Uganda Is One Of The Countries Creating Ripples In High-Profile Tech Programs Like The Y Combinator Accelerator

Uganda is one of the countries creating ripples in high-profile tech programs like the Y Combinator accelerator and Google’s $50 million Africa Investment Fund, launched in October last year targeting early and growth-stage startups.

The growth of Uganda-based startups comes at a time when the startup ecosystem in Africa has until now been dominated by Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt – countries that continue to receive the bulk of venture capital and other forms of investment.

In December 2021, SafeBoda, Uganda’s multi-service and digital payment technology platform, became the first startup in the continent to receive investment from the Google fund.

Fintech Numida, also Ugandan, became the first startup in the country to get into YC (W22). Numida joins 14 other startups from Africa that made it to the accelerator’s Winter batch, an opportunity that brings them on the radar of Silicon Valley investors.

Apart from this – the country was one of the top 15 in Africa that received significant equity funding, according to the Partech report.

As it stands, the largest beneficiaries of this funding upsweep are in mobility and fintechs. In mobility tech, the attention has fallen on the motorcycle taxi category, a popular mode of transport in the East African country.

It is estimated that there are over 200,000 motorcycle taxis in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, alone – where they are used by residents to beat the perennial traffic jams. Multi-service apps like Bolt, Uber and SafeBoda are already active in the motorcycle-ride hailing and delivery market.

The e-commerce industry in Uganda is also fast growing with this 2021 study by the country’s ICT department indicating that revenue from the sector will double to $421 million and user penetration will hit 29.1% by 2025. Already some businesses — like SafeBoda — have amended their strategic plans to capitalize on the sector’s uptick.