Innovation Day – What was founded at Nairobi Garage

Innovation Day – What was founded at Nairobi Garage

Innovation Day is observed on February 16th of every year. The day brings together young innovators and business leaders to celebrate the change in their industry and seek solutions for tomorrow’s challenges.

In an era of increasing complexity in the areas of the environment and Agriculture competition driven by the growth of the adoption of mobile devices, scientists and innovators are now tasked with ensuring that they have a platform to work face to face and look beyond to solve the problems. So, this day creates an opportunity for scientists to meet their peer groups and discuss.

On this day, as Nairobi Garage we choose to celebrate some of the great innovations and companies that started off at Nairobi Garage and have grown in leaps and bounds to become great companies in their respective fields.

Mr Green Africa

Mr. Green Africa is one of the great companies that started off at Nairobi Garage. The company incentivizes marginalized waste pickers and the base of the pyramid stakeholders by offering premium prices and added benefits, to provide a continuous supply of valuable recyclables which in turn create pathways out of poverty for them, while simultaneously creating a positive environmental impact.

Mr. Green Africa then processes the recyclable material into valuable raw material and feeds it back into plastic manufacturers’ supply chain to enable them to achieve their circular economy goals, and benefit from raw material cost savings.

In 2018 Consumer goods manufacturer Unilever East Africa signed a partnership with Mr. Green injecting Sh30 million in the company, in a pact that will see the plant’s collection centres rise from the current 25 to 100 across the country in two years.

Bitpesa

Founded in 2013, by Elizabeth Rossiello, BitPesa is a digital foreign exchange and payment platform and also started off at Nairobi Garage.

By the end of May 2014, BitPesa launched its beta site with a service that allowed users to send money to any mobile money wallet in Kenya. At the end of December 2014, customers in Kenya could buy bitcoins on the platform.

Since then BitPesa has launched in Tanzania, Nigeria, Senegal, DRC and Uganda. In February 2015, BitPesa announced that it had raised US$1.1 million in a second round of funding led by San Francisco-based Pantera Capital.

By January 2017, BitPesa had closed a $2.5 million Series A funding round to focus on becoming the largest licensed payment company in the UK, Europe and Africa that offers real-time settlement at wholesale FX rates to frontier markets. By August 2017, BitPesa had raised $10 million Series A funding led by Greycroft Partners.

In February 2018, BitPesa acquired TransferZero, an online money transfer company in Spain. BitPesa launched its services in Ghana in March 2018.

BitPesa made to World Economic Forum’s 2018 Technology Pioneers Cohort

Branch International

Probably in one way or another, you have found yourself in a fix and taken up a loan with Branch, which is among the first loan lending mobile apps, what you might not know though, is that Branch also started off at Nairobi Garage.

Applying machine learning, Branch International has created an algorithmic approach to determine credit worthiness via customers’ smartphones.

Since 2015, the company has grown to reach over two million customers, over 10 million loans issued and over 250 million dollars disbursed. In 2018 and 2019, the company has also made it in the list of the companies that has secured the most funding alongside other companies like Cellulant, Twiga Foods and many more.

Twiga Foods

Twiga Foods is one company that has also grown in the past few years, from its great partnership with IBM on Blockchain technology to securing funds from IFC and TLCom Plc. The company also started off at Nairobi Garage.

Twiga Foods is a mobile-based supply platform for Africa’s retail outlets, kiosks, and market stalls. The company is using a mobile-based, cashless, business-to-business (B2B) supply platform to access distribution into the millions of small and medium-sized vendors in African urban markets.

Founded in 2013, Twiga is based in Nairobi, Kenya. To date, Twiga Foods has created employment to over 400 people, over and works with over 5000 vendors. In future Twiga Foods seeks to become the largest grocer in Africa without opening a single grocery store.

Disrupt Africa

You have probably, popped in this website to keep up with the latest technology trends in Africa, what you may not know is that, Disrupt Africa also had their first operational office in Nairobi at Nairobi Garage.

Disrupt Africa is a one-stop-shop for all news, information and commentary pertaining to the continent’s tech startup and investment ecosystem. The company’s mission is our mission is to provide practical information and advice from across Africa’s varied vibrant markets, and to promote engaged and thought-provoking discussion about the exciting ecosystem we belong to.

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