Association Burkinabè de Fundraising

The FAST Accelerator is now accepting applications for Scaling Africa's Digital Ecosystem programme to identify, support and fund the next generation of African innovators for sustainability at scale - from SMEs and large companies to governments and communities.

FAST is an initiative of Flapmax in partnership with Microsoft. The programme combines business development, technology integration, funding and community development opportunities to enable African startups to grow faster and sustainably.

Sectors

Although they may be sector independent, they have a particular interest in startups that innovate in key areas where AI can be greatly exploited for the good of society at large.

• Health : Deploying technology for equitable health care. Telemedicine, genomic sequencing, robotic surgery, etc.
• FinTech : Include every individual, large or small, in the financial space. Financial planning, payments, insurance, etc.
• Agriculture : bring food to the table without stress, including underserved communities. Green agriculture, smart farming, etc.
• Education : boost the knowledge of every learner and empower the global workforce. Adaptive learning, training, etc.
• Sustainability : Building a sustainable environment that drives socio-economic growth. Waste, water, biodiversity, etc.

Benefits of the African digital ecosystem

Startups benefit from a wide range of services and benefits to achieve high growth and scale.

• Access and co-innovation with the Microsoft engineering and product team: Startups in the programme will have access to Microsoft's engineering team to co-innovate, which can range from product integration to new offerings
• Access and co-innovation with the flampax engineering and product team: Startups in the programme will have access to the Flapmax engineering team to co-innovate, this may include product integrations with Measure, Coral Imaging and Fast Portal
• Azure cloud credit, github and development tools : up to USD 250,000 in cloud credits, including access to Founders Hub and virtual reality (VR) hardware
• Value proposition and marketplace for SMEs : They have a strong preference for startups with an SME solution. The vision is to impact millions of SMEs across the continent, as they will position targeted solutions to solve the SME challenge on the continent.
• Proactive co-selling for business and government: joint co-selling commitment with Microsoft's enterprise and public sector sales team and the Flapmax product team
• Access to talent via the Flamax AI Academy: the AI Academy programme includes the xHAIL apprenticeship programme, resident research engineers and international placements
• Microsoft Partner Ecosystem : Partner Network provides access to exclusive resources, programmes, tools and connections across the continent to support business growth
• Access to the microsoft africa VC circle : The VC network helps drive growth. Startups will have access to the Microsoft VC circle to raise funds and grow their business
• Cross-market expansion : Startups seeking to expand to the rest of Africa will benefit from cross-market expansion activities that introduce their products/services in new markets on the continent

Eligibility criteria African digital ecosystem

• Startups must be based in Africa
• Be prepared to move or expand on the continent
• Have established a product-market fit and generate revenue
• B2B startups are prioritised
• Healthtech, Fintech, Edutech and Industrials/Agritech startups are particularly interesting. Sustainability and Deeptech are welcome
• Commitment: Participants must commit for the duration of the programme, from 7 March 2022 to 27 May 2022.

For more information, please visit FAST Accelerator .