Africa Startups to Watch: Bloomberg Publishes List of Smartest Ideas in Tech

Bloomberg News has unveiled the second edition of its ‘Africa Startups to Watch List’, featuring 25 companies that represent some of the smartest ideas from founders across the continent. On the list are four Kenyan startups – BuuPass, Leta, Oye and WorkPay – which are making a mark in the tech world.

The theme of this list is urgency, with most of the featured companies building solutions in environments where infrastructure or systems have failed to deliver.

The list includes companies from Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Somalia, Tanzania and, as it were, Kenya. Sectors represented on the list include: healthcare, fintech, security, climate resilience, waste management, transport and technology amongst others.

“Across a diverse range of sectors, the startups present an array of solutions to pressing challenges and problems,” said Ms Jennifer Zabasajja, Bloomberg Television’s Chief Africa Correspondent and Anchor. “The second edition of this list also shows how businesses across the continent have increasingly mobilized local capital, with almost half of the funding raised by companies on this year’s list coming from African investors.’

Bloomberg News editors, along with Bloomberg Intelligence analysts, considered a number of criteria in assessing the entries including: the scope of the problem companies were tackling, the creativity of their ideas and their traction with investors and customers alike. All selected companies are privately held.

AFRICAN STARTUPS TO WATCH: FULL LIST

• 10mg Health – Nigeria – Healthcare finance

Founded in 2022 by pharmacist Christian Nwachukwu in Nigeria, 10mg Health aims to fix gaps in healthcare funding by helping hospitals and pharmacies access capital and improve patient care in cash-dependent markets where upfront medical costs often delay treatment. Positioned at the intersection of fintech and healthcare, the startup seeks to outperform traditional lenders by using medical and behavioral data to assess risk and expand access to care across underserved communities.

• Amesect – South Africa – Waste management

Founded in 2023 in South Africa by Elsje Pieterse, Brendes Gresse, and Dave Stewart, Amesect addresses the challenge of unmanaged waste in rapidly growing African communities by converting organic waste into fertilizer and animal feed for birds and fish. Led by entomologist Pieterse and backed early by Dean Wetton Advisory, the company aims to transform organic waste into valuable bioproducts and support more sustainable food production in resource-constrained environments.

• Aura – South Africa – Health and security

Founded in 2017 in South Africa by Warren Myers and Ryan Green, AURA provides an app-based platform that connects users to private emergency response and security services in areas where public emergency systems are often unreliable. Backed by investors including Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund through a $14.5 million Series B round.

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• Azampay – Mauritius – Fintech

Founded in 2018 by Firas Ahmad and Abubakar Bakhresa, AzamPay is a fintech startup headquartered in Mauritius that is building payment infrastructure in Tanzania and across East Africa to reduce the cost of digital transactions for businesses in largely cash-driven economies. Inspired by the success of bKash in Bangladesh, co-founder Ahmad launched the company with the goal of accelerating digital payments adoption and expanding financial accessibility in the region.

• Black Swan – Tanzania – Fintech

Founded in 2022 in Tanzania by Derick Kazimoto and Rwebu Mutahaba, Black Swan uses artificial intelligence and alternative data sources such as electricity bill payments and digital transaction histories to assess creditworthiness for individuals and small businesses that lack formal credit record. By expanding access to lending in underserved markets, the startup aims to improve financial inclusion and is supported by Germany’s develoPPP Ventures.

• Bôndy – Madagascar – Climate resilience

Founded in 2019 in Madagascar by Gabriel Tasso, Nelson Maillard, and Max Fontaine, Bôndy focuses on climate resilience by restoring forests and promoting regenerative agriculture to address the severe food crisis driven by climate change and land degradation in Madagascar. Unlike many startups, the company has grown without external equity funding, pursuing an infrastructure-heavy and less venture-capital-dependent approach to environmental and agricultural sustainability.

• BuuPass – Kenya – Transport 

Founded in 2016 in Kenya by Sonia Kabra and Wyclife Omondi, BuuPass digitalizes Africa’s largely informal travel industry through a platform that allows users to search, compare, and book bus, train, and flight tickets. Backed by Founders Factory Africa and Google Black Founders Fund, the startup is leveraging the broad reach of transportation across income groups to build valuable movement and booking data infrastructure across the region.

• Complete Farmer – Ghana – Agritech 

Founded in 2017 in Ghana by mechanical engineer Desmond Koney, Complete Farmer operates uses supply-chain data to connect African farmers with buyers and vendors while improving quality assurance and traceability for export markets. Backed by a Series A investment that includes support from Alitheia Capital, the company aims to position African growers as dependable suppliers in global agricultural trade.

• Deaftronics – Botswana – Healthtech

Founded in 2019 in Botswana by Tendekayi Katsiga and Sarah Molema, Deaftronics operates in the healthtech sector, developing solar-powered hearing aids designed to address the growing burden of hearing impairment across Africa while reducing dependence on disposable batteries in regions with unreliable electricity access. The company has received support from organizations including Johnson & Johnson as it works to expand affordable and accessible hearing care solutions on the continent.

• Ecosom – Somalia – Climate resilience 

Founded in 2019 in Somalia by Musab Omar, Hisham Said, and Muna Warsame, Ecosom converts agricultural waste and invasive mesquite trees into biochar, eco-friendly biofuel briquettes, and charcoal to restore soil health, improve moisture retention, and lock in carbon. By supporting sustainable agriculture and cleaner energy alternatives, the company aims to strengthen food security in drought-prone regions of Somalia.

• HUB2 – Ivory Coast – Fintech

Founded in 2017 in Ivory Coast by Ashley Gauzere and Jean-Remi Kouchakji, HUB2 is building a unified payment infrastructure that connects mobile-money wallets, bank accounts, cards, and digital wallets to improve transaction reliability across a fragmented African payments landscape. With systems tailored for CFA franc zone regulatory environments, the company leverages regional expertise from Gauzere, a former Orange executive, and Kouchakji, a serial fintech entrepreneur, to strengthen digital payments infrastructure across West Africa.

• Jem – South Africa – HR technology

Founded in 2020 in South Africa by Simon Ellis and Caroline van der Merwe, Jem uses WhatsApp-based software to help employees at companies such as franchise operators of McDonald’s access payslips and employment documents. Serving around 200,000 employees across 200 companies, the platform also enables salary-linked deductions that reduce borrowing costs for workers while helping employers manage credit risk more effectively.

• Leta – Kenya – Logistics technology

Founded in 2021 in Kenya by Nick Joshi, Leta has built a platform that helps businesses plan, assign, and track deliveries in real time to reduce the high cost and inefficiency of transportation and delivery in African markets. Drawing on Joshi’s experience developing logistics products in the United States, the company is backed by Google Africa Investment Fund and aims to improve supply chain efficiency across the region.

• Nkwa – Cameroon – Fintech 

Founded in 2021 in Cameroon by Akwo Ashangndowah, Alice Ndeh, and Claude Andui, Nkwa provides a savings-focused platform designed for largely informal economies with low financial literacy. It helps individuals and companies build savings and improve financial resilience, and is supported by Cameroon’s Ministry of Finance Cameroon along with seed funding from local angel investors.

• Omniscient – South Africa – Fintech 

Founded in 2019 in South Africa by Jon Jacobson and Anton Grutzmacher, Omnisient uses AI-driven analytics and alternative consumer data from sources such as retailers, telecoms, and everyday transactions to help banks and insurers assess creditworthiness for individuals excluded from traditional financial systems. Backed by organizations including TransUnion, Arise, and Shoprite Holdings, the company aims to expand financial inclusion by turning consumer behavior data into actionable credit signals.

• Oye – Kenya – Fintech 

Founded in 2022 in Kenya by Kevin Mutiso, Oye links accident insurance and credit access to everyday fuel purchases for motorcycle taxi (boda boda) drivers in order to expand financial protection within the informal transport sector. It is backed by Britam Holdings as it works toward enrolling one million drivers.

• Pawapay – UK-founded, pan-African – Fintech

Founded in 2020 in the United Kingdom by Nikolai Barnwell, PawaPay provides a payments platform that helps businesses navigate fragmented African payment networks by working with banks and mobile operators to process transactions at scale across multiple markets. The company processes millions of transactions daily across around 20 countries and has been supported by early seed funding of about €6 million as well as private investors, with reported profitability since 2023.

• Remedial Health – Nigeria – Healthtech 

Founded in 2021 in Nigeria by Samuel Okwuada and Victor Benjamin, Remedial Health provides a software that helps healthcare providers manage inventory, verify pharmaceutical suppliers, and access financing in order to reduce inefficiencies and risks in Africa’s fragmented medicine distribution system. Backed by Tencent, the company has helped finance tens of millions of dollars’ worth of medicines to improve access to safer and more affordable healthcare.

• Safesip – Tanzania – Healthtech 

Founded in 2023 in Tanzania by Faith Kuya and Constantine Edward, SafeSip developed AI-monitored, solar-powered water purification systems designed to make contaminated water safe for drinking while reducing reliance on single-use plastics. Targeting a major infrastructure gap in clean water access across Africa, the company positions its technology as a scalable and investable solution.

• Sycamore – Nigeria – Fintech 

Founded in 2019 in Nigeria by Babatunde Akin-Moses, Sycamore provides digital lending and investment products to individuals and businesses with a focus on fast, accessible credit in Nigeria’s competitive financial services market. The platform is also expanding internationally, including into the UK, to serve Africans abroad, while balancing growth with lending risk management as it scales.

• Telemedan – Chad – Healthtech 

Founded in 2021 in Chad by Abakar Mahamat, Telemedan has built telemedicine solutions that use solar-powered stations to connect patients with doctors remotely and expand healthcare access in underserved regions with extremely low physician density. Focusing on “frugal innovation,” the company aims to reduce reliance on physical healthcare infrastructure and improve medical access for resource-constrained communities.

• Terra Industries – Nigeria – Security 

Founded in 2024 in Nigeria by Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka, Terra Industries has developed midrange unmanned aerial systems and defense technologies in response to rising security threats in the Sahel region, where militant groups are increasingly using modified commercial drones to target military and infrastructure assets. The company is expanding manufacturing with a second facility in Ghana and has attracted investment from 8VC, including backing connected to Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale, alongside a reported $34 million funding round to scale its operations.

• Waspito – Cameroon – Healthtech 

Founded in 2020 in Cameroon by Jean Lobe, Waspito provides a social-media-like telemedicine platform that allows patients to instantly connect with available doctors online without appointments. Launched during the COVID-19 pandemic and inspired by the founder’s personal experience of a medical emergency in his family, the platform is designed to improve access to healthcare for vulnerable and underserved communities by enabling faster, more direct medical consultations.

• Widebot – Egypt – Artificial intelligence

Founded in 2016 in Egypt by Mohamed Nabil and Mohamed Mostafa, WideBot has built Arabic-first customer experience and conversational AI solutions designed to address gaps in large language model performance across non-English languages and regional dialects. The company focuses on enabling scalable automated conversations for businesses across the Middle East and North Africa, with ambitions to handle hundreds of millions of monthly interactions as it expands.

• WorkPay – Kenya – HR technology

Founded in 2019 in Kenya by Paul Kimani and Jackson Kungu, WorkPay initially focused on helping local businesses manage payroll before expanding into a broader HR, compliance, and financial services platform for companies operating across more than 30 African countries. Backed by investors including Visa, Norrsken22, and Y Combinator, the company has raised over $10 million and is working toward profitability while scaling cross-border workforce management tools.

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