AfricArena Cape Town 2024: Celebrating Africa’s Leading Startups and Innovation Ecosystem
- Thomas Viarnaud
- Jan 17
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 9
The AfricArena Grand Summit 2024, held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, showcased the best of Africa’s burgeoning tech and innovation ecosystem. Organized in partnership with TotalEnergies, AWS Startups, Technology Innovation Agency, GIZ SAIS, ESquared Investments, Wesgro, and The City of Cape Town, the event brought together over 100 startups from 31 African countries to celebrate innovation, investment, and entrepreneurship.
A Platform for Growth and Innovation
AfricArena, one of the leading startup accelerators on the African continent, serves as a platform for growth and innovation through collaboration as it promotes the most promising startups on the continent to investors. This was notably seen during its 2024 Grand Summit in Cape Town where African startups got the unique opportunity to pitch their innovative ideas to investors from all around the world.
Christophe Viarnaud, founder of AfricArena, reflected on the platform’s growth since its inception in 2017. He noted the remarkable increase in venture capital funding on the continent—from $300 million in 2017 to over $2 billion in 2024—despite recent economic challenges. Mr. Viarnaud uses this progression to highlight the strong potential for impact on the African continent which investors have taken note of. Mr. Viarnaud also suggests we remain optimistic and committed to building Africa’s tech ecosystem, stating:
“Believe we will prevail as an African tech ecosystem for if we believe we can build better, aim higher, think big and don’t go home, the investors will follow us because if we are long on this asset class, this asset class will ultimately lead.”
The astounding growth that AfricArena has experienced showcases the rise of entrepreneurship in Africa, something that our association KABA (Kedge Africa Business Association) truly believes in.
Recognizing Excellence: The Winners
The summit featured pitches from 45 standout startups, with nine emerging as winners across various categories. Each winning startup received $25,000 in AWS Activate credits.
The winners included:
• Best AI and Deep Tech Startup Award: OkHi (Nigeria)
• Best Agri Tech Startup Award: Djoli (Ivory Coast)
• Best Fintech Startup Award: Joro Cash (Morocco)
• Best Climate Tech Startup Award: Gjenge Makers (Kenya)
• Best SaaS Startup Award: Cynoia (Tunisia)
• Best Seed Startup Award: Letsoela Agro-Aviation (Lesotho)
• Best Startupper Award: Anda (Angola)
• Most Value Add Investor Award: Knife Capital
• Most Promising Entrepreneur: Gael Egbidi (Togo)
Roger Norton of OkHi expressed pride in winning the Best AI and Deep Tech Startup Award for their work in address verification. Similarly, Gael Egbidi of Solimi celebrated her recognition as Most Promising Entrepreneur, calling it a significant milestone for her company and Togo.
Will KABA be a part of the next Africarena Grand Summit?
As KABA (Kedge Africa Business Association), we strongly align with AfricArena’s mission of fostering innovation, investment, and entrepreneurship across the African continent. The rapid growth of Africa’s tech ecosystem, as highlighted at the 2024 Grand Summit in Cape Town, reaffirms our belief in the transformative power of entrepreneurship.
That said, will KABA be part of the next AfricArena Grand Summit? Our goal is to actively engage with AfricArena’s ecosystem—whether through participation, collaboration, or direct involvement in the next edition. By connecting Kedge students with high-potential African startups and investors, we aspire to contribute to the growth of Africa’s entrepreneurial landscape while offering students unparalleled exposure to real-world business opportunities.
Stay tuned as exciting collaborations may be on the horizon! 🚀