Nine Startups Pitch to Investors Through Safaricom’s Spark Program

Nine promising ventures under the first Safaricom Spark Accelerator Program cohort recently wrapped up their participation by presenting at an investor demo day.

This event marked a major stage in their journey — offering a chance to pitch their progress and ideas to potential backers.

Startups like Health X Africa, Vunapay, BlackRhino VR, Twiva, Chpter, Churpy, Nobuk Africa, Faidi HR, and Chumz stood before venture capitalists, hoping to gain interest and possibly secure funding. These ventures work across multiple fields — from healthcare to digital tools for businesses, content creation, and financial technologies.

This demo day served as the closing phase of the program, a space where the teams shared their growth, aims, and plans for the future.

The Spark Accelerator was created by Safaricom alongside Sumitomo Corporation and M-PESA Africa, with support from iHub (the implementation team), AWS, PwC, and Vodacom.

“Tech holds the key to solving many challenges,” said Safaricom CEO Dr. Peter Ndegwa during the event. “We’re committed to giving emerging start-ups room to grow, connect, and succeed.”

A second round of this program is now on the way. Applications for the next batch of early-stage ventures — especially those working in tech, finance, creative industries, or tools for smaller businesses — will open from April 1st to May 15th, 2025, via safaricom.co.ke/sparkaccelerator.

Those selected will benefit from product development help, expert mentorship, market links, and a chance to meet investors.

The Spark Accelerator is part of a bigger effort to build up Kenya’s tech scene through support that goes beyond cash — shaping future founders and business builders.