Africa’s most exciting startups aren’t always the loudest.
At , we believe in spotlighting early movers, quiet builders, and original thinkers solving Africa’s hardest problems in bold, different ways.
With Startups on Our Radar, we’re shining the light on new startups across Africa that we find interesting but have little coverage. We’ll be exploring their use cases, opportunities, and models. Most importantly, we’ll be looking for teams taking unconventional approaches, filling fundamental gaps, and creating value in a way that feels fresh, focused, and meaningful.
These are not necessarily the most funded or most followed, but they’re doing the kind of work that deserves more attention. Know a startup we should feature next? Please nominate here.
Startups on Our Radar is a bi-weekly column; expect our next dispatch on May 7th.
Here’s our first dispatch:
1. Vaulfi (Fintech, Algeria)
While cross-border remittance startups in Nigeria are falling head over heels to help users receive and make international payments, it’s a different story in Algeria. Users in the country often rely on international banks like HSBC to send and receive money globally.
In 2023, Safa Korti (ex-BNP Paribas compliance) and Karim Khattaby (ex-Revolut engineer) teamed up to change that narrative. Together they founded Vaulfi to help Algerians send and receive money globally. The app provides a multicurrency e-wallet platform that allows users to make international money transfers and get physical and debit cards.
Why we are watching: Vaulfi is poised to become the market leader in offering legally compliant multi-currency accounts in Algeria. Vaufi will enable Algerians to have access to near-instant international money transactions. Previously, users relied on international banks to make those transfers and often had to wait days to confirm receipt of funds.
Vaulfi will also be offering users internationally accepted physical and virtual cards. As of 2022, only 20% of Algerians own debit cards.
This makes the startup a pioneering player in a market largely untouched by neobanks.
2. Revwit (SaaS, Nigeria)
Founded by former employees of Interswitch, Bolt, Microsoft, and the London Stock Exchange Group—Chinedu Ossai, Dayo Adekanmbi, and Damilola Aluede—Revwit is building revenue infrastructure and CRM tools for African sales teams.
Through its app, African sales teams can automatically capture leads from forms, emails, and calendars and manage deals through customisable pipelines that reflect local sales realities. The app also integrates seamlessly with email, eliminating manual data entry, and offers ready-made templates so teams can start selling immediately. The platform supports one-to-one and bulk personalised email outreach, smart reminders, and collaborative deal management, all within a single, easy-to-use interface.
Why we are watching: Revwit is what Salesforce might look like if it were born in Lagos.
The product is thoughtfully built for African sales teams—simpler UX, local currency support, and workflows that reflect how business is done here. With over $800 million in deal volume processed just six months after the launch of its MVP, they’re showing strong early traction and clear demand.
3. Apexloads (Logistics, Kenya)
Aside from working capital constraints, one of the biggest challenges for logistics startups across Africa is the lack of backhaul. After completing a delivery, transporters often return empty, with no goods to carry back. This inefficiency drives up the cost of moving goods, as transporters factor in the likelihood of an empty return trip when setting prices.
Launched in 2019 by Charles Thuo, Apexloads solves this challenge by connecting shippers and truckers through its app. Its load board lets transporters view and claim available loads by location, maximising truck utilisation and reducing empty return trips.
Beyond load matching, Apexloads offers a transport management system, CRM tools, and invoice factoring—giving logistics businesses real-time shipment visibility, streamlined operations, stronger client relationships, and faster payment access.
Why we are watching: In a sector still driven by phone calls, WhatsApp, and manual coordination, Apexloads offers the infrastructure to reduce downtime, improve transparency, and unlock working capital. With operations in Nigeria and Kenya and backing from Techstars, it’s well-positioned to become the digital backbone of African logistics, while layering in fintech for long-term monetisation.
4. Zimi (EV, South Africa)
Imagine turning your (electric) car into a power bank.
That’s the promise of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology—turning your EV into a giant power bank for your home, business, or even the national grid. V2G enables electricity to flow both ways: your car charges when there is abundant energy, and sends power back when demand spikes or outages hit
Launched in 2021 by Michael Maas, Zimi is pioneering V2G technology in South Africa. In a country where load shedding is a daily headache, Zimi’s solution is timely. The company recently got a $320,000 grant from EEP Africa to test out this technology and partner with fleet operators.
Why we are watching: Zimi has a first-mover advantage by building the foundational infrastructure for EV adoption in South Africa, starting with fleet and logistics operators who face rising fuel costs.
As one of the first movers in this space, Zimi combines hardware (AC/DC chargers) with smart software for energy management, payments, and fleet optimisation—creating multiple revenue streams and long-term defensibility. Its focus on vehicle-to-grid (V2G) tech positions it uniquely as both a mobility and energy resilience solution in a country plagued by power instability.
5. Caantin (AI, Zambia)
From fintechs nudging users to complete signups or pay back loans to FMCG brands chasing daily orders from mom-and-pop shops, phone calls are a critical part of daily operations.
However, these phone conversations are a key cost in the sales operations of these companies. Launched in 2021, Caantin, a Zambian communication startup, wants to reduce the cost of making phone calls for businesses by using AI voice agents to have these conversations at scale.
My first trial with the incredibly human-sounding AI agent made me a believer. We acted as a mom-and-pop shop trying to place orders. Save for a few communication gaps, the conversation felt natural. The call included the intonations, pauses, and inadvertent interruptions of a real-life conversation.
Why we are watching: With low smartphone penetration, patchy internet, and high illiteracy rates in many regions, voice, not text or chat, is the most practical interface for AI adoption at scale in Africa. What sets Caantin apart is its deep localisation: the AI voice agents are designed to understand and speak multiple African languages, dialects, and accents, ensuring that automated conversations feel natural and culturally relevant to users across the continent.
6. Stylebitt (SaaS, Nigeria)
If you’ve ever sewn clothes with a Nigerian tailor, you know the struggle: missed deadlines, lost measurements, surprise “tight fits,” and the heartbreak of picking up an outfit that looks nothing like what you ordered. Tailors juggle dozens of clients, scribble measurements in tattered notebooks, and often lose track of orders, leading to delays, mix-ups, and frustrated customers.
For many fashion entrepreneurs, this chaos is just business as usual.
Stylebitt wants to change that narrative. Founded in 2021 by Ibrahim Gana and Precious Aleaji, Stylebitt is a SaaS platform purpose-built for Africa’s informal fashion sector—tailors, designers, and boutique owners looking to run their businesses with the professionalism of a global brand.
The all-in-one SaaS platform offers tailored tools to save customer measurements digitally, manage and track orders from start to finish, generate and send professional invoices, and access real-time business snapshots to monitor revenue and performance.
Why we are watching: Stylebitt solves a real pain point for Africa’s fashion entrepreneurs, especially tailors and boutique owners who have long struggled with disorganised customer records, lost measurements, and manual paperwork. By offering a purpose-built SaaS platform that digitises order management, invoicing, and customer data, Stylebitt makes it easier for fashion businesses to operate efficiently and deliver on time. The platform’s comprehensive measurement tracking and business snapshot tools help entrepreneurs reduce errors, get paid faster, and make smarter decisions about their growth.
7. SpitchAI (AI, Nigeria)
When I first tried Google’s NotebookLM podcast feature, I immediately thought: what if this worked in an African accent or a local language? Most global AI models are built without Africans in mind, from the datasets they’re trained on to how they process speech. As a result, AI speech tools from major tech companies often struggle with African languages and dialects.
Spitch AI is changing that. Launched in 2023 by Temiloluwa Babalola, Spitch is developing speech-to-text and text-to-speech models specifically for African languages and accents. Its technology already supports accurate voice recognition and natural-sounding speech synthesis in Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, and Nigerian-accented English. It plans to add more West and East African languages soon.
We couldn’t stop thinking about the numerous use cases for Spitch, from educating smallholder farmers in their native languages to powering local customer support,
Why we are watching: Spitch is among the first to offer high-quality, developer-friendly African language AI APIs, addressing a pain point that affects hundreds of millions across the continent. As digital adoption accelerates in Africa, demand for localised, voice-driven interfaces will only grow. For businesses, Spitch’s AI voice tools can automate multilingual support, reduce customer service costs, and enable instant scaling without hiring large support teams.
8. Wayak (Healthtech, Egypt)
Launched in 2019 by Khaled Ismail, Ph.D., Wayak delivers discounted medications to patients with chronic conditions. Wayak offers round-the-clock online consultations with doctors and pharmacists through its mobile app while providing users access to leading diagnostic labs at reduced rates. The company also maintains electronic medical records that are updated biannually on the app.
Why we are watching: With health insurance penetration in Egypt still low and public healthcare underfunded, millions face high out-of-pocket costs for essential care. Wayak addresses this gap by making affordable, continuous healthcare accessible to underserved populations. The opportunity is significant: Egypt’s healthcare market is valued at $25 billion, and across Africa, over 300 million people lack insurance, pointing to a $200 billion market for affordable care models like Wayak by 2030.
9. Vendy (Social commerce, Nigeria)
If you live in Nigeria, you interacted with a WhatsApp vendor for your last purchase. More people are buying directly through WhatsApp than ever before, making it one of the fastest-growing social commerce channels in the country.
Vendy is building a social commerce platform on WhatsApp to meet buyers and sellers right where they are. With Vendy, Nigerian businesses and merchants can set up customisable WhatsApp shops in minutes, showcase their inventory, automate orders and invoicing, and accept payments seamlessly, all within the app.
Why we are watching: Social commerce is rising in Nigeria, with more Nigerians purchasing products directly through social media platforms. With over 103 million active social media users in Nigeria, global research and intelligence firm Research and Markets estimates the market opportunity to be about $1.55 billion. Vendy is right at the centre of this trend—helping Nigerians sell and shop directly on WhatsApp, the country’s most popular social platform with an estimated 51 million users. As social buying becomes the norm, Vendy’s focus on seamless transactions within everyday chat apps puts it in a strong position to capture value in this fast-growing space.
10. Inalipa (E-commerce, Tanzania)
Launched in 2020 by Hafiz Juma, Inalipa is a Tanzania-based e-commerce platform that connects both businesses, including micro and large-scale retailers, and individual consumers to a wide range of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). The platform operates both B2B and B2C marketplaces: micro and small retailers can access bulk wholesale inventory and on-demand delivery. At the same time, end consumers can shop for everyday essentials with convenient payment and delivery options.
Why we are watching: Digital commerce in Africa often overlooks the needs of small retailers, focusing primarily on end consumers. Inalipa stands out because it serves both micro-retailers and individual shoppers, offering a unified inventory, working capital, and delivery platform. By addressing the unique challenges faced by small retailers, while still providing a seamless experience for consumers, Inalipa is bridging a crucial gap in Tanzania’s retail ecosystem. That’s why it’s firmly on our radar.
That’s all for today. Expect our next dispatch on May 7th. Know a startup we should feature next? Please nominate here.
