Africa’s new accelerator, Accelerate Africa, selects its inaugural class of 10 promising ventures.

Four months post-launch, Accelerate Africa, a budding accelerator program with aspirations to emulate the success of “Y Combinator of Africa,” proudly unveils its inaugural cohort comprising ten promising African startups.

The brainchild of Iyin Aboyeji, the luminary behind Pan-African VC firm Future Africa, and Mia von Koschitzky-Kimani, a seasoned general partner, this initiative endeavors to propel early-stage African businesses to greater heights.

For a long time, I told anyone who cared to listen that the YC of Africa is YC and there was no need for an African accelerator. I’ve changed my mind.

Iyin Aboyeji

“For a long time, I told anyone who cared to listen that the YC of Africa is YC and there was no need for an African accelerator. I’ve changed my mind,” Aboyeji said at the launch. “Prior to now, we have mostly run successful pre-accelerator programs to help get founders into actual accelerator programs like YC and Techstars. Now we are getting into the accelerator arena ourselves.”

Following the recent demo day at the Marriott Hotel in Lagos, pivotal decisions regarding pre-seed or seed funding await some of the chosen startups. Angel investors and venture capitalists are poised to inject investments, ranging from $250,000 to $500,000. It’s imperative to underscore that, unlike Y Combinator, participation in the accelerator program doesn’t automatically secure funding directly from Accelerate Africa.

Read also: 2nd Accelerate Africa Startup Support Programme, Applications Now Open.

The inaugural cohort boasts geographic diversity, with six companies hailing from Nigeria, two from Kenya, and one from Egypt and Eswatini. Operating across diverse sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), cleantech, proptech, healthtech, automotive technology, HRTech, logistics, and fintech, these startups represent a spectrum of innovation.

The selected startups include:

1. Afriskaut (Nigeria): Founded by Nnamdi Emefo, Buggu Ussa, Joshua Osazuwa, Ogunkola Obafemi, and Eby Emenike, Afriskaut is a Nigerian AI and data startup that enables the discovery of Africa’s top sports talent using proprietary data and AI.
2. Agrails (Kenya): Agrails is a Kenyan cleantech startup that collects, organizes, and builds AI-powered data systems that enable organizations to respond to and price Africa’s climate risk and opportunities in real time. The startup was founded by Mwenda Mugendi.
3. Campus HQ (Nigeria): Founded by Remi Dada, Campus HQ is a Nigerian proptech startup that is building the Airbnb for workspaces, simplifying the discovery, setup, and management of offices for mid to large teams in Africa.
4. CDIAL (Nigeria): CDIAL is a Nigerian AI startup building a conversational AI that speaks and understands African languages, led by the team of Yinka Iyinolakan, Shona Olalere, and Soji Akinlabi.
5. Checkups (Kenya): Checkups provide affordable and accessible healthcare to the uninsured and underserved via micropayments from earnings, bank deposits, or mobile money. The Kenyan healthtech startup was founded by Moka Lantum and Renee Ngamau.
6. Flickwheel (Nigeria): Henry Okafor and Paul Edwards are the masterminds behind Flickwheel, a Nigerian autotech startup that helps vehicle owners efficiently care for and maintain their vehicles through on-demand auto repair credits, vetted auto technicians, and automated vehicle repair tracking.
7. Juiceme (Eswatini): Sandile Diamini is the founder of Juiceme. The HRTech startup collaborates with organizations employing blue-collar workers, enabling them to access their wages via WhatsApp without waiting for payday, particularly for emergency expenses.
8. Messenger (Nigeria): Amanda Etuk and Essien Etuk drive Messenger, a logistics startup that empowers delivery drivers to become logistics entrepreneurs by providing not just income but ownership opportunities. Additionally, through its vehicle financing service, drivers can acquire their delivery vehicles, creating a stake in the value chain.
9. PipeOps (Nigeria): Founded by Samuel Ogbonyomi, Alex Idowu, and Taye Odunfa, PipeOps is a DevOps provider that allows companies without cloud expertise to automatically set up, deploy, and manage their apps on the cloud. They achieve this through a suite of traditional DevOps tools, managed services, and no-code tools.
10. Settle (Egypt): Settle is a fintech startup that automates the process of B2B payments, enabling clients to pay all their suppliers in a few clicks. They are addressing the market gap of manual workload in payments that enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems do not currently cover. It was founded by Kamil Sayour.

These startups exemplify the innovative spirit and potential within Africa’s burgeoning startup ecosystem, poised to make significant strides under the guidance of Accelerate Africa.