Top startups in Africa to watch out for this 2020

For a while now, South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya were the main startup hubs in Africa, a trend that is slowly changing as innovation spreads across every corner of the continent. Here are some of the startups to watch out for this 2020.

Ghana

Ghana is slowly transforming into a beacon of innovation and technological ingenuity as startups mushroom across the country. We have seen startup major funding announcements such as that of KudiGo. Fintech startup KudiGo attracted an impressive $450,000 in seed investment from Founders Factory and three other Angel investors. In the two years of operation, the company has attracted over 1000 businesses across Ghana and Nigeria to its platform. The firm offers digital payment processing services which are Card-POS, Mobile Money, USSD and QR. KudiGo chief Enabler, Kingsley Abrokwah, remains optimistic about the future prospects of the company.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia has a population of over 105 million people and is the seventh-largest economy in Africa. Taking advantage of their position, the government is ramping up networks and energizing angel investors. Ride-hailing company ZayRide slowly gained traction in the Ethiopian market. Their cars are now a regular on the streets. Based on Quartz’s reports, the company will partner with Liberian Hak Technologies to expand to Liberia. Other countries on their sights are Kenya, Ivory Coast, and Somaliland. The company CEO Habtamu Tadesse disclosed their plans to scale into other local cities, namely, Hawassa, Gondar, and Mekelle. ZayRide also started ArifPay, a mobile POS service, giving merchants more payment options.

Egypt 

Trella is a Cairo-based trucking marketplace startup that joined the Y Combinator, an accelerator that includes DropBox, InstaCart, Stripe, Airbnb, and DoorDash. Joining the club of the world-leading startups to show us how much faith and future optimism Trella has generated. The company raised $600k in its pre-seed rounds. The company is run by Omar Hagrass, who is CEO and co-founder.

South Africa 

South Aafrica based startup FlexClub is another amazing company that raised $1.2 million in seed money. The company is co-founded by Marlon Gallardo and Tinashe Ruzane. The company is even considering moving into other market segments. 

Kenya

Kenyan startup Lynk connects informal artisans with their customers. The company has gone through a new funding round from Lateral Capital as it strives to explore new markets and B2B products. Lynk co-founder is Johannes Degn. So far the company has helped in the construction of 100 projects, facilitating 31,000 jobs.

Tanzania

PayChap is an innovative payment wallet that runs on peer to peer transactions, facilitating bill payments, merchant payments, recharge capabilities and a lot more. PayChap counts on convenience and reliability while adopting world-class technologies involved in making payments. A scan to pay feature allows payments using QR code technology.