Here are five Nigerian tech companies in YC Summer batch -

For the Summer batch, Africa has 15 startups for the first time compared with 10 selected in the winter batch which took place from January to March 2021.

Five Nigerian tech companies were selected in the Y Combinator Summer batch which is the most of African countries represented in the batch.

Y Combinator, arguably the most popular accelerator in the world, organises a three-month-long accelerator programme twice every year for early-stage ventures around the globe. It also hosts a demo day, along with several investors from across the world, to invest in these ventures. Besides the financial aid and fine-tuning the startup’s pitch deck, it also supports and mentors them to deal with investors and acquirers.

For the Summer batch, Africa has 15 startups for the first time compared with 10 selected in the winter batch which took place from January to March 2021.

Y Combinator has invested in many Nigerian companies including Flutterwave, Paystack, Kobo360, Kudi Bank, Cowrywise, CredPal, Tizeti, 54Gene, Releaf, among others.

“This is the largest batch we have ever funded and it’s about 50 percent international. As a result, it is not surprising that this is the largest cohort from Africa,” Y Combinator managing director and group partner Michael Seibel told TechCrunch. Other countries in Africa with representation at the Summer batch include Egypt (4), Morocco (2), Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, South Africa each have one.

Here are the five startups from Nigeria;

Lemonade Finance

Founded by Ridwan Olalere in 2020, Lemonade is a cross-border payment platform tailor-made for Africans, not just in Africa but everywhere – home or abroad.

Users in Nigeria on the Lemonade app can transfer to mobile money accounts in Ghana and MPesa accounts in Kenya and the transactions will be completed in minutes.

To fund a Lemonade wallet, the app generates a virtual bank account to which the user transfers money from their bank account or fintech app. When a user wants to transfer money from their wallet to a foreign account, Lemonade does the currency conversion. The user however will need to input the destination bank account and a sort code. The receiver does not need a Lemonade app as the money goes directly into their accounts.

Payhippo

Payhippo is an artificial intelligence-driven lending platform that offers loans to underserved small businesses in Africa. The businesses the company target are those often overlooked by traditional lenders because they do not have credit scores and can’t meet their collateral requirements.