Twice a year, US seed accelerator, Y Combinator, invests $150,000 in selected startups, in exchange for 7% equity. Divided into winter and summer batches, these startups relocate to Silicon Valley for three months, finishing off with a Demo Day.
On March 16, 12 African startups participated in the Demo Day which 197 startups took part in.
Nigeria dominated the list with six startups. Kenya followed with three startups while Algeria, Cameroon, and Ethiopia had one each.
Here are the 12 African startups that pitched online at the just concluded Y Combinator Winter 2020 batch.
Termii (Nigeria)
Termii is a communication platform-as-a-service startup that allows businesses to send messages to customers via SMS, email, voice, and instant messaging channels.
Avion UAV (Ethiopia)
Avion is a drone delivery startup that delivers medical supplies. The startup designs and sets up distribution nodes with minimal infrastructure making medical supplies cheap to access.
Swipe (Nigeria)
Swipe allows small businesses to access finance by providing them with credit using its business credit card to help cover payroll and expenses.
NUMI (Kenya)
Numi is an import marketplace that facilitates the movement of goods between the US and East Africa.
Bamboo (Nigeria)
The startup gives Nigerians access to over 3,000 stocks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and US stock exchanges via an application.
Yassir (Algeria)
Yassir is a super app that caters to the needs of francophone Africa offering ride-hailing services, and food delivery services among others.
SEND (Nigeria)
The Nigerian startup is a digital freight forwarding and courier for African businesses. It ships container and air cargo from China, US, and Europe to customers in Nigeria.
WorkPay (Kenya)
WorkPay is a startup that provides a cloud-based payroll, benefits, and human resource management software for businesses in Africa.
Healthlane (Cameroon)
The health-clinic startup provides health services like access to doctors and health data, among others, to customers via a mobile application.
CrowdForce (Nigeria)
CrowdForce allows any local merchant in Africa to become a bank branch via an app. The startup says it is Africa’s largest offline distribution network and specialises in fintech, blockchain, and big data.
Tambua Health (Kenya)
A healthtech startup, Tambua, via its device, T-Sense, uses sound to take a picture of the lungs and replaces the radiation process of an X-ray with sound.
Eze (Nigeria)
Eze Wholesale is a commodities exchange for electronics that allows buyers and sellers to trade in wholesale quantities with real-time market data.
Source: Techpoint
