Four Nigerian tech startups emerged as winners, collectively securing N37 million in funding during the grand finale of Wema Bank’s Hackaholics 4.0 competition.
The health-tech startup, IRETI, which specializes in assisting women with breast cancer management, clinched the top prize of N15 million for the best-pitched business. Following closely, GRIP, a fintech startup, secured N10 million as the first runner-up, while Trakka was awarded N7 million as the second runner-up.
Furthermore, Outsidee received N5 million for the Women Led Award, an initiative aimed at empowering women in the tech industry.
With this funding injection, Jane Agbaohwo, the founder of IRETI, expressed excitement about extending their outreach to women in both urban and rural communities. They plan to collaborate with NGOs to raise greater awareness about cancer.
In addition to the startup prizes, three universities were granted funding through the Wema Bank Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) endowment fund. Babcock University received N10 million, Afe Babalola University secured N7 million, and Nile University was awarded N5 million respectively.
Speaking at the grand finale and Digital Summit, Wema Bank’s MD/CEO, Moruf Oseni, highlighted the bank’s unique blend of traditional banking expertise and technology-driven approaches, which have positioned them to support the growth of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem.
Executive Director of Retail and Digital Business at Wema Bank, Tunde Mabawonku, emphasized that the digital summit serves as a unifying platform for digital innovators, visionaries, and industry leaders from across Nigeria. The theme for this year’s Hackaholics, ‘Re-imagine: Disrupting the Ecosystem for Scale’, mirrors the essence of the bank’s innovation program, focused on pushing the boundaries of digital possibilities.
Flutterwave’s founder and CEO, Olugbenga Agboola, delivered a keynote address at the event, emphasizing the value of platforms like Hackaholics 4.0 in providing opportunities for founders leveraging technology to tackle local and global challenges. He praised Wema Bank for creating supportive structures in the fintech ecosystem.
The ten finalists for Hackaholics 4.0 were IRETI, GRIP, Trakka, Outsidee, Chao, Raptor, Pup Industries, University-X, Naijabox, and MumAlive.
