MassChallenge Switzerland, part of MassChallenge’s global network of innovators, has announced the 103 early-stage startups invited to join the 2024 acceleration program, 9 of them from Africa.
The selected startups represent the top 8% of applications we received from around the world. They were judged by over 300 independent experts from the MassChallenge Switzerland Community, who gave feedback to each of the startups to help them improve their propositions.
The selected early-stage startups come from 37 countries spanning 5 continents and have all committed to sustainability.
Startups from many different industries compose the 2024 cohort, which will now attend a 4-month acceleration program split into 4 Tracks.
Since 2016, MassChallenge Switzerland has been helping startups across Europe grow their businesses, with 720 alumni raising $1.4Bn in funding. MassChallenge takes no equity or fees, and will connect the cohort to its corporate partners, broad group of expert mentors and network of investors.
According to Matt Lashmar, Managing Director of MassChallenge Switzerland, “Congratulations to all the startups in the cohort. This year was our most competitive ever. Now the fun starts and we can’t wait to start helping these startups connect with our partners and mentors so that they can get feedback on how to improve their business propositions. We hope they go on to grow and add value to our community and society”.
During the 4 months of acceleration, the selected 103 startups will engage with industry experts, corporates, and investors, while receiving world-class mentoring, tailored programming, free co-working space, and numerous key networking opportunities. The accelerator program will culminate on October 31st at the MassChallenge Switzerland Awards Ceremony, when the best startups will be rewarded with up to CHF 1M in zero-equity prize money, as well as several other in-kind prizes.
MassChallenge Switzerland Startups 2024:
- AgriMercarb (Ghana): We transform organic waste into feed, fertilizer and energy.
- Baobaby (Togo): We use local crops to provide safe, affordable, and nutritious alt-protein formulas to fight babies’ malnutrition.
- eAgro (Zimbabwe): A text based chatbot assisting small farmers manage their crops with hyper-localized actionable insights tailored to specific farm situation.
- ECOACT TANZANIA (Tanzania): We developed a chemical free technology to convert plastic waste into plastic timbers used for building and construction.
- Ecovon (Ghana): Biodegradable building and packaging materials made from coconut waste that is safe for people and planet.
- Fixa (Rwanda): HR-enbaled fintech supporting gig work. We empower businesses to source, manage, pay, and empower temporary workers with financial services.
- Organic Fields (Kenya): Organic fields repurposes food waste from municipal markets to manufacture high quality organic fertilizer and animal protein using biotech.
- TileGreen (Egypt): Green technologies to make concrete-alternative and carbon-negative building materials from low-value plastic waste.
- Trashcoin (Nigeria): Trashcoin, is a recycle-tech startup that combines sustainability and fin-tech to recover recyclable waste from communities in Africa.
