Cape Town, South Africa – 18 October 2023
Startupbootcamp AfriTech, the leading sector-agnostic tech accelerator for high-growth startups in Africa, is thrilled to announce the selection of the 20 startups that will advance to the Final Selection Days of the highly coveted ASIP Accelerator Program. These startups have demonstrated exceptional innovation and potential, earning them a place in the next stage of the program.
ASIP is a rigorous accelerator program designed to equip startups with the necessary resources, mentorship, and access they need to scale their businesses in Africa and beyond. The program attracted a diverse pool of applications from startups across various industries, showcasing the immense talent and innovation within the African tech ecosystem.
“For Cohort 4 of the ASIP Accelerator, our goal is to build upon the many successes of the previous cohorts,” says Director of Programs Henry Ojuor. “With our Dakar Campus serving as the hub of the ASIP Accelerator, we’ve seen increased participation from North African startups, while still retaining our popularity across Africa, south of the sahara. We have lined up key central themes and established relationships to help our chosen startups achieve 12-24 months worth of progress in 3 months. With our newly launched Startup Success team, we’re poised to provide more ongoing value to portfolio companies for the next 5 years or exit. The first challenge though is to survive selection and finally decide which ten will get into the program and I couldn’t be more excited and at the same time hopeful for the lucky 10.”
Once selected, participants will spend 3 months undergoing intensive coaching through expert-led masterclasses covering scaling fundamentals from the business model canvas, and lean methodology, to fundraising.
The program will take place in Senegal, culminating in a Demo Day where startup founders pitch their disruptive solutions to a broad audience of media, investors, corporate partners, and industry stakeholders. The 10 startups in the program will also receive benefits valued at more than $750,000, including $18,000 in cash, credits from AWS, Google Cloud Services, and many more.
The shortlisted startups are as follows:
10mg Health offers an innovative AI-driven credit scoring platform designed to transform healthcare financing in emerging markets. Our service provides real-time, accurate assessments of healthcare providers’ creditworthiness, enabling them to quickly secure collateral-free loans from lenders. By streamlining the lending process, we bypass traditional barriers such as fragmented credit databases and high collateral requirements, enhancing financial inclusion.
AgriLogiq develops, manufactures and delivers a range of asset-light, proprietary software and hardware to connect growers to their greenhouses. Our solution achieves this through a range of sensors, automation and undercover farming data insights, helping farmers make pro-active decisions to increase yield and maximize productivity. Imagine a world, where you and your greenhouse are on the same whatsapp group. You would have the ability to ask it questions, get replies, apply instructions and receive feedback on completion.
We offering to physical merchant the opportunity to receive digital payment and secure their money by receiving money from all our mobile money partners, and 80% of people use mobile money but don’t use it to pay cause their is no infrastructure yet for this at the merchant businesses. In one word, we’re offering professional digital wallet.
A world where everyone has the opportunity to learn, grow and push humanity forwards. To achieve this, we must first ensure that everyone has access to fundamental resources – like electricity. Nigeria’s national electrification rate is 45%, the rural electrification rate is 36% and the urban electrification rate is 55%. The country has the largest access deficit in Sub-Saharan Africa and the second-largest in the world, after India. Nigerians spend an estimated $14bn per year on small-scale diesel generators to offset poor or non-existent grid supply and the lack of adequate power supply results in over $25Bn in annual losses to the economy (6% of GDP). We leverage a technology solution that combines decentralized solar panels and batteries with IoT hardware and A. I software, to enable energy utilities to set up profitable, renewable mesh grids in remote areas, at ½ of the cost of traditional off-grid solutions.
Canta enables foreign businesses to accept local payments from Africans and facilitates settlements to their respective countries.Our industry focus, and offline support for businesses sets us apart. With over $25M processed, 2000+ active users, and banking partnerships, we are positioned to capture a share of the $600B African outbound remittance market annually.
Clozetsale Marketplace is addressing the pressing issue of environmental pollution caused by fashion waste in Nigeria. The country is a major importer of fashion waste and is also generating more waste domestically, resulting in negative environmental impacts such as climate change and water pollution. The fast fashion industry and social media trends are encouraging consumers to buy clothes they do not need, leading to an increase in fashion waste. Meanwhile, a significant number of individuals within the mid-to-low-income class struggle to afford clothing. Clozetsale Marketplace is offering a solution to these problems by providing an online platform for buying and selling affordable and high-quality preloved clothing. By promoting the reuse of clothes, we are reducing the demand for new clothing production and contributing to the reduction of fashion waste. In turn, this helps to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon footprint of the fashion industry.
Over one billion children will be born over the next 3 decades in sub-Saharan Africa. Demand for education would continue to soar and so is the proliferation of bad schools, while the good ones would be unaffordable for the low and middleclass parents for their kids. We founded Edusko to bridge this gap. We offer a web-based, one-stop platform that matches kids with the right k-12 private schools and finance their education affordably. Our solution allows parents to compare good schools, make informed decisions, access tuition discount and low-interest tuition finance and enroll their wards with ease. The process is simple, completely happens online and takes an average of 15 minutes to complete. The loan is disbursed within 12 hours once the credit rating is completed within minutes.
We provide innovative, eco-friendly logistics solutions powered by electric vehicles and AI technology. Focusing on the B2B market, we help businesses cut operational costs, improve delivery times, and reduce carbon emissions. In a world increasingly conscious of sustainability, our solution offers substantial market potential.
ePoultry is a marketplace that helps farmers & consumers buy and sell African agricultural produce starting with the poultry sector. Our app helps farmers keep records, digitize sales, request input loans, track their performance, including projected revenue, costs, and profits. It’s like having a virtual assistant for their poultry farm! With this data, banks and financial institutions can provide input loans to farmers via our platform. Farmers can save 70% of time used in manual pen & paper records to focus on proper management of their stocks with our software. Farmers can also make 25 to 30% of profits more with the elimination of middlemen. And for customers, we’ve made it easier than ever to access high-quality chicken products consistently.
hela.money is a web3 neo bank specifically designed for African businesess make intra africa crossborder payments . hela also allows african make payments with local currencies to other businesses in Africa without having to worry about expensive FX fees and timelines.
We have established KORIPASS, an E-wallet linked to physical payment accessories like bracelets, stickers, or keychain. Enables quick and easy merchant payments using NFC and QR Code technology. No internet or smartphone required. KORIPASS is a highly innovative payment system patented by OAPI since 2020. Users without smartphones can visit a KORIPASS merchant, open an account, link their preferred accessory, and fund it with cash. Otherwise, do it with our app…To pay, simply tap the payment accessory (keychain, stickers, or bracelet) on the merchant terminal. It’s that easy! If the merchant doesn’t have an NFC-enabled terminal, they can install the Koripass Pro app for QR code payments.
Also, Merchants no longer need multiple accounts; one KORIPASS merchant account allows acceptance of all mobile money providers in Senegal. Our payment accessories also offer additional merchant services like customer loyalty programs, subscription management, and change dispensing.”
Mara-Scientific Limited is a Ugandan biotechnology business that develops customized medical systems to help Africa’s health sector run more smoothly.
Our mission is to equip healthcare practitioners with reliable and resilient systems and tools to make better data-driven decisions in improving the healthcare outcomes of their patients.
Messenger is a logistics platform that finances and aggregates end-to-end logistics and supply chain operations. We connect businesses to their customers through efficient logistics services. Our vision is to facilitate trade and commerce across the continent. We started as a traditional logistics business in 2018 and the challenges we encountered from high cost of operations to satisfy customer demands, capacity underutilization amongst others. One of the challenges in ensuring our vision is a stable supply of logistics services to the end customer which informed our current solution. We have launched a partner aggregation platform providing asset and operating financing introducing a hot demand service for fuel financing keeping operators in business and powering trade. Currently we play in a $60B market that’s growing annually as more Africans are involved in trade and commerce.
Our venture is innovative in that it integrates solar power with IoT technology to create cooling hubs specifically designed for small-scale farmers in rural areas. This combination allows for sustainable, off-grid refrigeration solutions that are affordable and scalable. The IoT component provides real-time monitoring and management of the cooling conditions, optimizing efficiency and minimizing waste. Unlike traditional refrigeration methods, our solution harnesses renewable energy, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and lowering carbon footprints. Moreso, the hubs are designed to be user-friendly and require minimal maintenance, making them accessible to farmers with limited technical expertise. By addressing post-harvest losses, improving food preservation, and enhancing market access for farmers, we boost local economies and contribute to global food security and environmental sustainability. This holistic approach sets us apart from existing solutions.
Estimate and finish your home projects through Our Patent Pending Smart Quote and Algorithmic pricing engine with “Pay as You Go” Business Model. Problems: Value Propositions:
> Very low purchasing power.
> Digitalize home projects’ data points.
> No fintech accessibility for marginalized communities like handymen.
> Save [+30] hours and [+2K$] per project.
> Wasted Resources for every home improvement project.
Ostafandy system can adapt any new market with its scalable framework using the Smart Quote and Algorithmic Pricing Engine as:
>> Can test the service providers remotely and [80%] automated.
>> Get the suitable price and fully need-customized quotation with fitting all the dynamic markets parameters.
>> Our Innovated protocol to onboard high quality service providers REMOTELY – Pricing System that can adapt to any new market easily.
>> Using our entire system only a team of 5 can manage +1600 service providers all over Egypt.
We provide power ? whilst providing digital payments for more than 40 hospitals and 1.5M patients across Africa.
We Automate hospitals by implementing our SaaS and We sell Smartcards to patients with integrated wallets allowing them access healthcare services without queues and improve their overall experience by providing a mobile-App to Book appointments and make payments to hospitals or Doctors in our network.
SN Energy from Senegal is on a mission to make solar energy accessible to all social classes and reduce the carbon impact in the process of producing electrical energy in Senegal. The solar energy engineering company is also a distributor of domestic and agricultural solar energy equipment.
EGYMAG Biotechnology from Egypt’s value proposition is that they provide alternative and cost-effective sources of organic fertilizers as well as highly digestible protein and fat. They have developed an indoor breeding system for the Black soldier fly. Their vertical rearing system is low maintenance, uses less land and energy.
Traders Of Africa is a Pan African hub for facilitating trade with/within Africa through technology. They create visibility and access to African products, bridging the trust and payment terms divide that inhibit trade with and within Africa.
LyfPlus is a Tanzanian telemedicine platform that integrates virtual physician consultation, medical testing and e-prescription, allowing patients to access essential medical services instantly and conveniently. The platform is a web and mobile application covering all aspects of the patient process; where patients find doctors based on specialty, distance and price range, book tests, call and video consultations.
Over the course of the Final Selection Days, they will undergo an intensive evaluation process, including pitch presentations, one-on-one mentorship sessions, and interactions with investors and industry experts.
We are inviting industry experts and investors to join the Final Selection Days as mentors. To sign up, click here: https://bit.ly/FSD-Form
The Final Selection Days are a testament to Startupbootcamp AfriTech’s commitment to nurturing and empowering startups in Africa. The organization is dedicated to fostering innovation and accelerating the growth of technology-driven businesses on the continent.
The ASIP Program is supported by partners such as DER/FJ, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO), through MASSIF, the financial inclusion fund FMO manages on behalf of the Dutch government, AWS, Google for Startups, and Firstbase. ASIP aims to support the next generation of early-stage African tech startups disrupting key industry verticals. With an ever-expanding pool of entrepreneurial talent, supportive ecosystems, and increasing access to capital, Africa has become a hotbed for innovation and a fertile ground for startups to flourish.
For more information about Startupbootcamp AfriTech and the ASIP Program, please visit sbcafritech.com.
About Startupbootcamp AfriTech
Startupbootcamp AfriTech was launched in 2017 as the first multi-corporate-backed pan-African startup accelerator. We run world-class accelerator programs, working with some of the most disruptive startups on the continent. We provide access to our global network of corporate partners, investors, and mentors. The SBC AfriTech portfolio currently has 60 African startups spanning 13 countries and operating in sectors that include FinTech, InsureTech, Logistics, Mobility, AgriTech and Digital Health.
With our support, 95% of SBC AfriTech alumni are still operational 2+ years after the program, and they have an aggregate valuation of nearly $1 Billion and 22% have female cofounders. For more information visit: http://bit.ly/sbcafritech
About Der/FJ
Der/FJ is an institution under the authority of the Presidency of the Republic of Senegal and it was launched by President Macky Sall in 2018 in order to support entrepreneurs throughout Senegal. This support is given through both financial and non-financial services, with an emphasis on sectors that include technology and innovation, hence the creation of the D-hub incubator. For more information about DER/FJ visit https://der.sn/
About FMO
FMO is the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development bank. As a leading impact investor, FMO supports sustainable private sector growth in developing countries and emerging markets by investing in ambitious projects and entrepreneurs. FMO believes that a strong private sector leads to economic and social development and has a close to 50-year proven track record of empowering people to employ their skills and improve their quality of life. FMO focuses on three sectors that have a high development impact: financial institutions, energy, and agribusiness, food & water. With a committed portfolio of EUR 9.3 billion spanning over 85 countries, FMO is one of the larger bilateral private sector development banks globally. For more information: please visit www.fmo.nl.