Top Ten Best Tech Startups In Africa
Over the years, Africa has undergone a major transformation. It is no longer a continent of hunger, diseases, plague and civil war. It has transformed to be a beacon of knowledge, technology, commerce and science just to mention a few.
This article looks at some of the best tech startups from Africa. To qualify on this list, every mentioned technology startup had to meet the following exclusive criteria: It must have been in operation for a time period not exceeding ten years, has come up with solutions to some of Africa’s problems in terms of communication and socio-economic problems, it must have a strong presence in the social media and it must be serving the Pan-Africa region diligently.
The following technology startups meet the above described criteria, and thus can be classified as the top 10 best tech startups from Africa.
- MXit: It was developed back in 2003 by a Namibian tech entrepreneur Herman Heunis. It is a mobile instant messaging app that provides various services which includes: banking access, entertainment and music, mobile voice clips, social networking and other community based applications. It also provides gateways to others IM applications and social networks like Facebook, Yahoo, G-Talk, ICQ and AIM. As of now it has more than 30 million active users.
- Yola: Founded in 2007 by a South African internet entrepreneur Vinny Lingham. It is a website builder which allows users with little to no knowledge on websites creations, to create their own websites by a simple “drag and drop” easy to use feature which also incorporates other multimedia features. Yola was formerly called Synthasite.
- Dropifi: This is a Ghanaian invented web messaging platform. This platform allows users particularly companies to analyze, better visualize and promptly respond to incoming messages from their stakeholders. Dropifi was founded back in 2011.
- Cobi Interactive: This is a mobile software development company which is one of the best in Africa and the leading in South Africa. Its main role is to provide mobile technology solutions and strategic consultation services to the top African corporations.
- FloCash: This is a money sending and receiving platform that allows anybody who has an email address and a mobile number to send or receive money from any country across Africa in a very simplistic and easy way.
- Obami: It was founded in 2009 in South Africa. It is a learning management system that also doubles up as a social network that enables students and teachers in various schools in South Africa to interact.
- Bandeka: This is an invite-only social media whereby the users are mainly well-educated professionals from African who are able to connect with other equally qualified and successful professionals from the same fields as themselves or from different fields. The professional relationships build over this platform can last over a very long time. It was founded in 2011.
- PesaPal: Founded in Kenya, it is an online payment system that enables users to buy and sell via the internet using payment methods such as Zap, M-Pesa and credit cards.
- Hummba: This is a social network and travel website which enables users to download audio travel guides for free. It also enables travelers to share their personal experience while traveling straight from their mobile phones.
- Syrove: Based in South Africa, it is the largest independent provider of Wi-Fi hotspot network in South Africa. With more than 600 Wi-Fi hotspots distributed throughout South Africa.
The above tech startups are some of the best startups coming from the continent of Africa. More and more software, apps, hardware and mobile inventions and innovations keep emerging from the continent of continent. Perhaps the history of Africa in the 21st century will take a different turn from previous if the above indications are anything to go by.
