Safaricom, in partnership with Sumitomo Corporation and M-PESA Africa, has successfully hosted its first-ever Spark Accelerator Demo Day, marking a key milestone in its mission to empower early-stage startups across Kenya.
Held at the Michael Joseph Centre, the Demo Day spotlighted nine startups from the inaugural Spark Accelerator cohort, giving them a platform to showcase their progress and pitch their solutions to top venture capital investors.
The Spark Accelerator Program, launched in 2024 after the restructuring of Safaricom’s Spark Venture Fund, is designed to boost the growth of early-stage startups by providing capacity building, technical support, market access, and funding opportunities.
Startups That Shined
The nine featured startups included:
- Health X Africa
- Vunapay
- BlackRhino VR
- Twiva
- Chpter
- Churpy
- Nobuk Africa
- Faidi HR
- Chumz
Each startup showcased impressive milestones during the program.
Chumz integrated Daraja APIs for payments and gained 72,000 new users.
Twiva embedded a mini-app into the M-PESA consumer app and expanded its influencer network by over 11,000 through Safaricom Hook.
BlackRhino VR ran a multi-university marketing campaign with Safaricom Hook and won an award for best emerging tech at the 2024 MSK Awards.
Faidi HR and Churpy are now onboarding on Safaricom’s Enterprise Business Hub, targeting Kenya’s 2 million+ SMEs.
Health X Africa will launch Afya Daily in April 2025 to deliver daily health insights on NCDs and mental wellness.
Additionally, each startup received $25,000 in AWS credits to build robust tech infrastructure.
Applications for Second Cohort Open
Following the success of the first cohort, Safaricom has officially opened applications for the second cohort, targeting early-stage startups in:
- Technology
- Fintech
- Creative economy
- SME productivity tools
The application window runs from April 1 to May 15, 2025.
Startups selected for the next phase will benefit from:
- Tailored capacity-building programs
- Product development and tech support
- Access to Safaricom’s large market and user base
- Opportunities to connect with investors for potential funding
A Commitment to Innovation
Speaking at the event, Michael Mutiga, Chief Business Development and Strategy Officer at Safaricom, emphasized Kenya’s role as a regional innovation hub, noting that Kenya attracted $638 million in VC funding in 2024, the highest in Africa.
Safaricom CEO Dr. Peter Ndegwa added, “Through the Spark Accelerator, we are investing in the next generation of innovators while contributing to societal transformation and economic progress.”
With the second cohort now open for applications, Safaricom continues to lead the way in supporting startups, fostering innovation, and strengthening Kenya’s tech ecosystem.
