Kenyan Student Startup Signvrse Among Top 3 Global Finalists at Microsoft Imagine Cup 2025
A Kenyan student-led startup, Signvrse, has broken into the global tech scene after securing a top-three finish at the 2025 Microsoft Imagine Cup, one of the world’s most competitive platforms for student innovation.
Signvrse is the brainchild of four students; Anthony Marugu, Branice Kazira, Gheida Abdala Al Mashjery, and Daniel Phillip representing African Leadership University, Machakos University, Technical University of Mombasa, and USIU–Africa. Their AI-powered platform uses Azure AI Speech to provide real-time translation between speech, text, and sign language through hyper-realistic 3D avatars.
In a market underserved by scalable accessibility solutions, Signvrse is building what could become Africa’s most robust sign language dataset, aiming for over 20,000 words and multiple dialects. Their vision: to power a sign language large language model (LLM) that could unlock new product opportunities across health, education, and customer service for the Deaf community.
“This is more than translation—it’s infrastructure for a more inclusive digital economy,” said Branice, the team’s software engineer. Her inspiration came while teaching robotics to Deaf students in rural Kenya and witnessing firsthand the communication barriers they faced.
Each founder brings a unique lens to the startup. Daniel, who lost his hearing at age eight, leads cultural and linguistic integration. Anthony handles AI and data integrity, while Gheida drives outreach and impact, building on her advocacy for girls’ education.
Microsoft Kenya Country Manager Phyllis Migwi praised the team’s ingenuity:
“Our hearty congratulations go to the four talented young tech entrepreneurs of the Signvrse team for achieving the impressive placement of Top Three finalists. This is a testament to the incredible innovation our African youth are producing in response to real challenges faced every day by people across the continent, and the world.”
Each finalist team walked away with $25,000 in funding capital that the Kenyan team says will go toward scaling their technology and expanding partnerships across the continent.