Techstars Global CEO visits Lagos, Nairobi to drive the launch of $120,000 equity funding startup programme

BOULDER, Colo. — August 12, 2022 — Techstars, a global investment business that provides capital, mentorship, and customized programming for early-stage entrepreneurs, is bullish on expanding to key cities in Africa. The company intends to discover excellent founders and startups with great potential and to produce multi-billion dollar companies out of Africa.

In April 2022, Techstars partnered with ARM Labs, a Lagos-based innovation program focused on helping fintech startups, to launch the ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator Programme. In preparation for the programme, Techstars CEO Maëlle Gavet, in late July visited Lagos to engage partners, African founders who have been through its programme and other technology ecosystem players.

Gavet’s visit began with a fireside chat with ARM CEO, Jumoke Ogundare in Lagos.  During the fireside chat, Gavet and Ogundare revealed that applications for the Lagos accelerator are currently open until September 7, with the programme set to commence in December 2022 and culminating in a demo day in March 2023. The Lagos accelerator programme will run for three years, and up to 12 startups will be selected annually to benefit from up to $120,000 in funding – $20,000 equity and an optional $100,000 convertible note investment in exchange for 6–9% equity. Currently, the programme is open to only proptech and fintech startups to “leverage the company’s (ARM) expertise and connections,” according to Gavet.

She added that although the Lagos programme will function like every Techstars accelerator globally in terms of quality, local market dynamics remain a factor hence the partnership with an experienced industry player, ARM.

The Techstars CEO also attended an evening networking event at the office of TalentQL, one of the company’s portfolio startups. Founders, ecosystem players, tech enthusiasts, portfolio companies and the media were present. At the event, she shared that apart from the planned Lagos accelerator, founders can apply to other Techstars accelerator programmes. The following day, Gavet had dinner with corporate partners in the company of the ARM CEO before going to Nairobi where she had similar media engagement with founders, ecosystem players, and partners. 

Techstars has been heavily involved in the African startup scene before now. In 2016 and 2017, the company partnered with Barclays Bank to host an accelerator programme in Cape Town and invested in 21 startups. Also, the company organised several startup events and has invested in nearly 100 African startups through its accelerator programmes. Some of the company’s portfolio companies in Nigeria include Farmcrowdy, Healthtracka, TalentQL, Quidax, OurPass, RentSmallSmall, and Treepz; in Kenya Bamba Group, Duhqa, iNuka Pap, Flexpay, and +Scale have all benefited from the Techstars accelerator programme. 

Gavet and her team intend to build on this by launching accelerator programmes across the continent with Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg and Cairo all mapped out.

One of the aims of the Lagos Accelerator is to produce more unicorns out of Africa. During her media rounds, Gavet remained bullish on the prospect of the African tech ecosystem reiterating that Techstars can help unearth the next set of unicorns out of Africa. She cited Nigeria as a perfect example highlighting the market size, growing consumption rate, and numerous opportunities due to the unending challenges plaguing the country. 

Gavet believes that no one succeeds alone and the Techstars accelerator differentiates itself from others by providing the three things every founder needs to succeed. “First is the capital, which matters to pay bills and run a company. The second is programs and services, which include the three-month program itself, events, training, and other forms of support for a strategy that the startups can access for life. Lastly, it’s our network; I consider it the best in the world,” she said.

Speaking on the visit, TechPR Nigeria Founder, Adegoke Oyeniyi said “It was a string of enlightening conversations with Maelle. She is such a delight to speak with given her experience as a former COO of a unicorn, Compass and author of a bestseller on Big Tech’s global influence.

“Techstars Toronto, in particular, has had a growing influence on the Nigerian startup scene with increasing intake of companies (a total of 14 now) into its accelerator and helping with follow-on funding. Companies like TalentQL, Treepz Healthtracka, OurPass etc have been through the accelerator and built stronger businesses.”

About Maëlle Gavet

Maëlle Gavet is a strong advocate for ‘empathetic tech’ and the author of Trampled by Unicorns: Big Tech’s Empathy Problem and How to Fix It. Gavet has been a leading tech executive and entrepreneur for over 15 years. Before joining Techstars in January 2021, she had successful stints as Chief Operating Officer at real estate platform Compass, valued at over $6 billion; Executive Vice President of Operations of the Priceline Group, the largest online hospitality and travel agency in the world which includes brands like OpenTable, Kayak, and Booking.com; and as CEO of OZON.ru, Russia’s largest e-commerce site valued at over $9 billion.

Since joining Techstars, Gavet has led the expansion of the Techstars accelerator programme to Stockholm, Paris and now, Lagos. She has also initiated two new initiatives to invest in underrepresented founders – an $80 million fund raised through the J.P Morgan Private Wealth platform and an $8 million Rising Star pre-seed pre-accelerator fund for entrepreneurs of colour in the United States.

About Techstars

The Techstars worldwide network helps entrepreneurs succeed. Founded in 2006, Techstars began with three simple ideas—entrepreneurs create a better future for everyone, collaboration drives innovation, and great ideas can come from anywhere. We are on a mission to enable every person on the planet to contribute to and benefit from the success of entrepreneurs. In addition to operating accelerator programs and venture capital funds, we do this by connecting startups, investors, corporations, and cities to help build thriving startup communities. Techstars has invested in more than 3,000 companies with a combined market cap of more than $172B. www.techstars.com