Former Andela, Flutterwave co-founder to launch startup accelerator
TLDR
- Iyin Aboyeji, founder of Future Africa and ex-co-founder of Andela and Flutterwave, is launching Accelerate Africa, an accelerator program backed by a $750,000 grant from USAID.
- Accelerate Africa aims to nurture the next wave of global businesses emerging from Africa, with a vision to become the Y Combinator equivalent for the continent.
- The inaugural cohort will run for eight weeks, open to ten pre-seed and seed-stage startups from any sector across all 54 African countries. The program will focus on enhancing founders' skills in storytelling, team building, business development, and product development.
Iyin Aboyeji, the founder of VC firm Future Africa and ex-co-founder of unicorn startups Andela and Flutterwave, along with general partner Mia von Koschitzky-Kimani, is gearing up to launch Accelerate Africa, an accelerator program backed by a $750,000 grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Drawing on their extensive experience in successful startups, they aspire to nurture the next wave of global businesses emerging from Africa. Aboyeji envisions Accelerate Africa to become the Y Combinator (YC) equivalent for the African continent.
The inaugural cohort of Accelerate Africa is slated to run for eight weeks and will be open to ten pre-seed and seed-stage startups from any sector across the 54 countries of Africa. The program will focus on enhancing founders' skills in storytelling, team building, business development, and product development.
Key Takeaways
Accelerate Africa's launch is noteworthy in the context of other accelerators gradually closing their doors across the continent. Y Combinator, a globally recognized accelerator, featured only three African startups in its summer 2023 cohort, indicating a reduced presence in Africa. Unlike Y Combinator, Accelerate Africa's success will be gauged by the amount of follow-on funding that startups secure during and after the program. It's worth noting that participation in Accelerate Africa does not guarantee direct funding from the program itself. Instead, participating startups will have the opportunity to pitch to a range of investors, including angel investors, Series A and Series B investors, as well as Future Africa. Future Africa typically invests between $250,000 and $500,000, providing an avenue for startups to secure funding and support for their growth journey beyond the accelerator program.
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