Connected Africa 2025: 130 Kenyan Startups Selected for Investment

Kenya's ICT Authority (ICTA) has shortlisted 130 Kenyan technology startups as investment-ready, ahead of the Connected Africa Summit set to take place later this month.

The startups were selected from a pool of 250 applicants registered under the Huduma Whitebox Programme, a joint initiative by ICTA and the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA).

According to ICTA CEO Stanley Kamanguya, the goal is to connect these startups with investors and venture capitalists seeking opportunities in the local tech ecosystem. “We will take them through incubation, offer business training, provide mentors, and link them to potential funders so they can scale,” Kamanguya said.

Kenya has been a leader in Africa’s tech funding landscape. In 2023, the country secured $638 million, representing 29% of the total $2.19 billion raised across the continent, according to data from The Big Deal Africa.

ICT and Digital Economy Principal Secretary John Tanui noted that the 16th Connected Africa Summit will highlight investment potential in strategic areas such as hyperscale data centres. He added that Kenya aims to broaden regional data-sharing agreements to support startup expansion into markets like Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Currently, existing agreements are in place with South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The summit is also expected to advance efforts to harmonize data privacy and residency laws across Africa. Kamanguya emphasized that current fragmented regulations are costly for innovators trying to expand across borders. “Our innovators are spending more on legal compliance than on product development,” he noted.

Over 2,000 delegates from at least 10 African countries are expected at the summit, which will feature high-level panels, sector-focused sessions, and policy discussions on AI, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, fintech, healthtech, edutech, and digital public services.