Fifteen AI-focused startups from eight African countries have completed the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa program, with 60% of the group already profitable and generating average monthly revenue of $60,000, organizers said Thursday.
Startups from Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Angola graduated at the Close-Out Week and Demo Day held in Nairobi. The three-month hybrid program, running from March to June 2026, pairs growth-stage founders with Google's technology stack and engineering mentors to help them scale. The group spans fintech, mobility, healthtech, agritech and SaaS, with its founders collectively raising $1.1 million during the program period.
Alex Okosi, Managing Director for Africa at Google, speaking at the demo day, said, “We are proud to see how these startups are making innovative use of AI to tackle real-world challenges across the continent.” “Through our equity-free backing and connection to Google services, we are offering founders a blended model that provides the support and guidance founders need to move forward.”
Folarin Aiyegbusi, head of startup ecosystem for Africa at Google, said this year's edition has a particular emphasis on AI and machine learning to tackle societal challenges, noting that the program helps founders “increase impact in their communities while unlocking new opportunities for economic growth.”
Four Kenyan companies participated in the graduating class, each tackling what organizers described as “invisible infrastructure gaps” in the local economy. Comana uses AI to interpret real-time data from informal food markets, making traditionally opaque supply chains visible to governments and businesses. Duck addresses retail stockouts by giving consumer brands real-time data intelligence and shop-floor visibility. ReportsAI provides an AI-first platform that transforms unstructured raw data into compliance-ready reporting for institutional knowledge and impact organizations. Vunpay tackles payment delays for small farmers through a fintech infrastructure built specifically for agricultural cooperatives.
Tanzania's Safiri, a travel and tourism platform that is building digital infrastructure for transportation while showcasing the country's tourism offering, also joins the East African contingent.
The broader group includes Angola's Anda Africa, which applies AI-powered credit scoring to informal moto-taxi workers; Nigeria's Bani, a cross-border payments infrastructure provider; and Uganda's Emaisha Pay, which handles agri-trade payments and embedded financing. South Africa contributed Loop, which focuses on mobility and payments digitalization, and Vambo AI, which builds multilingual AI infrastructure for African languages. Senegal's Maad runs an AI-powered omnichannel platform for consumer brands, while Nigerian startups MasteryHive AI, Regexta and Termii cover transaction reconciliation and anti-money laundering monitoring, alternative credit scoring for unbanked micro-businesses and AI-native communications infrastructure for financial messaging, respectively. Méditect from Côte d'Ivoire formed a consortium with cloud software for pharmacy digitalization.
Since launching in 2018, the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa program has supported more than 190 startups in 17 African countries. Alumni have collectively raised more than $400 million and created more than 3,500 jobs, with Google contributing $11 million in equity-free funding and product credits to date.
More information is available here https://startup.google.com/programs/accelerator/