus HQ (Nigeria): A proptech platform streamlining workspace discovery, setup, and management, essentially an “Airbnb for workspaces.”
  • CDIAL (Nigeria): Develops conversational AI fluent in African languages.
  • Checkups (Kenya): A healthtech startup offering affordable healthcare through micropayments to underserved communities.
  • Flickwheel (Nigeria): An autotech platform providing on-demand auto repair services with vetted technicians and automated tracking.
  • Juiceme (Eswatini): An HRTech platform allowing blue-collar workers to access earned wages via WhatsApp before payday.
  • Messenger (Nigeria): A logistics startup empowering delivery drivers through ownership opportunities, including vehicle financing.
  • PipeOps (Nigeria): A DevOps provider offering tools and services to help companies manage cloud-based applications.
  • Settle (Egypt): A fintech startup automating B2B payments, simplifying the process for businesses.

By empowering these innovative ventures, Accelerate Africa aims to play a pivotal role in shaping a thriving future for African businesses.


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