Y Combinator is considered the world’s most successful startup accelerator. Twice a year, it provides seed funding for startups, investing $125,000 in them.
The applying startups usually go through a training stage that comes in 2 batches: The winter (January through March) and the summer batch (June through August).
The training usually includes knowledge-share sessions with startup founders, executives from notable tech companies, notable tech speakers, venture capitalists and much more. Eventually, the startups get to pitch to other investors in a bid to get more funding.
As at 2020, YCombinator had invested in over 30 African countries. In 2021, Some African startups has joined the W21 (Winter 2021) batch. Find 5 of the startups highlighted below:
MONO
A Nigeria fintech startup that helps companies access data from their customer’s bank accounts and make authorized withdrawals from those same accounts. Mono was founded by Abdulhamid Hassan and Prakhar Singh.
VENDEASE
A Nigerian online platform/marketplace that helps to connect restaurant owners to farmers that can sell food items to them directly from the farm. On this platform, businesses get to order everything they need from verified vendors at fair prices. The founders are Tunde Kara, Olumide Fayankin, Gatumi Aliyu, and Wale Oyepeju.
BLUELOOP
A Nigerian fintech startup that helps to ease cross-border payments in Africa through its crypto wallet and a digital banking app. The founders are Ben Eluan and Osezele Orukpe.
SENDBOX
A startup that operates in the Nigerian logistics space to help individuals and businesses to deliver goods within Nigeria and to international locations. Founders are Emotu Balogun and Olusegun Afolahan.
DJAMO
An Ivory Coast-based startup with a focus on bringing Ivory Coast’s huge unbanked citizens access to financial services. Djamo is the first Ivory-coast startup to get into YCombinator list. The founders are Hassan Bougi and Regis Bamba.
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