Google Selects 4 Kenyan Startups For Elite Africa Programme

Four Kenyan startups have beaten staggering odds to secure spots in one of Africa’s most competitive tech programmes, after being picked from nearly 2,600 applicants in a process with an acceptance rate of under one per cent.

The four—Comana, Duck, ReportsAI, and VunaPay—are part of just 15 companies selected across the continent for the 10th cohort of the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa, underscoring Kenya’s continued dominance as a regional innovation hub.

Each of the startups is deploying Artificial Intelligence to tackle real-world challenges, from digitising informal markets to fixing supply chain inefficiencies and expanding financial access.

Comana is building systems to help governments and market associations digitise informal food markets, while Duck provides real-time data intelligence to help consumer brands prevent stock shortages. 

ReportsAI focuses on turning raw data into compliance-ready insights for organisations, and VunaPay is developing fintech infrastructure to enable instant payments for smallholder farmers through cooperatives.

Their selection comes against the backdrop of a resilient African tech ecosystem, which raised about $3.9 billion (approximately KSh 507 billion) in 2025 despite global funding slowdowns.

However, industry players continue to flag the gap between funding and the technical infrastructure required to scale advanced AI-driven solutions.

Hafsah Jumare, CEO of Comana, highlighted the scale of the problem her startup is addressing, stating: “Most food trade across Africa happens in traditional markets, but these markets remain largely invisible and unsupported. With MarketView, we’re building infrastructure to make them visible, using AI to interpret real-time data so businesses and governments can actually see what’s happening and act on it.”

She added: “Through the accelerator, we’re focused on scaling this across more markets and strengthening the underlying data systems and integrations that make this intelligence usable at scale. Even in the first week, the technical mentorship and network provided have already been valuable in sharpening how we approach this.”

Programme organisers say the initiative is designed to bridge exactly these gaps—offering not just capital access, but also high-level engineering support, cloud infrastructure, and global networks.

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome these exceptional founders into Class 10,” noted Folarin Aiyegbusi. “African startups are driving essential economic growth and social development."

"Our role is to serve as a supportive partner, providing these developers and founders with the technical infrastructure, mentorship, and global network they need to scale their solutions and amplify their real-world impact.”

The hybrid accelerator, running from April 13 to June 19, 2026, will see the startups undergo intensive technical training in AI and machine learning, alongside mentorship from global industry experts.

Since its launch in 2018, the programme has backed 106 startups across 17 African countries, helping them collectively raise over $263 million (about KSh 34.2 billion) and create more than 2,800 jobs—figures that reinforce its growing influence in shaping Africa’s digital economy.

A logo of Google for Startups programme. /EMPOWER AFRICA