Startups from all over the world are being selected to join the Y Combinator Summer 2021 (S21) cohort. So far, at least 117 startups have been selected and 9 of them are from Africa. The 9 African startups are Mecho Autotech (Nigeria), Amenli (Egypt), Chari (Morocco), Lemonade Finance (Nigeria), Freterium (Morocco), Floatpays (South Africa), Suplias (Nigeria), Odiggo (Egypt) and ShipBlu (Egypt).
Here are the three that are from Nigeria.
Mecho Autotech
Many sectors of commerce have embraced e-commerce and an on-demand approach to serving customers. The auto mechanical sector isn’t any different as technical services are now offered on-demand. Mecho Autotech provides automobile repair and diagnostics services when people need them.
Its subscription plans allow vehicle owners to order for mechanics, schedule vehicle maintenance, get a bundled maintenance, buy vetted spare parts, arrange for pre-purchase vehicle inspection as well as arrange fleet maintenance among others.
The startup was founded by Ayoola Akinkunmi and Olusegun Owoade.
Lemonade Finance
Lemonade Finance is a fintech startup focused on the remittance industry. It offers remittance services to and from Nigeria and recently launched a feature that lets its users in Nigeria and Canada send money to the US and Europe free of charge.
“We are super excited to announce that Nigerian and Canadian users can now send money to the United Kingdom and Europe via the Lemonade Finance app for free”
Lemonade Finance
The fintech’s goal is to solve the problem of high remittance fees that Africans have to pay when sending money out of the continent.
The startup was launched by Olalere Ridwan in October 2020. At different times before becoming a founder, he was the Director of Operations at ORide, Country Manager at Uber and Senior engineer at Flutterwave. Now barely 1 year old, the startup will have access to $125,000 as well as the YC community and an opportunity to get more investment on the YC demo day.
Suplias
This startup is using tech to redefine how retail shops restock their stores. By combining e-commerce with logistics and delivery, it ensures that shopowners can order products and have them delivered within 24 hours.
Suplias was founded by Michael Adesanya and Sefa Ikyaator in 2020. Ikyaator’s career experience is largely in sales and marketing while Adesanya worked in Supply Chain Management at Gap, California and Pomelo Fashion in Thailand.
After working a year and a month at Jumia Nigeria as Commercial Director, Adesanya decided to partner with Ikyaator to develop their e-commerce model of Suplias to focus mainly on retail shop owners.
With Mecho Autotech’s launch in 2021, Suplias launch in 2020 and Lemonade Finance’s launch in 2020, all three startups from Nigeria are still in their first year of launch. The $125,000 seed capital will more solidly position the early-stage companies for growth in the industry.
The remaining six startups from Africa are from Morocco, Egypt and South Africa. In Egypt, Amenli offers licensed insurance to customers online, Odiggo lets users buy car parts online, while ShipBlue provides last-mile delivery services to customers.
In Morocco, Chari offers e-commerce and fintech services to retailers. Like Suplias, it lets shops order products at low prices and has them delivered in less than 24 hours. Also in Morocco, Freterium renders one-click transport management that lets companies manage shipment in a transparent manner.
The last African startup, for now, is SA’s Floatpays which lets employees access their wages before payday comes. As the YC selection process continues, more African startups may join the list before the month is over.
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