At Innovest Afrika, the vision is to accelerate 5000 African-founded startups by 2030. They will achieve this by investing in founders of African descent building high-potential, high-impact startups anywhere in the world. We are committed to providing comprehensive support, resources, mentorship, and funding to founders driving innovations through our Innovest Ignite Accelerator Program.
Innovest Ignite is an accelerator program for African-founded Early-stage tech startups with high potential to scale quickly. The program is industry and business-model agnostic, all startups are welcome to apply. It is a fully remote six-week accelerator welcoming a cohort of 10-12 startups with a demo day that will be held in Lagos. Designed in partnership with Techpoint Africa, the Innovest Ignite Lagos accelerator aims to empower Nigerian startup founders by providing them with the mentorship, global networks, and funding required to build impactful startups.
Our partners include mentors; industry experts and exited founders and global investors who are passionate about Africans and are committed to adding value to accepted founders in this cohort.
Eligibility Criteria
We are looking for early stage founders building high impact and high potential startups that meets the following criteria:
- Resident in and building for Nigeria as their primary market. All founders across all 36 states and FCT are eligible to apply.
- Not a solo founder, you have a co-founder and or a team working with you.
- Building a startup across any industry vertical and with any business model. This accelerator is sector-agnostic.
- An early-stage startup with either an MVP, product market fit, or some traction. You will be prioritized if you possess all.
We value founders who are teachable, value feedback, and understand collaboration as a process of growing your startup to the next level. If that sounds like you, we may be a perfect match.
Program Details
- Applications close on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, at midnight (GMT+1).
- The accelerator program will be 100% virtual and starts a week after the close of registration.
- Application is reviewed on a rolling basis, early submission is greatly advised.
Innovest Ignite accelerator will consist of facilitator-led sessions, mentoring sessions, professional workshops, investor preps, and panel discussions. At the conclusion of the program, founders will pitch to investors in a physical Demo Day event that will be held in Lagos, Nigeria.
Other benefits of participating in the program include
- Being a part of a global network of other founders, mentors, and investors
- The top quartile of the cohort will receive seed funding of up to $20,000 for 2% equityOne-on-one mentorship sessions with industry experts and successful startup founders
- Subsidies offered by our strategic partners (legal, financial, and technology)
- After program support in the form of intro to investors, business development support, and hiring support
