Google this week hosted its first Google Startup Week in Lagos, which saw its Launchpad Accelerator Africa graduates pitch for funding from some of Africa and the UK’s top venture capitalists (VCs).
The event, which also served as the graduation ceremony for the fourth class of the Launchpad Accelerator Africa programme, featured select alumni from the first three classes, fresh out of a three-month Google for Startups UK Africa Immersion Programme in London.
In collaboration with Launchpad Accelerator Africa, the program aims to connect high potential early stage startups with the dedicated support of Google for Startups UK to help them take their startup to the next level.
“Every year, Africa’s economic growth continues to strengthen. Google for Startups has put its weight behind supporting the continent’s startups as they continue to build great products tackling key global social issues. This is an incredibly exciting space which is very relevant to UK ecosystem and investors,” says Marta Krupinska, head of Google for Startups UK.
“The opportunities in #Africa is very huge, so for us in the UK to be successful in the future, we need to find a way to collaborate with the best of African talent.”- Marta Krupińska(@mmeentrepreneur), head of Google for Startups UK#LaunchpadforAfrica @googleafrica @GoogleUK pic.twitter.com/ihfAWh2dRF
— Ibrahim Mansur (@MansurIB007) November 28, 2019
Having completed their London immersion, Launchpad Accelerator Africa Class 1, 2 and 3 alumni met with investors from the UK and Africa during Google Startup Week in Lagos to pitch for funding to take their businesses further.
Launchpad Accelerator Africa Class 4 graduated this week, as part of the Google Startup Week activities. Class 4 comprises 12 startups from six countries, addressing six different sectors.
Google Startup Week also saw participants from all 4 classes get a chance to meet, engage with each other, and share their experiences for the first time.
Class 4’s startups have collectively raised $4.3 million, created over 300 jobs and signed up over 110000 users. They had collectively raised in excess of $600000 before the programme, and have been able to use Launchpad Accelerator Africa to scale their businesses to new levels.
“We believe Africans can solve Africa’s problems,” said Fola Olatunji-David, the programme’s head of startup success and services.
“In running Launchpad Accelerator Africa we specifically look to work with startups with that share this vision. Launchpad Class 4 is tackling some of Africa’s most pressing challenges, including access to financial services, education, and agriculture.”
Since Launchpad Accelerator Africa was first announced in late 2017, the programme has worked with 47 startups on their growth journey. These companies have also raised millions of dollars in investments, and created hundreds of jobs across the continent.
All the selected startups receive working space, and access to expert advisers from Google, Silicon Valley, and Africa. Participants also receive travel and PR support during each three-month programme.
The Class 4 startups graduating at Google Startup Week Lagos, in alphabetical order, are:
Afara Partners (Nigeria): Afara Partners offers platforms that provide services to the financially underserved and excluded.
BrandBook (South Africa): BrandBook is a mobile app that incentivises users to take a picture of their receipts, allowing it to harvest consumer purchase behaviour across all channels.
Elewa (Kenya): Elewa is a toolkit for establishing scalable high-quality training programs within existing education- or professional institutions.
Eversend (Uganda): Eversend is a multi-currency e-wallet that allows you to exchange, spend and send money at the best possible rates. It also includes insurance, virtual debit cards, and bill payments.
OZÉ (Ghana): OZÉ brings African small businesses into the digital era, equipping their owners to make data-driven decisions to improve their performance and access capital.
Phenomenal Technologies (Zimbabwe): Phenomenal Technologies offers low-cost field excursions for learners through virtual reality.
REACH (Nigeria): REACH recognises, categorises and interprets transaction data from SMS and other sources, making this data available as individual financial and market insights.
Sortd (South Africa): Sortd aims to re-invent email with the world’s first All-in-One productivity suite for Gmail and GSuite.
TradeBuza (Nigeria): The TradeBuza is a cloud-based web and mobile application, which digitises contract farming and trade.
TradeBuza team
Tulaa (Kenya): Tulaa is an online-to-offline marketplace for smallholder farmers in Africa.
XEND (Nigeria) : XEND allows users to make and receive payments, offline or online.
WorkPay (Kenya): WorkPay is a cloud-based employee management and payment solution using the power of mobile and biometrics.
London Immersion Africa Startups:
54gene (Nigeria) – African DNA makes up only 2% of genetic research material used in pharmaceutical research. Founded in 2019, 54gene is creating the world’s first and largest pan-African biobank.
Fieldinsight (Nigeria) – Fieldinsight helps to collect data in a structured manner using mobile and IoT devices. It then aggregates and represents this data through visualisations to help businesses make the best decisions.
Kwara (Kenya) – Kwara powers financial cooperatives with technology so they can meet their members needs instantly.
OkHi (Kenya) – 4 billion people across emerging markets do not have a physical address, costing economies $175bn a year. Based in Nairobi, OkHi creates digital addresses for people, which they can use (for free) to access reliable business services.
Paps (Senegal) – Paps is an African logistics startup focused on the last mile delivery and domestic markets, with strong client care orientation, allowing live tracking, intelligent address systems and automatic dispatch.
Piggyvest (Nigeria) – Piggyvest is an automated savings and investments platform that helps Nigerians save little amounts of money periodically, and then invest those funds for competitive returns.
PayGo Energy (Kenya) – PayGo Energy’s connected home gas meter links to a global IoT-based infrastructure for cooking gas delivery within high-density, high-demand urban communities — changing the entire cooking experience for households and unlocking access to clean cooking for a billion people.
ThankUCash (Nigeria) – ThankUCash is an analytics and rewards platform built to enable banks and businesses in Africa to acquire, reward and retain loyal customers.
Thrive Agric (Nigeria) – Thrive Agric provides farmers with access to finance, data-driven advisory and access to a market upon harvest.
Voyc (South Africa) – Voyc is on a mission to accelerate the world’s transition towards customer-centricity by making it easy for companies to understand their customers.
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