Kenyan travel-tech startup Triply has been selected for the W24 batch of the renowned Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator accelerator.
The W24 batch of Y Combinator, which played a role in the early days of companies like Airbnb, Coinbase and Dropbox, among others, W24, kicked off in January, with 246 startups so far having been named as participants.
Nigerian fintech startups Cleva and Miden, as well as Zimbabwean AI company Ocular AI, had already been confirmed as African participants, and they have now been joined by Kenya’s Triply, a travel-booking platform dedicated to empowering travel businesses and entrepreneurs in Africa launched in 2021 by Peter Wachira.
Known as Tripitaca until a recent rebrand, Triply has secured access to YC’s new standard deal, announced in 2022, through which it invests US$125,000 for seven per cent equity, plus an additional US$375,000 on an uncapped SAFE with “Most Favoured Nation” (MFN) terms.
Y Combinator has cooled down on Africa since its W22 batch, when 24 startups from the continent took part. The number of African startups taking part in Y Combinator has steeply declined since – there were only seven in S22, three in W23, and three in S23. W24, with four African representatives, therefore represents a slight improvement on recent cohorts.
The accelerator’s alumni features continental royalty such as Flutterwave, Paystack and Kobo360 (not to mention Cowrywise, MarketForce, Kudi, WaystoCap, WorkPay, Healthlane, Trella, 54gene, CredPal, NALA and Breadfast). It occupies an ambiguous position within Africa’s startup ecosystem, but is lauded by entrepreneurs for the positive impact it has on their businesses.
