The Telecel Group Africa Startup Initiative Program (ASIP), in collaboration with Startupbootcamp Afritech, Africa’s best early-stage tech accelerator, has chosen the ten tech startups that will participate in the first ASIP Accelerator.
The program got a record-breaking 2229 applications and was able to narrow it down to the Top 10 with the support of investors, corporate stakeholders, and industry experts who participated in a two-day screening process of 20 semi-finalists.
ASIP was founded by Telecel Group and is backed by AWS and Google Cloud Platform. Its mission is to promote the next generation of early-stage African tech businesses impacting major industry verticals such as FinTech, InsureTech, AgriTech, eCommerce, Digital Health, and CleanTech. Telecel will provide access to markets across the continent for the participating firms.
“We are happy to see the caliber of the entrepreneurs that participated in the final selection days, and we hope that the finalists will thrive with what we have to offer them in terms of helping them scale faster and more efficiently,” said Moh Damush, CEO of Telecel Group and founder of ASIP.
Participants will spend three months, beginning July 5th, receiving rigorous coaching through expert-led seminars covering scaling foundations such as the business model canvas, lean methods, and fundraising.
They’ll have exciting opportunity to run pilot projects with corporate partners to demonstrate the effect of their ideas, which typically lead to commercial contracts that enable our graduates achieve 18 months of growth in just three months.
The following startups will be part of the ASIP cohort in 2021:
Agrodata has created a bee-centered cropping model using an IoT device called iSmarthives which the startup installs for free at farmlands in Nigeria.
AGS Tribe is a pan African community built to inspire, connect and build the capacity of young entrepreneurs and professionals through capacity building, financial inclusion initiatives, and enterprise challenges.
Agrix leverages AI and image recognition to detect crop diseases and propose sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions to the millions of small-scale farmers in Africa.
Through Dawa Health, expectant mothers access tailored weekly maternal advice and support through a multi-lingual, AI-powered, digital health platform.
Motito has a buy now, pay later platform that enables small businesses to offer an interest-free credit option to their existing customers at point-of-sale.
NucleusIS is a technology for Africa’s health insurance value chain that curtails fraud, reduces cost, increases efficiency, and provides distribution channels for sales.
Thumeza is an online platform that provides small-scale transporters with immediately accessible working capital based on on-platform and off-platform transporter operational activities.
Ustacky is an online stack-learning platform that offers micro degrees and courses in programming and tech.
Weza Ventures provides underlying technology to enable financiers and retail merchants to offer their goods and services on credit to the people in the informal sector.
Worldbay Technologies is taking the principle of crowd-funding and thrift, applying it to food.
The 10 firms will also receive over $750,000 in perks, including credits and cash from Telecel Group, AWS, Google Cloud Services, and others.
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