Y Combinator Accelerator // Boya Among 15 African Startups Confirmed for W22 Batch

Boya now joins a list of 15 other African Startups that will be joining Y Combinator Accelerator W22 Batch

Boya,  a Kenyan Fintech platform has been selected among 5 more African startups that have been confirmed as participants in the W22 batch of the renowned Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator accelerator, taking the total to 15 so far.

Boya is a Kenyan based fintech platform that enables businesses to instantly issue corporate cards to employees and provide them with software that gives them control and visibility on all spending in real-time. Currently Boya, who is our Member at Nairobi Garage Karen, works DTB bank which is regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya.

The Boya Platform allows users to issue virtual cards that work online and at an M-Pesa merchant. Through the platform users can also capture receipts on the go and reduce the friction of expense reporting forever.

Kidato Joins Y Combinator // Accessing USD$ 125,000 in Seed Funding.

The W22 batch of the Y Combinator programme, which played a role in the early days of companies like Airbnb, Coinbase and Dropbox among others, is currently taking place, and concludes with a demo day in March.

Participants receive seed funding as well as further investment opportunities at a demo day. The S21 edition of the accelerator now brings the total number of the selected African startups to 15, the most yet.

With over 230 companies now confirmed as taking part, a further five African names have made the list, taking the total so far announced to 15, equalling the number of African participants in S21. However, there could be  more W22 participants to be revealed over the next few months, both before and after demo day.

Four of the five startups added to the list hail from Nigeria, which accounts for 11 of the 15 African participants so far.

They are pharma-focused health startup Remedial Health; fintech startup Duplo, which works to digitise payment flows for B2B companies; Grey, formerly Aboki Africa, which provides foreign currency accounts for Africans; and Heyfood, which makes it easy for restaurants to run their food ordering and delivery business.

Y Combinator’s alumni features continental royalty such as Flutterwave, Paystack and Kobo360 (not to mention Cowrywise, MarketForce, Kudi, WaystoCap, WorkPay, Healthlane, Trella, 54gene, CredPal, NALA and Breadfast).

Last year, the accelerator announced that it had increased its standard deal size to US$500,000. Until now, YC has invested US$125,000 for seven per cent equity, but under its new standard deal it will now also invest an additional US$375,000 on an uncapped SAFE with “Most Favoured Nation” (MFN) terms.

The accelerator occupies an ambiguous position within the continent’s startup ecosystem, but is lauded by entrepreneurs for the positive impact it has on their businesses.