Apply for Accelerate Africa Cohort 2 (Up to $500,000 Funding)
At Accelerate Africa we possess practical experience in operating in Africa, which can assist you in accelerating your business. Additionally, we have the scars and stories to back it up. Throughout the past decade, we have fulfilled various roles, providing guidance, coaching, and mentorship to startups. Notably, we have supported over 25+ startups that have gained admission to global accelerators.
Our founders, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Mia von Koschitzky-Kimani, have successfully built, funded, and advised numerous African founding teams, including Andela, Flutterwave, Moove BV, Daystar Power, and DukaConnect. They have guided these teams in establishing global businesses from Africa, addressing the significant challenges faced by our continent. Many of these businesses have achieved billion-dollar valuations and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Some have even been acquired by global corporations such as Mastercard and Shell.
Benefits:
1. We will select 10 founders who will receive support from two of the leading venture capitalists in Africa, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Mia von Koschitzky-Kimani. These individuals have a proven track record of building, advising, investing in, and exiting multiple successful businesses in Africa.
2. Our program is tailored to meet the specific needs of founders in Africa. It includes workshops covering our five core areas, coaching sessions with our top advisors, and support in the areas of technology, legal, and finance through our clinics and office hours. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to connect with other founders through our weekly meetups in Lagos and Nairobi. In the final two weeks of the program, we will come together to prepare for the demo day, which will take place at the end of May 2024.
3. Unlike most accelerators, we do not require equity or offer funding upon admission. However, there is a possibility that our fund, Future Africa, may choose to invest alongside our exceptional investor network. This could involve providing a pre-seed or seed stage investment ranging from $250,000 to $500,000. If this opportunity arises, it will follow our standard investment process, including due diligence and an investment committee vote.
Expertise
After providing assistance to numerous Africa-focused startup teams for more than ten years, we have pinpointed five essential areas of support to prioritize throughout the program. These areas will be complemented by the expertise of some of the leading professionals in these respective fields.
- Story Telling
- Talent
- Business Development
- Product Development
- Fund raising
What You Get
1. Eight weeks
2. Ten Founders
3. 75 co investors
4. Two operators
5. Seven Advisors
6. One Goal
We firmly believe that individuals who possess the ability to transform Africa’s most significant challenges into global enterprises can emerge from diverse backgrounds, skill sets, languages, genders, ages, ethnicities, and more. This is exemplified by the fact that 40% of the founders we have collaborated with are women, ranging in age from their 20s to their 60s, and originating from and operating in over 10 African nations.
The founders we support share certain common characteristics:
1. They are deeply passionate about resolving a genuine issue and possess a proven track record or evidence of progress in doing so.
2. They possess a profound understanding of their customers and view serving them as their life’s purpose.
3. They have personally experienced the problem they aim to address, which fuels their determination to establish a business that may initially appear insurmountable but ultimately becomes a reality.
Application
- We do too. If this describes you, apply now.
- If this describes a founder you know, nominate a startup.
