A student and alumni-led initiative at Yale University with a mission to showcase stories of innovation and ingenuity from the African Startup Ecosystem
NEW HAVEN, March 30, 2023 — Today, the Yale Africa Startup Review (‘YASR’) published its Third Annual #YASR30 List featuring 30 startups and 30 stories representing 10 countries shaping the future of Africa.
In its third edition, #YASR30 remained committed to its collaborative, grassroots approach to produce a list that showcases stories of innovation and ingenuity from across the African startup ecosystem. This consistent approach to sourcing and selection has allowed us to share the stories of and provide support to a wide range of startups from Cairo to Cape Town for the past three years. The featured 30 in this edition of the list are early-stage companies that span the investment spectrum from pre-seed to Series A and are seeking to launch new products, expand their businesses, improve their operations, and raise capital. Although Nigerian and Kenyan startups feature heavily in the third edition of the list, we also selected firms from Zambia, Rwanda, and Tanzania. Fintech firms such as Pay-U Technologies, Splish, Chapa Financial, and Wealth8 once again have a strong presence on the list. However, #YASR30 also features innovative companies in other verticals such as the Zambian ag-tech firm Aiponics, the Tanzania battery recycling firm Waga, and the Ugandan start-up Emata, which is using machine learning to provide affordable loans to smallholder farmers.
The compilation of the #YASR30 List would not be possible without our external judges who work at top Investment Funds or Advisory Firms from across the continent such as Seedstars Africa, the Catalyst Fund, Wuri Ventures, and Teranga Capital. We also owe our gratitude to our partners and sponsors: Tolaram, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Dalberg Advisors. Our sponsors and partners will provide multiple financial prizes and corporate discounts to members of the #YASR30 list. Finally this year’s team includes or student editors - Fanta, Hajar, Emmanuel, Richard and Bade and our alumni editors – Samuel, Lina, Sharon, Daniel, Caroline, Khalid, and Christopher.
YASR is excited to share these stories with its community of 2000+ followers across our social media platforms on LinkedIn, Twitter & Instagram that garner over 50K impressions monthly. Special thanks to the Yale School of Management who have partnered with YASR to feature these companies on campus grounds this week, so if you are in New Haven visit Evans Hall!
Press contacts:
Emmanuel Uche, Editor, emmanuel.uche@yale.edu
Christopher Wayland, Editor, christopher.wayland@yale.edu