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07-10-2026
By Michelle Waweru | Channel: startups
| Tags: Africa
Startups
Venture Capital & Private Equity
FINCA Ventures awards $400,000 to six African startups
FINCA Ventures has selected six startups as winners of the 2026 FINCA Ventures Prize Competition, awarding them a combined $400,000 in catalytic funding to support their role in key resilience sectors.
The winners include VunaPay, co-founded by Gatwiri Njogu-Mokaya and Koya Matsuno, and Kumbatia Seafood, co-founded by Bernard Iha Thoya, Will Gertler, and Nelson Ondego Mumata, who snagged first place in their respective categories, and each received a $100,000 grant. The second- and third-place winners received $60,000 and $40,000, respectively.
FINCA Ventures awards funding to African startups
The startups pitched their ventures to a panel of distinguished judges on October 6 in San Francisco, and the winners were announced later that evening at an award celebration. The judging panel comprised leaders from across impact investing, venture capital, fintech, and sustainable development.
FINCA Global CEO Andrée Simon: “Africa’s future will be shaped by entrepreneurs who see opportunity where others see market failure. One of the most important ways we can support these founders is by backing them early and helping them build the credibility and traction to attract additional investment and achieve meaningful scale.”
Women-led startups feature among winners
Of the six finalist startups, three were led or co-led by women. The companies awarded illustrate the vast opportunity emerging across Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem despite funding challenges. Too often, promising founders struggle to tap into traditional investment networks, despite strong potential, proven track records, and innovative business models.
Winnie Mwangi, FINCA Ventures Managing Director: “Entrepreneurship remains one of the most powerful drivers of economic progress across the continent, but early-stage businesses can’t do it alone. Catalytic capital is what allows founders to reach the scale where both financial returns and social impact compound. Investors and partners willing to act early play an essential role in supporting startups through critical growth stages and drawing attention to opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked.”
The FINCA Ventures Prize Competition aims to spotlight the depth and potential of entrepreneurial talent developing practical, scalable responses to some of Africa’s most pressing challenges. Now in its third year, it drew more than 700 applications in two categories: fintech for financial inclusion and sustainable agriculture & food systems.
VunaPay to expand farmer financing model
The award will help first-place winner VunaPay scale its model designed to expand access to timely payments and financing for smallholder farmers through agricultural cooperatives.
Koya Matsuno: “There are about 54,000 cooperatives across Africa, and each of them has between 500 and 10,000 farmers. This equates to millions of smallholder households that we can serve.”
Kumbatia Seafood’s co-founder Will Gertler shared that the team will use the funding to expand the company’s operations to increase impact for small-scale fishers on the Swahili Coast:
Will Gertler, Kumbatia Seafood Co-Founder: “The FINCA Ventures Prize will go towards working capital and expansion financing to build out our first sales department and scale our intervention to a dozen more communities by 2030.”
Four startups receive second and third-place awards
Second-place winners are nesti, co-founded by Christabel Ojuok and David Kimani, in fintech for financial inclusion, and eAgro, co-founded by Tafadzwa Chikwereti and Golden Nhunhama, in sustainable agriculture & food systems.
Third-place winners are ChatCash, co-founded by John Josiah Sakala, Leon Kanamugire, Edgar Erick, and Jude Egbokwu, in fintech for financial inclusion, and Pollen Patrollers, co-founded by Margaret Wanjiku, Julieta Wanjohi, and Charity Maina, in sustainable agriculture & food systems.
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