When it comes to startup support and acceleration, YCombinator is one of the biggest in the game. Twice a year, the giant company invests $500,000 each in a large number of startups, also working with the companies for three months, to help get them to the best possible place to pitch to investors.

This year, they’ve chosen 7 African companies to join the YCombinator Summer 2022 batch, out of 156 companies, globally — two of which are food-based businesses in Nigeria.

The African startups in YC S22 Batch:

1. Pivo Technologies (Nigeria)

2. Chowdeck (Nigeria)

3. CoKitchen (Nigeria)

4. Anchor (Nigeria)

5. Patika (Kenya)

6. Garage Mobility (Ghana)

7. Moneco

8. Bridgecard

Who Got In?

Chowdeck, an on-demand food delivery service we recently told you about, that’s on a mission to empower restaurants in Africa to get meals to customers anywhere, anytime. It’s co-owned and run by tech bros, Femi Aluko, Olumide Ojo and Lanre Yusuf.

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CoKitchen (Food Court), a leading virtual restaurant company, which has reportedly served over 350,000 meals in the last 12 months. Its founders are Paul Adokiye Iruene and Henry Nneji, who both have a career history of creating technology-based solutions for everyday problems.

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Why is this a big deal?

It’s the first time food retail businesses will make the cut 🎉 In the last batch, Winter 2022, 24 African startups made the list, 18 of which were Nigerian, but none of them were food-related.

Secondly, not only do selected companies receive funding, they have access to mentorship from business top guns — something money really can’t buy. And lastly, the S22 batch will be in-person for the first time since YC W20 (naturally, due to COVID-19 restrictions).

Fun fact: In over 15 years of backing startups, only 20% of the companies backed by YCombinator have failed, so we’re rooting *hard* for this year’s top picks!