GreenHouse Lab (GHL), the flagship accelerator program by GreenHouse Capital (GHC), is proud to introduce the eight innovative African startups that have been accepted into its 2021 Fintech Accelerator.
These exciting companies represent the cutting edge of Africa’s fintech sector and are led by young tech entrepreneurs solving critical market challenges in areas like fintech infrastructure, personal wealth management, cross-border remittances, and diaspora services.
GHC has backed some of the most accomplished founders across the continent with nearly 40% of GHC-backed startups participating in prestigious international acceleration programs such as 500 Startups, YCombinator, and Techstars post-investment. These founders are incredible resources for GHL startups and will be directly involved in the Accelerator’s programming.
“As a founder, the only people who truly know what it’s like to start and scale a business are other founders. The experienced team at GHC understands this truth and has developed their VC model around it. We are proud to support the GHL Accelerator’s Founder Fund because we believe that founder-led capital dedicated to African startups will help companies develop in a uniquely productive way,” said Ian Dillon, Co-Founder of NowMoney, a GHC-backed company.
“Founders understand the intensity of the journey, the incredible highs and lows, and the resilience required to execute against all odds. So by nature, they are best positioned to back other founders,” added Adetayo Bamiduro, CEO and Co-Founder of MAX, a GHC-backed company, and Techstars alumni.
The accepted startups will receive a $10,000 direct investment from GreenHouse Capital and will be eligible for an additional $50,000 in investment from the GHC Founders Fund if they go on to be accepted into a top global accelerator after GHL. The Founders Fund represents the core of GHC’s vision of “founders backing founders,” as the fund is seeded by several of Africa’s top tech founders who are now seeking to directly support the next generation of African tech entrepreneurs with their own capital.
The eight startups accepted into the 2021 GHL Fintech Accelerator are:
MyInvest (Nigeria) — MyInvest is democratizing access to real estate investments by giving users exclusive access to verified high-yield real estate projects with a minimum investment of $10, thereby creating a new way of building wealth.
Chumz.io (Kenya) — Building a sustainable investment culture in developing markets has been hindered by the lack of an easily accessible means to invest, the prohibitive cost of investing, and the belief that you need large ticket sizes to invest. Chumz is leveraging the prevalence of mobile money to enable real-time, accessible, and on-the-go investing, demystify the process and helping users achieve financial freedom.
Collect Africa (Nigeria) — Businesses find it difficult to integrate and accept multiple payment methods across different locations and channels causing them to lose revenue and customers. Collect helps businesses connect multiple payment methods to their websites or mobile apps through a single API to give their customers more ways to pay.
Payhive (Nigeria) — The process of sending and receiving payments in Africa still faces several technical and regulatory bottlenecks. Payhive provides a solution for global payment transfers using cryptocurrency wallets and a secure transaction platform.
Route (Kenya) — People in developing markets face barriers to financial inclusion, namely accessible means of savings and capital formation to invest for the future. Route helps users track and manage savings as well as invest their savings to build wealth.
ScaleX (Nigeria)– Users face many risks, complexities, and fees when exchanging cryptocurrencies. ScaleX provides a secure, automated, and multi-network P2P platform that eradicates fraud in every transaction, is easy to navigate, and gives traders the flexibility to trade coins from multiple networks while controlling transaction fees.
Dojah (Nigeria)– Customer data is fragmented among multiple databases, creating a challenge for businesses when it comes to verifying customer information. Dojah aggregates customer data from multiple sources into one API that service providers can use to verify customer information.
GetEquity (Nigeria)– Accredited and nonaccredited investors face barriers to accessing unique startup investment opportunities, and startups are often limited to seeking funding from VCs and syndicates. GetEquity enables individuals to invest in startups and exchange shares on a secondary market, startups to raise funding from more sources, and investors to create liquidity by exchanging shares in their portfolio companies.
Bunmi Akinyemiju, Founding Partner of GHC, commented, “we are excited to be welcoming these fantastic startups into the GHC community. We are always looking to support companies that are a step ahead in their thinking of how to solve everyday challenges that Africans face. Our direct investment into each startup shows our confidence in their potential, and we are also proud to have created a vehicle specifically for African founders to invest alongside us as well.”
The six-week Accelerator program is now underway and startups have already participated in several exclusive sessions with accomplished tech founders, global investors, and world-class corporate partners including Amazon Web Services, Google for Startups, and InsiderPR. To keep up with these startups’ journeys through the GHL Fintech Accelerator, be sure to follow GreenHouse Capital on its social media channels.
