Meet the 20 Startups Joining Cohort 6 of the African Impact Challenge.
We're excited to introduce the 20 startups joining Cohort 6 of the African Impact Challenge (AIC), our flagship venture accelerator. It’s been an incredibly rigorous journey working with startups over the past couple of years, and this cohort sharpens that conviction and proves that this model works.
Take VAS Medtech, out of Cohort 4, which built FlexiGyn, a portable screening device closing a massive gynaecological care gap in South Africa, and is now closing in on FDA and SAHPRA submission. Powerstove, out of Cohort 4, built smart cookstoves that cut fuel use by 70% and generate their own electricity for Nigerian households, backed byGSMA's Innovation Fund and, as of June 2026, a ₦1.8 billion catalytic funding round from Cascador. These are startups that came through the African Impact Challenge program and have gone on to raise additional capital and scale real impact.
Cohort 6 takes that same foundation and pushes it further with a reimagined program designed to spot the diamonds in the rough and predictably support these startups to success. Our new structure introduces tracks designed to meet founders where they actually are in their startup journey, not a one-size-fits-all program that flattens their growth and experience.
Chosen for the strength of their founding teams, the clarity of the problems they've set out to solve, the scale of the ambition, and a clear (however difficult) path to scale, these 20 companies span fintech, health tech, agritech, e-commerce, proptech, and gaming, building for African markets first, with an eye on global scale.
Every startup represented worked through a demanding, multi-stage process: sharpening a business model, a go-to-market plan, a pitch, long before selection was even guaranteed, and we are humbled to be working with founders who hold up under the weight of sharp thinking, real follow-through, and the kind of resilience this demands.
Over the coming months, founders will work through AIC's implementation phase: business development support, market immersion across other African markets, and a rigorous accelerator program built to sharpen their focus, equip them with real product-market expertise, and connect them with global and locally relevant investors and partners to power their ambition.
Meet Cohort 6.
Country Innovation Stream
Builder Track
CompCrafter: Transforms how organizations communicate employee compensation by using AI to deliver transparent, interactive, and personalized total rewards experiences that improve understanding, engagement, and retention.
Feest: A mobile-first digital operating system for African food vendors, combining storefront, AI kitchen copilot, and logistics aggregation.
Retailstack: An offline-first operating system for independent supermarkets and pharmacies, replacing manual tools with one system for checkout, inventory, and restocking.
Momentum Track
B12Give: A technology platform that helps retailers reduce food waste by collecting and redistributing surplus food to community organizations, improving food security while tracking social and environmental impact.
Gamepride: A unified e-sports platform connecting African gamers through tournaments and direct fan monetisation for players and creators.
Gamr: An esports and gaming ecosystem for Africa, turning gaming into structured career pathways, tournaments, and training for youth.
Giddaa: A proptech platform that enables individuals to buy, sell, invest in, and finance real estate through secure transactions, flexible payment options, and digital property services.
Scale Track
Growwr: AI-driven hiring and workforce infrastructure enabling global companies to confidently hire, manage, and pay vetted African talent.
Regxta: A digital credit platform using data analytics and machine learning for credit scoring to reach unbanked and underserved individuals and small businesses.
Resiliocs Intelligence: An AI-powered physical climate risk platform for institutional asset owners, insurers, infrastructure operators, utilities, and large real estate portfolios, delivering engineering-grade, building-level climate modeling across flood, wildfire, extreme heat, and hurricane scenarios, and translating exposure into ROI-driven adaptation roadmaps.
Twish Cart: An e-commerce platform that connects shoppers with local retailers, enabling convenient online shopping, digital payments, and efficient last-mile delivery.
Health Entrepreneurship (HENT) Stream
Builder Track
Elais Biosciences: A biotechnology company developing innovative therapeutics and healthcare solutions to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease through advanced life sciences research.
Manje Health: A digital health platform that enables people living abroad to pay verified healthcare providers directly for their families' medical care, ensuring secure, transparent, and timely access to treatment.
MariTest: A non-invasive, AI-powered malaria screening device using brief skin contact, giving results in under three minutes without blood draws or lab infrastructure.
Momentum Track
AR Botanical Labs: A regenerative botanical supply chain training women and youth in sustainable cultivation and herbal science, connecting local harvesters to fair-value nutraceutical and wellness markets.
Mariam Grey Pharmacy: A paediatric medicine safety and access system combining pharmacist-led dose verification, aggregated pharmacy inventory, and caregiver education.
Rubi Pharma: A B2B pharmaceutical digital distribution company providing real-time access to essential medication for healthcare facilities.
Scale Track
Drugstore: A digital network of licensed pharmacies (Drugstore.ng) helping brick-and-mortar pharmacies digitise inventory and order management to improve medicine access.
Indigenius AI: No-code AI health agents delivering chronic illness risk assessment, guidance, and care navigation in local African languages, built for low-infrastructure settings.
Rapharm Uganda Ltd.: An AI-powered digital pharmacy platform improving access, safety, and adherence to medicines across Africa through rapid delivery and prescription intelligence.
