Ten companies selected for latest Qualcomm Make in Africa Startup Mentorship Program
The Qualcomm Make in Africa Startup Mentorship Program, which provides startups with access to engineers, coaching, and IP protection advice, has chosen ten African tech startups to participate in its most recent iteration.
The NASDAQ-listed Qualcomm is a multinational corporation based in the United States that develops wireless technology-related semiconductors, software, and services.
In 2022, the company launched its African Innovation Platform, which includes the Make in Africa Startup Mentorship Program, an equity-free mentorship program for promising early-stage startups interested in integrating cutting-edge processing and connectivity technologies into hardware and other innovative end-to-end systems solutions.
The third-edition program then aims to give these businesses access to engineering consultation for product development, business coaching, and intellectual property protection advice. The 10 ventures that Qualcomm has chosen for the 2025 Make in Africa program were chosen after the company received 435 applications from 19 different countries.
Three of the chosen businesses are from Kenya: Solar Freeze, which creates IoT-powered cold storage for food preservation; Farmer Lifeline, which constructs solar AI robots for crop disease detection; and Pollen Patrollers, an AI-driven pollination support technology.
Three other companies are from Tunisia: AmalXR, which uses AI progress tracking for virtual reality rehabilitation; Ecobees, which creates smart beekeeping technology with AI monitoring; and Pixii Motors, which is an ecosystem for electric scooters enhanced by AI and IoT.
In addition to Benin-based IoT solar pisciculture automation service Archeos and Senegalese AI-based mobile liver fibrosis detection tool Edulytics, the cohort is completed by two Nigerian ventures: the AI-based drug discovery platform Aframend and the hyperlocal flood risk AI prediction tool ClimatrixAI.
These startups will be given access to Qualcomm hardware, business coaching, technical mentoring, and intellectual property training. The Qualcomm Wireless Reach Social Impact Fund will also be given to one startup so that it can expand its solution.
