Afcacia

Four startups from Kenya are among the nine business ventures in Africa selected to participate in the second edition of the Startup Wise Guys accelerator, which offers chosen B2B Saas startups access to €65,000 (US$67,000) in funding, as well as intensive five months of mentorship.

In addition, the firms might qualify for additional investment of up to €250,000 (US$258,000) from Startup Wise Guys, afterward, based on milestones the startups need to achieve during the program.

The selected four include Hisa, an infrastructure for borderless investing in Africa; Sortika, a financial planning tool that seeks to democratize savings and investments; Naivera, an online financial marketplace that helps to drive finance towards affordable income-generating assets for wealth creation and Zemo Card, an all-in-one expense management solution for growing businesses in Africa.

From Nigeria, the selected startups are DT2 Technologies, a core banking platform for microfinance banks and other financial institutions; Bunce, an Application Programming Interface (API) for revenue management and optimization tools for African businesses; and ShipBubble, a platform that connects businesses to multiple shipping providers at discounted prices.

In addition are Ghana’s Built Financial Technologies, a tool for African Small and Midsize Businesses (SMBs) to access financial opportunities via a suite of business tools and financial services; and Tanzania’s Tunzaa Fintech, a save now, pay later data-driven marketplace.

Program Managing director Eliud Mungai said Africa presents the most exciting potential for digitalization on the planet.

Demographic reports indicate that about two-thirds of the predicted growth in the global population between 2020 and 2050 will take place in Africa.

“Startup Wise Guys’ presence in Africa means we see the business opportunity from supporting startups, and we can also see the benefits for Africa. The portfolio startups in our Africa acceleration program will be leveraging digital technology to support the continent’s growing population with fintech, health-tech and retail-tech, and catalyze sustainable business growth to provide jobs and prosperity,” said Mr Mungai.

Founded in Tallinn, Estonia in 2012, Startup Wise Guys manages SaaS accelerator programs out of Milan as well as cybersecurity programs from Cosenza.

The firm expanded to Africa in 2021, holding its first program in Namibia.

In March 2021, the company announced the first closing of its €8.5 million (US$9.3 million) fund, Wise Guys Africa Fund.