AfricaIgnite to Spotlight Innovative Startups at 2024 Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town

When the 2024 Africa Tech Festival kicks off in Cape Town on 12 November, anchor event AfricaIgnite will see the continent’s most innovative startups exposed to unprecedented opportunities to pitch their businesses, connect with funders, and meet potential customers.

Building on the resounding success of its launch last year, AfricaIgnite is the flagship event for founders, investors, and key players in the tech ecosystem, supporting market access and investment opportunities for the continent’s startups.

In addition to the various events on offer at Africa Tech Festival’s other anchor events – AfricaCom, AfricaTech, and AI Summit Cape Town – AfricaIgnite provides startups with a range of supportive sessions and experiences.

Africa Tech Festival is all about providing a platform for stakeholders from across all spheres of Africa’s technology arena to connect, collaborate, and drive innovation. It is wonderful to see how AfricaIgnite has grown since first being included in the Africa Tech Festival line-up. This year sees the highest attendance by founders and venture capitalists to date, reflecting the effectiveness of the platform in growing Africa’s startup ecosystem. Delegates can look forward to a stellar range of speakers, and sponsorship by established brands like Collective 54 and SAP for Scaleups.

James Williams, Event Director, Africa Tech Festival

Confirmed AfricaIgnite speakers include:

This year sees the highest attendance by founders and venture capitalists to date, reflecting the effectiveness of the platform in growing Africa’s startup ecosystem

• Bongani Sithole, CEO, 54 Collective
• Art Chupeau, Managing Partner, Baobab Network
• Zach George, Managing Partner, Launch Africa
• Laurie Fuller, Partner, Raiven Capital and Google for Startup Mentor

“For the first time at Africa Tech Festival, we will see founders that can talk succinctly and comprehensively about building businesses during a high interest rate environment as well as a low interest rate environment, and how they’ve been able to do so despite fluctuating macroeconomic conditions.

Zach George, Launch Africa

Several exclusive prospects are open to both startup founders and venture capitalists at the event. A pre-event Founder and Investor Day will enable founders to learn from and network with experienced entrepreneurs, while the Matchmaking Programme offers an chance to connect with potential venture capitalists. Opportunities to exhibit in the event’s startup marketplace will allow founders to increase brand visibility and connect with potential customers.

Presented in partnership with the Startup World Cup and powered by Pegasus Tech Ventures, the AfricaIgnite Pitch Competition presents an opportunity for innovators to showcase their ideas to potential investors and partners in a live pitch. The winner will advance to next year’s Startup World Cup Grand Finale in the United States, where they will compete for a $1,000,000 investment prize alongside the best startups from around the globe.

Taking place from 12 to 14 November at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, the 27th Africa Tech Festival is Africa’s biggest showcase of enterprise tech innovation, providing a 360 view of how tech and strategy evolution is reshaping Africa’s diverse industry sectors – from telecoms, to financial services, healthcare, government, SMEs and start-ups, retail, manufacturing, and beyond.