For its 2022 Technology Pioneers cohort, the World Economic Forum (WEF) recently revealed a list of 100 cutting-edge innovation businesses made up of African startups.
According to WEF, the top “early-to-growth-stage firms from around the world that are pioneering new technologies and ideas” are included on the Technology Pioneers list.
About African Startups
African startups are tackling some of the most significant global concerns, such as climate change, food security, and cybersecurity, and they are setting the pace for change in their respective industries.
There are six startups from Africa in this year’s batch of 100, including Okra, Access Afya, Sendy, Pula Advisors, Ejara, and Ampersand.
The technology pioneers will now join an alumni network that includes some of the most valuable tech companies in the world, such as Google, Twitter, Spotify, Wikipedia, and Mozilla, among others, after being publicly unveiled.
“By becoming a member of this group, Technology Pioneers go on a two-year journey where they participate in WEF projects, activities, and events and contribute their cutting-edge knowledge and innovative ideas to important international debates.
Technology Pioneers are an essential component of the Forum’s Global Innovators community, which consists of the most promising startups and scale-
ups in the world who are at the forefront of technological and business model innovation and are only accessible by invitation” according to a WEF statement.
6 African startups from the 2022 Batch of 100
Six African startups from the 2022 batch of 100, includes:
- Okra
- Access Afya
- Sendy
- Pula Advisors
- Ejara, and
- Ampersand.
1. Okra
Okra is a fintech and API startup based in Nigeria that specializes in digitizing financial services all over the continent.
The business achieves this by enabling easy access to client financial information/data for fintech and even banks.
Read – Scientific Grant Writing Tips for Startups.
2. Access Afya
This Kenyan startup specializes in offering high-quality, reasonably priced healthcare to the general public worldwide.
The health-tech business uses technology to make the most of the patient data that is now accessible “to support efficient diagnostic, operational and follow-up treatment routes.”
Read – 40 Startup Business Ideas To Start In 2023.
3. Sendy
This firm Sendy, which is also based in Kenya, specializes in creating the continent’s e-commerce fulfillment infrastructure for consumer brands.
In other words, according to knowledge on its website, the company “makes trade in Africa easier and more beneficial to more individuals.”
Read – 500 Startup
4. Pula Advisors
This Kenyan startup operates as an insurance and tech firm, designing creative insurance and other digital products for farmers. The idea is to de-risk all agricultural investments and assure profit.
Read – Business Tips for Startup Success.
5. Ampersand
This Rwandan startup has been depicted as the renowned battery-swaps energy network for light vehicles.
The five million taxi motorbike operators in East Africa can choose from a commercial electric motorcycle that is cheaper from the start and provides greater performance, according to information on the company’s website.
6. Ejara
This Cameroonian firm specializes in assisting Africans, both at home and abroad, to invest in a variety of financial products, such as stocks, cryptocurrencies, commodities, etc. They are also a tech startup.
Note:
Eight African startups were recognised on the WEF 2021 Technology Pioneers list the previous year. The companies include:
- Cambridge Industries (Ethiopia)
- FlexFin Tx (Zimbabwe), Kuda (Nigeria)
- Moringa School (Kenya)
- mPharma (Ghana)
- Sokowatch (Kenya)
- 54Gene (Nigeria), and
- Gro Intelligence (Kenya).
11 African Startups to Keep an Eye on, in 2023
It’s reasonable to say that last year saw the full circle of the African startup ecosystem, with a record-breaking number of fresh, creative firms and significant funding to match them.
We can claim that the ecosystem has advanced if innovation is a reflection of economic, social, and technological advancement.
Therefore, out of hundreds of fantastic businesses in Africa, we have selected 11 that we believe you, our readers, should pay close attention to as we anticipate they will accomplish some amazing things in the year 2023.
| Fintech Cryptocurrency | Edu Tech | Health Tech | eCommerce and Logistics |
| NFTfi—South Africa | Craydel—Kenya | Bypa-ss—Egypt | Tendo—Ghana |
| Lazerpay—Nigeria | Edukoya—Nigeria | Afya Rekod—Kenya | Norebase—Nigeria |
| GetEquity—Nigeria | – | – | – |
| Float—Ghana | – | – | – |
| Telda—Egypt | – | – | – |
Fintech Cryptocurrency
NFTfi—South Africa
NFTfi, a decentralised and peer-to-peer cryptocurrency lending marketplace founded in February 2020 by Stephen Young, allows users to publish their NFT collateral and receive loan offers from other users.
You can use your NFT to request a loan on the platform, at which point other users will start competing to lend you money in cryptocurrency with a range of interest rates and repayment conditions. When you accept an offer, wETH or DAI liquidity will be deposited into your wallet, and your NFT will be placed into a double-audited escrow smart contract for the term of the loan.
You will receive your NFT back if you pay off the loan before it expires. If you don’t pay, the lender has the option of foreclosing and taking your NFT.
Considering the amount of money that is locked in NFTs, this is a good invention. Imagine having access to liquidity without having to sell off your NFT.
Lazerpay—Nigeria
Making it simple for holders to transact with cryptocurrency is necessary as it continues to experience widespread acceptance and adoption.
Lazerpay is a cryptocurrency payment gateway that was established and put into beta testing in November of last year by Njoku Emmanuel, Abdulfatai Suleiman, and Prosper Ubi. Imagine Paystack, but for cryptocurrency.
Nestcoin, an innovative company that develops, runs and invests in crypto and Web3 technologies, made an undisclosed amount of investment in Lazerpay last year.
The business is anticipated to achieve for cryptocurrencies what Paystack and Flutterwave are doing for cash in Africa as it prepares to go public.
GetEquity—Nigeria
GetEquity is an African startup funding platform that was co-founded by Jude Dike, William Okafor, and Temitope Ekundayo and launched in July 2021. They claim to want to make funding simple and quick for African startups while also assisting regular people to partake in the thriving startup ecosystem.
Users can put as little as $10 into startups using GetEquity. Startups have immediate access to several institutional, syndicate, and angel investors.
Additionally, startups have the opportunity to raise money from their communities and clients, “providing ownership and strengthening a sense of belonging among their most devoted clients.”
According to the co-founders, the company had a 100% growth rate in all indicators as of December of last year. The platform has more than 4,000 users. On this platform, there are already about 20 startups listed, and more than $400,000 has been invested.
Float—Ghana
Float, formerly known as Swipe, was introduced in June 2021 as a cash management and credit provider fintech company for Africa’s fast-growing companies. It was founded by Jesse Ghansah and Barima Effah.
Several well-known investors from around the world, including Cauris, Tiger Global, Justin Mateen’s JAM Fund, Ingressive Capital, Magic Fund, and other angel investors, recently provided the firm with $17 million in equity and loan capital.
The seed financing is anticipated to hasten the company’s growth this year even though it is currently functioning in Kenya and Nigeria.
Telda—Egypt
Telda is a digital bank that offers free accounts to its users and lets them send and receive money. It was founded in April of last year by Ahmed Sabbah, a Swvl co-founder, and Youssef Sholqamy, a former engineer at Uber. They are also given a card to use in stores, and online, for withdrawals, and bill payments.
The business revealed in May that it had raised $5 million in pre-seed capital, spearheaded by Sequoia, barely one month after its inception.
It also declared that it is the first business to be granted a license by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to issue cards and onboard consumers electronically under the new rules.
We anticipate the startup will accomplish even more in 2022 as a result of its rapid growth. Keep an eye on this one.
Edu Tech
Craydel—Kenya
In March 2021, Manish Sardana, John Nguru, and Shayne Aman Premji founded the edtech startup Craydel. The firm develops a trustworthy site to assist African students in choosing their tertiary education, courses, and careers.
A digital end-to-end higher education service is offered by Craydel. Its service ranges from the point of students picking schools, programmes, and courses to the application and acceptance phases.
Additionally, the business offers free visa assistance to people who decide to pursue an international education.
90 institutions from Canada, the UK, the US, Ireland, and African nations including Malawi and Kenya are already partners with Craydel. There are more than 3,000 courses accessible, divided throughout undergraduate and graduate programmes.
Edukoya—Nigeria
Honey Ogundeyi, the former head of Google Nigeria, founded Edukoya in May 2021 but only put it into beta in December.
Edukoya says it wants to give students and their parents more control over their education by making it simpler for them to access excellent learning resources and professional assistance.
The site is developed to target Nigerian secondary school learners. To provide effective instruction to its target audience, it has raised a $3.5 million pre-seed capital war fund from Target Global and leading African founders such as Shola Akindolu and Babs Ogundeyin, among others.
We anticipate this firm to achieve big things in the edtech space this year thanks to the founder’s experience, the caliber of the team, and the early financing acquired.
Health Tech
Bypa-ss—Egypt
Dr. Andrew Saad founded the company Bypa-ss in 2019. The company’s proprietary product, HealthTag, a platform for health information exchange (HIE), entered the market in 2019 and provides doctors with a free cloud-based clinic management solution.
HealthTag securely preserves medical records gathered from various healthcare providers and provides them to their proper owner, the user, by connecting with a cloud database.
Saad stated that as of November of last year, the business has more than 17,000 HealthTag cardholders and more than 3,500 healthcare professionals using their product, mostly in clinics, pharmacies, labs, and radiology centers.
Afya Rekod—Kenya
Afya Rekod, which is based on blockchain technology, aims to provide a seamless, mobile healthcare system in Africa where patients—the only moving parts in healthcare—retain full ownership of their data.
John Kamara, co-founder, and CEO of Adanian Labs, founded Afya Rekod in 2019. It offers its clients four distinct services: a patient portal at the core; electronic health record (EHR) systems for hospitals; diagnostic centers for medical labs; and disease management for the prevention and treatment of chronic illnesses like Ebola and COVID-19.
Ecommerce and Logistics
Tendo—Ghana
Tendo is a social e-commerce platform that offers logistics, funding, and marketing assistance to social commerce entrepreneurs to lower their startup and ongoing operational costs.
Derrick Mungai, Evans Darbo Boateng, Felix Manford, and Primerose Katena founded Tendo, which offers its users—resellers—a curated selection of goods, marketing tools, and other tools that assist trading.
Tendo takes care of the remainder after the seller has sold the item at the price they determined, shipping it, deducting the cost, and depositing the profit into the seller’s account.
Anyone may effortlessly open an online store using Tendo with no money down. The business has a distinctive approach to social commerce. Additionally, it was accepted into the Y Combinator 2022 Winter Batch, which is a sign that it should be closely watched.
Norebase—Nigeria
Norebase, a one-stop shop digital platform for African businesses to grow, register trademarks, and patent intellectual property (IP) across the continent, was established in June 2021 by Tola Onayemi and Tope Obanla.
The start-up manages all aspects of a company’s entry into a new African nation. It functions as a 360-degree business launchpad, allowing users to register businesses, open business bank accounts, comply with regulations, obtain licenses, and fulfill further legal needs all from a single dashboard.
We believe that this firm is developing a revolutionary product that will have a big influence on the development of startups in Africa.
Conclusion
The lists in this article are African startups from the 2022 Batch of 100 and African Startups to Keep an Eye on, in 2023.
We have numerous other Africa startups which we are aware that you may know about. You may also have the ones you may be supporting this year that we may have overlooked. Please share them with us in the comments area below.
