Amazon Web Services (AWS) is encouraging all pre-seed and seed stage fintech start-ups operating in Africa to apply to join its FinTech Africa Accelerator programme.
The AWS FinTech Africa Accelerator is an equity-free 10-week programme, designed to provide entrepreneurs with ‘everything from technology, product development, go-to-market strategy, and preparing founders for the nuances and complications of fundraising’.
The virtual programme, hosted by the AWS Startup Loft Accelerator, will give participating start-ups access to industry expert-led workshops and one-on-one mentorship sessions.
The focus is on founders, CEOs and CTOs of fintechs that are building solutions to solve challenges in payments, open and embedded finance, digital banking, blockchain, decentralised finance, fintech-as-a-service, and other fintech categories.
AWS says the virtual accelerator will give startup CEOs and CTOs the necessary tools for unlocking growth and scale, while also connecting them with mentors and a global network of AWS Startup Loft Accelerator alumni.
Participants will also be eligible to join the AWS Activate programme, which will provide each startup with up to $25 000 in AWS Activate Credits.
The cloud services provider says that last year in Africa, fintech start-ups, especially those that leverage cloud as part of their tech stacks, raised over US$2-billion in venture funding.
Applications for the AWS FinTech Africa Accelerator are open until April 27, 2023.
AWS interest in Africa
AWS first established a development centre in South Africa in 2004.
The company announced its Africa region in 2018 and launched its operations, headquartered in Cape Town, two years later in 2020, with an objective to become the predominant cloud services provider on the continent.
The Africa region is currently served by three AWS datacentres, two of which are in South Africa and the third in Nairobi, Kenya.
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