Startups Profile

Founded in 2015 by an economics graduate of Cavendish University, Zambia, Evelyn Chilomo Kaingu, Lupiya is a marketplace for micro-loans.  The startup is a branchless, digital microfinance platform that leverages technology to make the process of borrowing simpler and easier for people and businesses located across the country. The Zambian micro-finance startup has developed a […]

TradeDepot started as a consulting firm in 2005 before pivoting into a product-led startup in 2016 to aid seamless milk distribution across Nigeria.  Now, the platform is connecting consumer goods brands in Africa directly to a target market of several million retail outlets across the continent and also providing micro-loans to retailers to enable them

Komaza was founded by American scientist Tevis Howard in 2006 and it is the largest forestry company in Kenya with over 22,000 farmer partners and 8,000 ha of forest under management.  It plants over 1,500 ha with 5,000 farmers annually accounting for approximately 40% of commercial tree plantings in Kenya. Its innovative technology transforms underutilized

Peach Payments began after a chance meeting between Rahul Jain and Andreas Demleitner in 2009. As immigrants to South Africa, they were unsure if they would remain – or even when their paths would next cross. But the two knew they had complementary traits. So two years later, they decided to reunite in Cape Town

Founded by an American woman entrepreneur, Tomato Jos grows and processes tomatoes, maize, and soya in Nigeria.  The company uses best practices in agriculture and food processing, coupled with local market expertise, to replace bulk tomato imports with better quality, locally-processed products. Tomato Jos was founded with the vision to create and retain local value-add

Founded in 2019, Apollo Agriculture empowers farmers to increase their profitability with access to financing, high-quality farm inputs, insurance, and optimized advice.  The startup leverages machine learning, remote sensing, and mobile payments to accurately underwrite farm credit risk and has built an automatically managed network of more than 5,000 agents and nearly 1,000 retailers that

Founded in 2017 by Mohamed Abdulaziz, Ahmed Sheikha, and Mahmoud Refaay, Brimore enables small businesses to get their product out to the mass market by connecting them with a wide network of distributors across Egypt. Since it started operations in 2017, Brimore saw 375x growth in revenue and the number of sellers and suppliers. Brimore

Founded in 2018 and based in Cape Town, Carry1st is a mobile games publisher serving the first generation of African smartphone users, which has so far reached millions of users across the region with games such as Mine Rescue and SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off.  Lucy Hoffman, chief operating officer, started the company with cofounders Robbin-Coker and

Founded in 2017 by CEO Jonathan Elcock and CFO Matt Kloos, CompariSure is a financial services provider that distributes financial services products via its chatbot-driven marketplace, using its proprietary chatbot technology. The chatbot leverages platforms like Moya, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. CompariSure acts as a digital broker. Since 2017, CompariSure has processed over 120 million

Founded in 2020 by Alain Nteff, Healthlane allows users to book appointments with more than healthcare providers across Cameroon and Nigeria via its mobile app. Its user base has already grown to more than 60,000. From tracking doctors’ appointments to compiling patients’ health data, Healthlane has a pipeline of more than 400 medical institutions across