In Africa, accelerators are not compulsory in building successful startups. Founders who have large network of investors or those passionate about executing quickly may consider accelerators a complete waste of time. In any case, the startup journey is not a straight-line destination; the vagaries of the society, the founder’s resilience, previous and continuing experience, and a host of other factors, largely shape the journey. Even startups funded by VCs, most times, equally have access to useful resources from the investors, who usually sit on the startups’ boards by virtue of their investments. Nevertheless, while they exist, accelerators are still a strong force in attempting to bridge the funding gap for startups on the continent.
Find a list of the few active startup accelerators on the continent, below:
list startup accelerators Africa list startup accelerators Africa list startup accelerators Africa
| S/N | NAME OF ACCELERATOR | LOCATION | FOCUS | DIRECT FUNDING | NOTABLE AFRICAN STARTUP GRADUATES | |
| 1 | Founder Institute | Palo Alto, USA. | Pre-seed Stage. | No | DigiFi (Egypt) | |
| 2 | Betraton | Hong Kong | Startups seeking to expand to Asia. | YES | OkHi; ThankUCash | |
| 3 | Changelabs | Cyprus | Accelerates mostly North African startups. | YES | Hospitalia; El-Dokan | |
| 4 | Openner | USA | Egypt; Pre-seed; Seed. | YES | Recently launched. | |
| 5 | Google Business Startup Accelerator | USA | Early Stage. | NO | Crop2Cash (Nigeria); Curacel (Nigeria). | |
| 6 | Start Path Accelerator, Mastercard. | USA | Reg-tech; Fintech. | NO | uKheshe (South Africa) | |
| 7 | F-Lane Accelerator | Berlin, Germany | Female founders. | NO | Bidhaa Sasa | |
| 8 | Flat6Labs Accelerator | Egypt | Seed. | YES | Logistics startup ILLA; Instabug (Egypt); Dabchy (Fashion, Egypt) | |
| 9 | Catalyst Fund accelerators (Inclusive Digital Accelerator, etc) | USA | Early stage; African startups. | YES | Sokowatch; ChipperCash; Cowryrise | |
| 10 | “I’M IN” Accelerator | South Africa | South Africa; Female founders. | YES | MomSays; Droppa; Lightbulb Education. | |
| 11 | Akro Accelerate | South Africa | South African startups. | YES | DentX (Insurtech, South Africa) | |
| 12 | FoodTech Africa Accelerator | Norway | Kenya-based Agritech enterprises. | YES | iFarm360 (Kenya); Ecodudu (Kenya); Digicow (Kenya) | |
| 13 | FRAGG Impact Growth Accelerator | Nigeria | West Africa-based startups. | YES | ||
| 14 | DIFC Fintech Hive | UAE | African startups in fintech; Insurtech; Islamic fintech. | YES | Amplified Payment System (Nigeria) PaySky (Egypt) | |
| 15 | Facebook Accelerator (Community, Commerce) | USA | Invests in community-focused, commerce and other early stage startups. | YES | BoxCommerce; ShoppingFeeder. | |
| 14 | Hseven | Morocco | African startups | YES | ||
| 15 | I & P Accelerate, Investisseurs & Partenaires | EU | Startups in Benin; Burkina Faso; Cameroon; Côte d’Ivoire; Gambia; Guinea; Ghana; Mali; Mauritania; Niger; Chad; Togo and Senegal. | YES | ||
| 16 | First Digital Startup Accelerator, Forbes | USA | Nigerian startups. | YES | ||
| 17 | Land Accelerator Africa | Kenya | Agritechs aimed at land preservation. | YES | ||
| 18 | Innovate Ventures Accelerator | Somalia | Early stage. | YES | ||
| 19 | Falak Startups Accelerator | Egypt | e-health; Fintech; Logistics; 3D Printing; Remote work and ed-tech fields. | YES | ||
| 20 | Google’s Accelerator program on Sustainable Development Goal | USA | Startups working on SDGs. | NO | ||
| 21 | Africa Transformative Mobility Accelerator | Kenya | Kenyan and Ugandan mobility startups. | YES | SafariShare; Easy Matutu; Zembo Motorcycle. | |
| 22 | Grindstone Accelerator | South Africa | South African startups. | YES | WhereIsMyTransport; OneCart; Sentian (IoT, South Africa) | |
| 23 | Village Capital Agriculture Africa Accelerator. | USA | African startups. | YES | Complete Farmer; Reelfruit | |
| 24 | Vodacom Digital Accelerator, Vodacom; Smart Lab | Tanzania | Mobile; fintech; media, health; education; and e-commerce startups in Tanzania. | YES | Smart Class; Hastag Pool; MYHI | |
| 25 | Seedstars Tanzania Accelerator | Switzerland | Startups in Tanzania. | YES | Sheria Kiganjani (legaltech, Tanzania) | |
| 26 | The Baobab Network Accelerator | UK | Startups in Congo; Democratic Republic of the, Ethiopia; Ghana; Kenya; Rwanda; South Africa; Nigeria; Zambia, Zimbabwe, engaged in Agribusiness; Clean technology; Education; Financial services; Healthcare. | YES | Kakbima; Gladepay | |
| 27 | Y Combinator | USA | Seed stage; global accelerator. | YES | Paystack; 54gene; Helium Health | |
| 28 | AUC Venture Lab Accelerator | Cairo, Egypt | Seed Stage. | YES | SWVL; Agora | |
| 29 | JFN-IT E4 IMPACT Accelerator | Doula, Cameroon | Early Stage. | NO | – | |
| 30 | Catalyst Fund‘s Fintech Accelerator | USA | Early Stage; Fintech. | YES | Turaco (Kenya) | |
| 31 | ARM Accelerator | China | AI & IoT Startups. | YES | Kwaba (Kenya); | |
| 32 | Plug and Play Startup Accelerator Tech Center | USA | Morocco; Early stage; Smart city startups. | NO | – | |
| 33 | Tachyon Accelerator, run by Consensys Ventures | USA | Blockchain. | YES | Elkrem (Egypt) | |
| 34 | Starfleet Incubator | Sofia, Bulgaria | Blockchain. | YES | UTU Tech (Kenya) | |
| 35 | Binance Labs | Hong Kong | Blockchain. | YES | XEND Finance | |
| 36 | AlphaCode Incubate | South Africa | Early stage; fintech. | YES | Akiba Digital; ISpani Group; Nisa Finance. | |
| 37 | Start and Grow Your StartUp Accelerator, GIZ | Tunisia | Early Stage. | NO | ||
| 38 | Seedstars | USA | Seed; Early Stage Startups. | YES | Pezecha (Kenya); Chaka (Nigeria) | |
| 39 | MEST Africa (Pan African Fintech Accelerator, etc) | Ghana | Early Stage startups; Fintech. | YES | Shopa (Kenya); Tendo (Ghana); Amplify. | |
| 40 | DFS Lab Accelerator | Seattle, USA. | Early stage startups with at least two co-founders; Ecommerce; Fintech. | YES | Cherehani Africa (Kenya),Nobuntu (South Africa), | |
| 41 | Orange Fab Tunisia | Tunisia | Early Stage. | YES | Galactech (Tunisia) | |
| 42 | Passion Incubator | Nigeria | Early Stage. | NO | ||
| 43 | Enterprise Development for Women-Owned Ventures in Green Energy, AWIEF | South Africa | Women-led cleantech startups in Malawi and Nigeria | NO | ||
| 44 | Village Global Accelerator | San Francisco, USA | Early Stage. | YES | Eden Life | |
| 45 | Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa | USA | Seed; Early Stage. | YES | Piggyvest; ThankUCash; Thrive Agric; Eversend (Uganda); Aerobotics | |
| 46 | VC4A Venture Showcase | The Netherlands | All Stages. | YES | ||
| 47 | Afrikhaliss-Suguba | Cote d’ivioire | Early stage startups in French-speaking West Africa. | YES | ||
| 48 | Justice Accelerator, the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law | The Netherlands | Legaltechs in Africa led by committed CEOs. | YES | Lenoma Legal; Luma Law | |
| 49 | 500 Startups’ Global Seed Accelerator | USA | Early stage startups. | YES | Shezlong (Healthtech, Egypt); Source Beauty (Egypt). | |
| 50 | Startup Wise Guys Accelerator | EU | Fintech startups in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. | YES | Paylock (Ghana) | |
| 51 | Greenhouse Lab Accelerator | Nigeria | Female-led startups in Africa. | YES | Doctoora (Nigeria); Vesicash (Nigeria) | |
| 52 | She Leads Africa Accelerator | South Africa | Female-led startups Africa. | YES | DeliveryBros, Art Splash Studio, BathKandy Co. | |
| 53 | Egbank MINT | Egypt | Fintech Startups Egypt. | YES | Shahry (Lending, Egypt) | |
| 54 | Startupbootcamp AfriTech Accelerator | South Africa | Blockchain; fintech startups. | YES | MPOST (Kenya); CredPal (Nigeria); GotBot (South Africa) | |
| 55 | Impulse Accelerator | Morocco | Agritech; Biotech; Mining tech; Nanoengineering startups. | YES | Farmcrowdy (Nigeria); Coldhubs(Nigeria);Safi Organics (Kenya) | |
| 56 | Make IT Accelerator | Kenya | Banking; Computer software; Creative, media and entertainment; E-commerce; Internet, Mobile; Telecom. | YES | Doctoora E-Health Ltd DoLessons ; Embinix Automation ; Insight Africa | |
| 57 | Itanna | Nigeria | Sector-agnostic. | YES | Indicina Technologies | |
| 58 | GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator | UK | Telecom. | YES | Coliba (Ivory Coast) | |
| 59 | EFG-EV Fintech | Egypt | Fintech startups. | YES | Raseedi (Telecom, Egypt) | |
| 60 | SOSV Accelerator | Ireland | All Stages. | YES | CanGo (shutdown; delivery Rwanda) | |
| 61 | Wadi Accelerator, Oman Technology Fund (Partner 500 Startups) | Oman | Early Stage; Seed. | YES | Bekia (Waste Management, Egypt) | |
| 62 | Antler Startup Accelerator | Kenya | Early Stage. | YES | ChapChapGo; AnyiHealth; Digiduka | |
| 63 | Founders Factory Africa (Venture Scale, etc) | UK | Early Stage. | YES | Wella Health (Nigeria); Redbirth (Ghana); Truzo (South Africa) | |
| 64 | Pangea Accelerator | Kenya | Early Stage. | NO | – | |
| 65 | Bongo Hive | Lusaka, Zambia | All Stages. | NO | – | |
| 66 | Savannah Fund Accelerator | Kenya | Seed. | YES | – | |
| 67 | NEST | Kenya | Seed. | YES | – | |
| 68 | MMH Accelerator | Kenya | Ghanaian, Kenyan and Nigerian late-stage healthtech firms. | YES | – | |
| 69 | Technipole Sup – Valor | Yaounde, Cameroon | Cameroon Startups. | NO | – | |
| 70 | SW7 | Johannesburg, South Africa | Early Stage | NO | – | |
| 71 | Startup Reactor | Innoventures | Egypt | Early Stage. | NO | – | |
| 72 | TIEC Entrepreneurship Accelerator | Giza, Egypt | Early Stage | NO | ||
| 73 | Norrsken Impact Accelerator | Sweden | Early Stage | YES | Kwara; Gradely |
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer