Leading telco Safaricom has unveiled the first cohort of nine startups in its restructured Spark Accelerator Program.
- Last year, Safaricom entered into a partnership with M-PESA Africa and Sumitomo Corporation to launch the Spark Accelerator.
- The partnership followed an approval by Safaricom board and shareholders to restructure the Spark Fund.
- The Spark Accelerator seeks to provide startups with access to capital, markets, technology and product development support.
The program, implemented by iHub, aims at growing and scaling commercially viable businesses.
“By supporting and investing in these tech-enabled startups, we aim to drive significant societal change and economic growth,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom. The startups have been chosen for their commercial viability and scaling ability.
Embedded Finance
Chumz – a startup leveraging mobile money, gamification, and behavioral psychology to build a community of savers.
Nobuk – a fintech seeking to simplify financial reporting for African groups.
SME Productivity
Chpter – encourages social media marketing using an AI powered platform.
Faidi HR – a one in all Cloud Payroll and HK Platform for businesses.
Churpy – seeks to automate repetitive and manual office tasks.
Twiva – a social-commerce platform that links brands to social media influencers for marketing.
Content
HealthX Africa – a data driven medtech that offers hybrid digital and physical touch points.
BlackRhino VR – that is enabling creators and brands alike, to tell immersive and interactive stories that are appealing to contemporary audiences.
Future Fintech
VunaPay – a digital platform that facilitates instant payment to smallholder farmers for produce delivered to the cooperatives.
