With the hope of strengthening and scaling Africa’s digital ecosystem, FAST, a startup accelerator powered by Flapmax‘s partnership with Microsoft, is set to launch.
Flapmax has announced that the company is joining forces with Microsoft to help strengthen and scale Africa’s digital ecosystem with the launch of the FAST startup accelerator. FAST is designed to help startups that are building cloud technology and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled products and services supporting Africa’s communities, governments, and companies.
“At Flapmax our mission is to enrich the lives of everyone on the planet and make the world more sustainable, using accelerated AI technology,” said Dave Ojika, founder and CEO of Flapmax. “We are proud to partner with Microsoft to make that dream a reality for startup founders committed to strengthening the digital ecosystem in Africa. Together, we can build an AI-enabled future that serves everyone, everywhere – improving industries from healthcare and education to agriculture and government services.”
The FAST programme combines business development, technology integration, funding and community building opportunities designed to enable African startups to scale more rapidly and sustainably. Its partner-centric approach encourages collaboration across borders and helps companies upskill their team, find customers, hire talent, and raise funds.
Programme participants are set to collaborate with engineering team members at Microsoft on co-innovation projects, including product integrations and new offerings. Members of the Flapmax engineering team will help startups apply new technology solutions, including Measure, Coral Imaging, and Fast Portal.
Participants will also enjoy additional benefits, including up to $250,000 in Microsoft Azure cloud credits.
“Together, we can build an AI-enabled future that serves everyone, everywhere”
“Africa is poised to become the next international technology hub,” says Gerald Maithya, SME and Startups Lead: Africa Transformation Office at Microsoft. “We are excited to partner with Flapmax in our mission of empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. The FAST program will provide direct investment in the technology leaders of tomorrow in the region, helping build key infrastructure that uses artificial intelligence as the basis for solutions development.”
The accelerator’s first cohort will prioritise business-to-business (B2B) startups. Flapmax is reportedly interested in healthtech, fintech, edutech, industrial and agritech, sustainability, and deeptech companies.
Flapmax invites entrepreneurs based in Africa to apply by 22 February 2022 to participate in the programme’s first accelerator cohort, which will start in March 2022.
