Four Kenyan technology startups Comana, Duck, ReportsAI, and VunaPay have been selected to join the 10th cohort of the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa, marking a major milestone for the program and a strong showing for Kenya’s innovation ecosystem.
Chosen from nearly 2,600 applications, the four startups are part of a final pan-African cohort of 15 companies, representing an acceptance rate of less than 1%. Their inclusion underscores the growing technical depth, resilience, and global competitiveness of Kenyan startups.
The selected companies are leveraging artificial intelligence to tackle critical challenges across key sectors. Comana develops technology that helps governments and market associations digitize informal food markets.
VunaPay builds fintech and data infrastructure for cooperatives, enabling instant payments and financial services for smallholder farmers.
Across Africa, startups continue to address foundational infrastructure gaps in sectors such as financial inclusion, healthcare, and supply chains, increasingly powered by advanced AI capabilities. While the continent’s venture ecosystem demonstrated resilience—raising $3.9 billion in 2025—founders still require access to specialized technical support, cloud infrastructure, and mentorship to scale effectively.
Programs like the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa aim to bridge this gap, equipping startups with the tools needed to grow into scalable, sustainable businesses driving the continent’s digital economy.
Hafsah Jumare, CEO of Kenya-based Comana, emphasized the importance of visibility in informal markets:
“Most food trade across Africa happens in traditional markets, but these markets remain largely invisible and unsupported. With MarketView, we’re building infrastructure to make them visible, using AI to interpret real-time data so businesses and governments can actually see what’s happening and act on it. Through the accelerator, we’re focused on scaling this across more markets and strengthening the underlying data systems and integrations that make this intelligence usable at scale. Even in the first week, the technical mentorship and network provided have already been valuable in sharpening how we approach this.”
Folarin Aiyegbusi, Head of Startup Ecosystem, Africa at Google, highlighted the broader impact of the cohort:
“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome these exceptional founders into Class 10. African startups are driving essential economic growth and social development. Our role is to serve as a supportive partner, providing these developers and founders with the technical infrastructure, mentorship, and global network they need to scale their solutions and amplify their real-world impact.”
The hybrid accelerator program runs from April 13 to June 19, 2026, offering hands-on technical workshops focused on AI and machine learning, alongside mentorship from industry experts.
Since its launch in 2018, the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa has supported 106 startups across 17 countries, helping them raise over $263 million and create more than 2,800 jobs.