Meet The 8 African Entrepreneurs Participants YCombinator W22 Batch
Meet the 8 African entrepreneurs participants YCombinator's W22 batch
It has been confirmed that eight African participants have been accepted into YCombinator's W22 batch, which will hold demo presentations next week. YCombinator is an American startup accelerator known for investing in early-stage companies. They are made up of seven Nigerians and one Sudanese, among other nationalities.
In this way, Lagos's thriving technology ecosystem, which has produced titans such as Flutterwave and PayStack, the latter of which is now owned by Stripe, the American payments platform, is demonstrated. PayStack and Flutterwave are both YCombinator alumni, as are PayStack and Flutterwave
Taking this into consideration, the total number of Africans in this batch is 23 out 350 total (see chart below). While the number of African participants in S21 is higher than the number of African participants in S21, both numbers demonstrate the significant effort Africans have put forth to compete in the international market, which is typically more regulated.
For example, cryptocurrency has been outlawed in Nigeria, and the Central Bank of Nigeria is constantly enacting regulations that stifle the efforts of tech entrepreneurs who are trying to solve problems.
Before this announcement, YC had previously stated that it would double the amount of money it invests in participants from $125,000 to $500,000.
Meet the eight new participants who have been added to the list below:
- Payourse
- Simplifyd
- Sendme
- Payourse
- Vendy
- Convoy
- Curacel
- Plumter
- Bloom
Payourse
The organization's founders are Hakeem Adeyemi Orewole, Bashir Aminu, and John Anisere.
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Startup that "creates the tools and infrastructure that enable anyone in Africa to access crypto and the web3 in an easily, quickly, and affordably" according to their website.
Payourse is a cryptocurrency exchange that operates on a peer-to-peer basis. Payourse also allows you to exchange cryptocurrency for any other currency without the need to register an account with the service.
Simplifyd
The company's founders are Tomi Amao and Sam Keiru.
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Simplifyd "allows businesses to deliver internet applications (websites/mobile apps) without the use of data, similar to toll-free telephone lines," according to the company's website.
Essentially, it is a platform where app owners (whether they are businesses or individuals) can list their mobile and web applications for users to access for free.
Sendme
Daniel Afolayan is the organization's founder.
Location: Ibadan, Nigeria
The company describes itself as "a high-quality meat supplier that delivers on demand to consumers and food businesses." The chatbot we developed allows customers to place meat orders via WhatsApp and have them delivered within three hours."
They sell meat from cows, goats, chickens, and turkeys.
Vendy
The company's founders are Kayode Disu and Peter Ekunkoya.
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Vendy is a technology company that focuses on financial inclusion, particularly in emerging markets. It was founded in 2012.
"It provides an alternative payment infrastructure that does not require the use of a payment card or a consumer app, and it allows customers to pay businesses using their phones even when they do not have access to the internet," according to the company website.
Convoy
The company's founders are Emmanuel Aina and Subomi Oluwalana.
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Convoy is a cloud-native webhook service that focuses on developing solutions that are both fast and secure. Webhook infrastructures are provided by the company, and they are fast, secure, and dependable in operation.
It is "a cloud-native, open-source webhook service that provides security, dependability, and scalability for your webhooks infrastructure right out of the box."
Curacel
The company's founders are John Flash Dada and Henry Mascot.
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Companies can use Curacel APIs to distribute insurance products and process claims with greater efficiency, according to the company. Several of their APIs and tools help to accelerate the seamless assessment of insurance policies and claims, as well as the distribution of insurance products on a large scale.
"Making it simple and pleasurable for residents of emerging markets to obtain and use insurance is our goal." "We are laying the groundwork for the next billion Africans to have access to health and other forms of insurance."
Plumter
The company's founders are Yinka Elujoba and Eni Joshua.
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Plumter is a payment platform that makes it simple for African businesses and consumers to send money to other countries. They also provide a virtual dollar card as an additional service.
African merchants and consumers will benefit from the availability of payment rails and application programming interfaces, which will make it easier for them to move money in and out of Africa.
Bloom
The company's founders are Abdigani Diriye, Ahmed Ismail, Khalid Keenan, and Youcef Oudjidane, among others.
Location: Khartoum, Sudan
A fintech company based in Sudan, Bloom, provides investors with investment opportunities that are largely risk-free and simple.
"The consistent savings of Eastern Africa."
However, while many of these startup founders are interested in the investment, others see the YC program as an opportunity to collaborate with other early-stage entrepreneurs and investors, as well as to network and meet other investors.
A solution-oriented approach is shared by all of them, and funding will ensure that their solutions reach the broadest possible audience.
