On Thursday, Google graduated 15 startups from eight African countries through its Google for Startups Accelerator Africa programme in Nairobi. Most of these startups are building artificial intelligence (AI) into core products in payments, transport, agriculture, healthcare and enterprise software. Google said 60% of the cohort is already profitable, generating an average of $60,000 in monthly revenue.
This year’s cohort arrives amid growing debate over whether Africa can turn AI adoption into sustainable, venture-scale businesses.
The selected startups offer a snapshot of that transition. Founders are moving beyond experimentation and using the technology to solve operational challenges and build products for local markets. Yet the infrastructure and capital needed to scale those businesses remain in short supply.
In an interview with TechCabal, Alex Okosi, Google’s managing director for Africa, said African startups have already embraced AI, but argued that investment has not kept pace. While founders are building AI-powered products and services, the continent still faces gaps in cloud infrastructure, data centre capacity and funding. Those constraints, he said, risk limiting Africa’s ability to capture the economic value created by the technology.
