The Baobab Network, a Nairobi-based accelerator that invests in early-stage tech companies across Africa, has announced its latest cohort of four investees, each of which secures US$50,000 in funding.
The Baobab Network has been accelerating startups with capacity building and fundraising since 2019, and accepted its last cohort at the beginning of March. It has now upped its standard investment to US$50,000, and invested in four more ventures. This takes the size of its portfolio to 29 startups across 11 countries.
The selected ventures include two from South Africa, namely Lemon, a platform enabling businesses to purchase industrial supplies with ease; and Local Knowledge, a travel-tech startup supporting digital travellers to explore Africa and enrich the lives of locals.
Also selected are Nigerian marketing tech platform Oval Interactive, and Ethiopia’s Shemach, a marketplace making it easier for small retailers to order, warehouse and pay for inventory.
The newest cohort joined a three-month intensive growth programme at the end of June, all receiving US$50,000 in funding as well as access to an intense programme of growth support.
“We spent our first few years in the market trying to test our model and ensure that we are able to deliver real value to African founders and put in the prerequisite processes required to scale it,” said Christine Namara, programme lead at The Baobab Network.
“Starting earlier in 2022, we launched our first cohort fully with the understanding that we are able to repeat the process of delivering value at scale for African founders and we are very proud of the quality of startups that came out of that. We made it part of the process to close with a demo day, and we have been quite pleased with the traction our founders have gotten from the last one we had. Our companies have gone on to raise more than US$50 million in follow-on funding since we first launched our accelerator in 2019, so the model is definitely working.”
Applications are open now for The Baobab Network’s first cohort of 2023.
