FAST Accelerator Selects 12 African Startups for Artificial Intelligence Program

Twelve startups have been chosen for the second cohort of the FAST Accelerator startup programme, which was developed in collaboration with Microsoft to strengthen and expand Africa’s digital ecosystem. Flapmax is a leading provider of data and AI technology.

FAST Accelerator’s cohort of 12 startups will move on to a 5-week comprehensive acceleration experience in Silicon Valley, California, starting in October, following the conclusion of its 2-week Online Bootcamp, which saw participation from 60+ tech companies in an intensive online training with experienced mentors. “Microsoft thinks that African startups and small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) are well-positioned to form the backbone of the continent’s digital economy, providing pertinent answers to regional societal and economic problems.

These business owners’ participation in the FAST Accelerator programme would enable them to increase their market reach and seize development prospects, according to Mame-Fatou Gueye, SME Programme Manager, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office.

Across a wide range of industry sectors, including financial services (128 applications), healthcare (95 applications), agriculture (235 applications), transportation & logistics (60 applications), clean technology & energy (57 applications), and creative media & entertainment (40 applications), the FAST Accelerator programme received more than 1200 applications from 35 African nations.

The applicants represented a diverse range of cloud-based goods and services that cater to enterprises across Africa and use AI to spur innovation, improve productivity, and address pressing issues in their respective fields.

The founder and CEO of Flapmax, Dr. Dave Ojika, stated: “At Flapmax, our objective is to build societally beneficial solutions that harness the power of AI to alter many industries through long-term relationships with startups, SMEs, and multinational companies. We are putting together a special combination of cutting-edge AI technologies, business development strategies, and global-scale growth prospects for Africa and other emerging regions in collaboration with technology partners like Microsoft and Intel. Our goal is to use AI as a catalyst to help startups and minority business owners grow their enterprises quickly and sustainably while also creating new job opportunities.

Applicants for the FAST Accelerator 2023 (FA23) programme required to be based in Africa, be prepared to scale or expand on the continent, and have a proven product-market fit that addresses one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. The following startups are part of the FA23 cohort:

• Zeeh Africa (FinTech) (https://www.Zeeh.Africa/):
• Sumundi (eCommerce) (https://Sumundi.com/):
• Cotrust Equity (FinTech)( https://Cotruste.com/):
• Trucki (Supply Chain) (https://IOSLogistics.com/):
• Orange VFX (Creative Media) (https://OrangeVFX.com/):
• 10mg Pharma (HealthTech) (https://10mg.co.uk/):
• Wallx (FinTech) (https://www.Wallx.co/):
• Moosbu (FinTech) (https://Moosbu.com/):
• KCG Aquatec Fish Farming (AgTech) (https://KCGAquatec.com/):
• Aibanc (FinTech) (https://Aibanc.co/):
• Zendawa Africa (HealthTech) (https://Zendawa.Africa/):
• Greenbii (FinTech) (https://www.Greenbii.com/):

The FA23 cohort will take part in a wide range of activities beginning on October 23. These activities include training, AI integration, company growth, fundraising, and several other events. They will collaborate closely with Microsoft and Intel on co-innovation projects, get help with sales and marketing, and get go-to-market capabilities to reach a wider audience. The Flapmax technical team will also help startups implement optimised Large Language AI models (LLMs), as well as scale and improve these models on Intel and Microsoft Azure platforms.

In order to link investors and companies, Flapmax has also announced the opening of its online matching system, FAST Portal (https://portal.FastAccelerator.com/). The FAST Accelerator community will use the FAST Portal to enable introductions between investors, partners, and businesses. Join us in our quest to support entrepreneurs and innovators in underserved markets worldwide by becoming one of our corporate partners or organisation.