Askya backs ten African AI startups
Photo: Askya
Askya Investment Partners will run a six week programme for ten African AI startups, committing at least $200,000 to one participant with no cash fee or equity required. Founder Babacar Seck says the goal is generational companies he calls tech Dangotes, not a quick fundraise.
- Ten companies selected, minimum commitment of $200,000 to at least one
- Founders pay no cash and give up no equity to take part
- Some African startups already spend upwards of $30 million a year on cloud services
- Seck previously backed nearly 20 startups including Moniepoint and Jumia, returning more than $120 million to investors
Seck built his track record at AXA, Proparco and Digital Africa before founding Askya in 2024, and he frames this programme as an answer to a gap he sees across the continent. Many African startups reach product market fit but stall because their governance, hiring and technology cannot support growth, a problem of exposure rather than ability. Askya wants to pair founders with operators who have already solved those problems, while also linking data centres, telcos, banks and universities that Seck says are currently disconnected from the startups they need. For African businesses, the programme signals a shift from accelerators built around pitching to one built around the operational discipline needed to scale AI companies over a decade or more.
The bigger picture
The programme targets companies up to pre Series A stage, meaning it reaches startups with paying customers rather than only early ideas. Seck points to global cloud providers reporting African startups among their biggest customers, some spending more than $30 million annually, as evidence of real scale already underway. His earlier portfolio generated over $120 million in returns including one New York Stock Exchange listing, a track record he is using to argue that African AI companies can be built to endure rather than exit quickly. Partnerships with Deep Learning Indaba and unnamed telcos and banks suggest the programme aims to become a fixed node in the continent's AI ecosystem rather than a one off cohort.
Source: TechCabal