AI companies, startups, labs, and market entry professionals across francophone Africa's nine anchor countries.
77 companies found
Senegalese AI/data-science/IoT community founded 2018; runs learning, datasets in local languages, jobs newsletter; ~10.7k LinkedIn followers
Community of 2,500+ Senegalese developers (since 2018); maintains open-source projects Galsen UI and Galsen DEV Map
Senegal's leading ICT incubator (created 2011); pre-incubation (BuntuTEKI), incubation, and regional acceleration (Jambar Tech Lab)
Dakar-headquartered mobile money company; largest provider in Senegal, first non-bank/non-telecom e-money license across multiple WAEMU markets, ~11 countries
Founded 2014 by Omar Cissé; pan-African payment aggregation platform in 26 countries; backed by TotalEnergies, Worldline, CFAO
AI-powered e-health platform co-founded by Moustapha Cissé (ex-Google AI); raised $10M from IFC to build integrated health data infrastructure
Dakar healthtech (founded 2015) digitizing patient records ("Dossier Patient Unique"); raised ~$3M from Oyass Capital, deployed in 60+ institutions in 6 countries
Cloud-communication aggregator (SMS/USSD/voice/TTS incl. African languages, AI); first licensed mobile-services aggregator in Senegal; $7M+ Series A
Dakar company specialized in software engineering, big data and AI; sponsored Zindi's Wolof automatic-speech-recognition challenge
First West African school dedicated exclusively to AI and Big Data (founded 2019); state-recognized Master's in AI
Opened Africa's first coworking space in Dakar (2010); "action tank" network with hubs in 7 countries incl. two in Abidjan
Coworking + startup incubation programs, launched 2017; part of global Impact Hub network
Sonatel/Orange 2,000 m² Dakar hub combining free coding school, FabLab, Orange Fab startup accelerator
Uses AI, satellite imagery and IoT for precision agriculture and carbon credits; Digital Africa (Fuzé) portfolio company
State entrepreneurship delegation; launched $50M "Catalyst DER/FJ" pre-seed/seed fund for startups (June 2026); previously backed Paps, Socium, etc.
€6.5M seed vehicle co-investing in Orange Digital Center startups; Senegalese beneficiaries incl. Tolbi (agritech) and Proboutik (fintech)
Abidjan neobank (Y Combinator alum); raised record $17M in 2025 led by Janngo; first Ivorian fintech with BCEAO microfinance license
National AI conference (first edition Feb 2025, Sofitel Abidjan) organized with the Ministry of Digital Transition, CONIIA and Human AI, anchoring CI's national AI strategy
1,200 m² Abidjan hub (opened 2021 with GIZ & AWS): coding school, FabLab, Orange Fab accelerator, Orange Ventures; 3,500+ trained, 92 startups supported
Ivorian incubator (2016) for agricultural value-chain entrepreneurs; 82 projects incubated, 120+ structures supported
Coworking, incubator and accelerator; network of 1,000+ entrepreneurs in the Ivorian ecosystem
Abidjan–Paris data science/engineering firm (EDF Pulse Africa prize winner); acquired Aug 2025 by Ivorian AI company SaH Analytics International
Abidjan AI startup building sovereign, multilingual AI for African languages (products: Griot, Baobab); founders Lamine Azinakou & Fawaz Adisa
Abidjan payment gateway (2016) aggregating mobile money, cards and wallets; 30M+ transactions across 8 countries; backed by 4DX Ventures & Flutterwave
B2B bulk-payments platform with offices in Abidjan and Dakar; BCEAO payment-establishment license EP.CI.004/2025; $5M extension round
Congolese community of AI experts and enthusiasts (AI, data science, big data, STEM) founded by young Congolese researchers to democratize AI, with webinars and events
Pioneer incubator, coworking and events venue in downtown Kinshasa; trains entrepreneurial skills and connects DRC ecosystem actors
Kinshasa innovation/entrepreneurship hub (founded 2020 by Texaf) with 200+ coworking stations, startup programs incl. xELLE for women entrepreneurs
Kinshasa digital-transformation and dev-staffing company (100+ projects for 60+ clients in DRC and Europe since 2018); domain kinshasadigital.com now branded Kadea
Benin government's international city of innovation and knowledge (est. 2017): higher education, research and entrepreneurship campuses in Cotonou/Ouidah
Beninese AI/data-science association (launched Aug 2022) promoting AI in Francophone Africa; built GPT BJ chatbot with gov agency ASIN and runs local-language LLM data collection
Tech hub/accelerator in Cotonou (plus Parakou and Dakar); has supported 1,000+ entrepreneurs incl. fintech FedaPay and healthtech Rema
First FabLab in Benin (Cotonou): digital fabrication, coworking, incubation and the École 229 digital school
Francophone Africa "super app" (transport, delivery, vehicle financing, Gozem Money digital banking) active in Togo, Benin, Gabon, Cameroon; raised $30M Series B in 2025
Bamako center for robotics/AI training founded 2017; released open-source Bambara speech-recognition models and AI-generated Bambara schoolbooks with the education ministry
First Impact Hub in Francophone Africa; startup/SME incubator-accelerator covering 5+ Malian cities
Bamako incubator/coworking/FabLab focused on ICT, health and social innovation; ~298 companies incubated, hubs in Mopti, Sikasso, Ségou
Bamako software company building open-source health information systems and SMS/data tools (e.g. Mali's national health information system work)
Orange/GIZ digital center in Bamako (1,557 m2): coding school "Orange Digital Kalanso", FabLab Solidaire, Orange Fab accelerator and Orange Ventures Africa
Burkina Faso's FabLab/digital innovation third-place (founded 2012, Ouagadougou): prototyping, coworking, free-software training, ~50 members nationwide
Ouagadougou impact accelerator (est. 2014) for social entrepreneurs: incubation, training, financing and studies in Burkina Faso and West Africa
Association that organized the first Forum on Artificial Intelligence in Ouagadougou (FIAO), gathering AI experts, researchers and decision-makers
Open innovation hub and startup incubator (est. 2010) with spaces in Buea and Douala; 60+ startups incubated
Community-driven tech ecosystem around Buea/Mt. Fako (since ~2006); annual Silicon Mountain Conference; origin of startups like Njorku and GiftedMom/Healthlane
Open-science/DIY-bio community lab in Yaoundé (opened 2017); local production of bioreagents and open biotech tools with Open Bioeconomy Lab
Yaoundé startup (2018) whose app uses CNN-based computer vision plus local-language voice UI to diagnose crop pests/diseases and recommend treatment
Douala e-health platform (2020): instant video consultations and home lab sampling; $5.2M seed total, 100k+ patients in Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire
Healthtech (ex-GiftedMom, founder Alain Nteff) combining remote and in-person care; raised $2.4M from investors incl. Sequoia-linked funds
Douala-based crypto/savings investment app with non-custodial wallets; $8M Series A (Anthemis, Dragonfly), 70k+ users across nine Francophone countries
Google Developer Group chapter in Douala (since 2012), organizer of DevFest Douala (2025 edition listed)
Google Developer Group chapter in Kinshasa
Cameroonian fintech startup; raised $3.5M
Orange Cameroon and German development cooperation's Orange Digital Center in Douala — the 6th Orange Digital Center in Africa
UM6P's international AI center of excellence in Rabat; first UNESCO Category II AI center in Africa, led by Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni
Multilingual voice AI / CX analytics ("HolistiCX") for African languages; $1M pre-seed (Feb 2025) led by Launch Africa
AI fetal-ultrasound analysis; FDA 510(k)-cleared, backed by UM6P Ventures, Al Mada Ventures, AAIC
Rabat AI studio/venture builder; parent of ToumAI, DeepEcho, Talaty; co-created DarijaBERT
UM6P precision-agriculture unit using satellite/drone data + AI for irrigation/fertilization
Non-profit AI community of Moroccan researchers home + diaspora; annual conference, hackathons
Morocco's first tech incubator (since 2001); ~350 startups across Casablanca, Rabat, Tangier, Agadir
Free peer-to-peer coding school (42 network); campuses Khouribga, Benguerir, Tetouan, Rabat
Early-stage VC arm of UM6P; deeptech + digital funds, 27+ startups, $100k–500k tickets
CDG Invest incubation-to-Series-A program (up to ~$1M per startup); 135+ startups incl. AI
YC-backed B2B e-commerce + fintech super-app; first VC-backed startup licensed by Bank Al-Maghrib; $12M Series A
Rabat applied-research foundation under UM6P (materials, biotech, microelectronics); 180+ patents
Enterprise AI founded in Tunis 2014; acquired by BioNTech ~$680M (largest African tech exit), keeps Tunis office
Tunisian NLP startup (2019) for Arabic dialects; co-created TunBERT
Sousse maker of autonomous security robots (PGuard) with AI navigation; sells into Europe/N. America
Tunis IoT + AI energy-management platform; $10M+ raised, subsidiary in France
Tunis tech-skills school (data science, GenAI tracks); $8M Series A, accredited university, across Africa/MENA
Seed accelerator + Anava Seed Fund (TND 30M); ~90 early-stage Tunisian startups since 2016
State-mandated operator of the Startup Act label and Startup Tunisia initiative
First ODC in Africa/MENA: coding school, FabLab, Orange Fab, Orange Ventures
Tunis digital innovation hub (opened 2021); coworking, startup hosting, diaspora program "Dot Landing"
Network of Tunisian AI academics/practitioners incl. diaspora at Google/Amazon/Meta; runs TAIS NextGen
Tunisian AI association founded 2005 (Prof. Khaled Ghedira); organizes IEEE AMCAI conference
Maghreb super-app (ride-hailing, delivery, payments) operating in Morocco and Tunisia; AI via Google Cloud partnership