List of accelerators / incubators / startups programs in Nigeria

Apart from offering seed funds and office spaces, incubator or accelerator programs are one of the ways of meeting more investors. Some accelerators organize Demo Day presentation, where startup founders pitch in front of an audience of investors. This serves as a platform to know about your business and show interest in your product/service.

Here is a list of accelerators/incubators in Nigeria:

• CcHub
• Wennovation Hub
• Spark
• Leadpath
• 440.ng
• Startpreneurs
• Ventures Platform
• Itanna

CcHub

Founded in 2010, Co-creation Hub (CcHub) is Nigeria’s first open living lab, pre-incubation and incubation space designed to be a multi-functional, multi-purpose space where work to catalyze creative social tech ventures take place. In the last 7 years, CcHUB has supported the growth of a community that is passionate about using technology to solve local problems and transform Nigeria. One of the ways this is achieved is through their incubation program, where startups are provided with the resources and support they need to grow their businesses into sustainable companies that employ people and solve local problems. Over ninety (90) ideas and companies have benefited from their support.

Pre — Incubation: It is a 6-month program to support aspiring entrepreneurs to build and launch initial prototypes of their solutions to clearly defined problems in the society. The goal is to validate the idea and product/market fit. The program comes with a cash investment of $5,000, mentoring from the management team and hands-on support from their Product development team.

Incubation: It is a 12-month program targeted at helping ventures with some level of traction and revenue build businesses that can grow into sustainable companies. Funding is $25,000 during the program. Startups will have direct access to follow-on funding of up to $250,000 from growth capital, free office space for the team, free credits for partner products, business support and access to a network of partners and more.

Acceleration: It is a 12-week program designed to help startups refine their products, business model and processes, positioning them for sustained growth.

Location: 294 Herbert Macaulay Way, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos.

Contact: info@cchubnigeria.com

Website: cchubnigeria.com

CcHub has mentored a number of startups which have grown to be really successful. Some of them include Vacant Boards, Wecyclers, 500Shops, and Traclist.

Wennovation Hub

Wennovation Hub is supposedly the pioneer innovation accelerator in Nigeria since 2011. They offer 5 distinct services to both new and experienced entrepreneurs. Through the organisation, startups gain access to full office support, as well as technical and business mentors. Their focus on social impact sectors are Education, Agriculture, Healthcare and Infrastructure. Wennovation Hub also provides funding, strategy advice, and business consulting services.

Contact: info@wennovationhub.org

Location: 11A Revd Ogunbiyi Street, Ikeja GRA, Lagos

3rd floor, Alpha & Omega Building, Queen Elizabeth Road II, Mokola, Ibadan.

50 Ebitu Ukiwe Street, Jabi, Abuja.

Website: wennovationhub.org

They have supported over 300 startup teams and well over 6000 youths. Startups such as Yarnable, e-Pump, and HutBay.

Spark

Since its inception, Spark has raised millions of dollars and invested in 13 companies. The incubator offers investments ranging $50,000 to $150,000 and has a track record of helping underdog startups come out on top.

Contact: info@spark.ng

Website: spark.ng

Some of the other startups incubated by Spark include Hotels.ng, ToLet.ng

Leadpath

Leadpath Nigeria is a seed capital fund that specializes in providing short, medium and long term funding to small and medium sized startups in high growth technology areas such as software, web and mobile technologies.

The average investment ranges from $25,000 to $100,000 for seed investment and several millions of dollars for follow on funding series. In addition to this, they offer office space and hands-on business support to selected startups, in return for 20–40% equity.

Location: 70 Olonode Street, off Hughes Avenue, Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos.

Contact: info@leadpath.com.ng

Website: leadpath.com.ng

Their key startups include PushCV, Simer, MediTell.

440.ng

440 is a joint venture between 88mph and L5Lab, and they focus on investing $1.5 million into early stage tech startups in Nigeria. The 440.ng program consists of 12 weeks of guided product development and customer acquisition support, as well as hands-on training and mentorship. One of the major focuses of the program is the development of market strategies for maintaining the viability of a company.

Website: www.440.ng

The program has provided support for a number of notable companies in its first round of investments, including Gingerbox and FuelVoucher.

Startpreneurs

Startpreneurs offers a 3-month accelerator program. Their core focus is on Augmented Reality, Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Geo Spatial Intelligence.

Website: startpreneurs.com.ng

Startpreneurs funded startups like Tiro, Saduwa, WeMuzik

Ventures Platform

Ventures Platform is an early-stage growth focused fund. They support post MVP teams, with a blend of tech, sales, and operations, in growing their startups. They offer $20,000 in investment. The first two cohorts took place in Abuja. For the third cohort Ventures Platform is planning to host the program in Lagos and double the ticket size to $40,000.

Contact: pitch@venturesplatform.com

Website: www.venturesplatform.com

Location: Ventures Platform, Lagos.

Key startups include Paystack, Mobileforms, Accounteer, Printivo.

Itanna

Itanna is a Lagos based accelerator led by the Honeywell group. The first cohort has four startups, cloud accounting platform Accounteer, fintech KoloPay, AI-enabled commodities sourcing platform TradeBuza, and renewable energy startup PowerCube. Participating startups receive $25,000 funding.

Apart from the accelerator Itanna is also investing directly in companies with high growth potential.

Website: https://itanna.co/

Location: Lagos