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Applications for the Techstars’s powered Barclays Accelerator programme have opened and fintech startups should go ahead and apply if they believe they can build the next PayPal out of Africa.
Now in its second year, the accelerator allows 10 qualifying fintech startups, which will take part in a 13-week programme beginning in May next year at the Rise fintech innovation hub in Woodstock, Cape Town. The accelerator funds up to $45k per team for some 6-8% equity.
The 10 fintech startups have an opportunity to enter or expand their presence in the African marketplace via Barclays Africa Group’s customer, product, and technology teams. The teams could also leverage Rise’s global footprint of Rise which has sites in London, New York, Mumbai, Tel Aviv and Vilnius.
In a statement, Yossi Hasson, Managing Director of Techstars says: “The depth of experience that the Techstars team and global mentor network has in working with and investing in over 900 start-ups is unprecedented for the African continent. The Accelerator pushes for one year’s worth of traction in three months. At the end, your company won’t come out the same, regardless of stage.”
Last year’s Barclays Accelerator saw agreements with 7 of the 10 startups that were part of the programme making Yasaman Hadjibashi, the lead the innovation agenda for the bank to say that Africa has tremendous untapped potential and can create solutions that the rest of the world can adopt.
