ARM Labs Lagos Techstars accelerator programme selected 12 startups for $120k
The first ARM Labs Lagos Techstars accelerator, which offers access to up to US $120,000 in equity capital and other sorts of support, has chosen twelve African digital firms.
The first edition of the ARM Labs Lagos Techstars accelerator will last for three months. It was established by Techstars, a global investment company that offers early-stage entrepreneurs’ access to capital, individualized mentoring, and customized programming, in collaboration with ARM Labs, a Lagos-based innovation program dedicated to assisting FinTech startups.
The initial batch, which is targeted at early-stage African FinTech and prop-tech entrepreneurs, consists of 10 Nigerian and two Kenyan businesses, with female CEOs overseeing half of them. The 15-member screening committee and Techstars managing director Oyin Solebo conducted many interviews with the chosen entrepreneurs, as well as a final interview with them.
Each chosen firm receives equity capital of up to $120,000 USD, access to training, and a sizable investor network. On March 16, there will be a demo day to wrap off the program.
The selected Nigerian businesses include peppa.io, which uses payment protection to make social platform purchases safer; CDcare, which uses smart installment plans to make it simple for Africans to own gadgets, appliances, cars, and more at no interest; Flick, which lets users connect multiple bank accounts and pay directly from one source; Keble, which allows Africans to buy fractional shares of real estate globally from both home and abroad; and others.
The following Nigerian companies were also chosen: Vittas, a digital lender for healthcare providers; Sidebrief, which streamlines the process of starting and scaling a business across borders; Towntalk, which offers shippers real-time location and behavioral analytics, vehicle tracking, and access to insurance providers; Salad, which gives employees access to financial services and benefits beyond their monthly paycheck; and Oystr Finance, which offers lenders an infrastructure for lending.
AlphabloQ, a real estate investment platform, and Cladfy, which offers microloan lenders access to inexpensive, dependable funding as well as credit profiles and digitized loan administration, are the two Kenyan businesses participating in the initiative.
“Since the announcement that Techstars was coming to Lagos, there has been great anticipation about the selection of the inaugural cohort. After a competitive application process, we have chosen entrepreneurs who have the capacity to be exceptional founders, startups that have the potential to be industry leaders, and a cohort that is collectively capable of bringing innovation and change to Africa and the world,” said Solebo.
