By Francis

Copyright thebftonline

By Eric Osiakwan

“This is not my first time at Angel Fair Africa, I was part of the 2016 batch that pitched in Kenya with my first startup, MicroClinics which I raised money for, built and sold. [1] I then used the proceeds from that venture to start CheckUPS COVA[2] so this is my second coming to the event but this time in New York City” – these were the opening remarks of Dr. Moka Lantum of CheckUPS COVA when he mounted the stage to pitch at the 12th Angel Fair Africa (AFA@12) at the Google Office in New York on September 19, 2025.

Melissa McCoy, CEO of Connected Med was also part of the 4th Angel Fair Africa cohort in 2016 (AFA@4), hosted in Nairobi, Kenya. She raised, built her venture and sold the asset to Merck, the multinational pharmaceutical company, after which she joined Google.[3]

Angel Fair Africa has ignited more than $100M of deals since its inception, with compelling exit track records, including CheckUPS COVA and Connected Med.

We expect the New York City edition to yield more groundbreaking deals. In her opening keynote fireside chat, Archangel Esther Dyson remarked “I took the returns from the sale of my shares in Facebook and Square which were my most successful exits to setup a non-profit called Wellville which was a ten year project from 2014 to 2024 that supported five US communities as they worked to improve long-term, equitable, community wellbeing.” She went on to submit that in her experience, angel investing is more about learning than earning – they are invesely correlated said Ms. Dyson who is currently writing a book on “Term Limits” — coming out in 2027.

The “Investors in Africa” panel, moderated by Tinyiko Valoyi, Partner at Chanzo Capital, South Africa, featured Dr. Ola Brown, Managing Partner of HealthCap Africa, Nigeria; Attorney Achumboro Ataande, Chief Executive of Ataande & Adviors, Ghana and US; Candice Morgan, Co-Founder of BAG Collective, US; and Steven Grin, Managing Partner at Lateral Frontiers, South Africa and US.

Their conversation centred on how the continent is coming out of the funding winter which saw some well-funded startups, including Copia (Kenya, e-commerce 2024), Dash (Ghana, fintech 2025), Bento Africa (Nigeria, HR and payroll, 2025), etc fail. One of the lessons learnt from that period is the funding push that backed companies with mediocre unit economics and founders who were riding high on their own hype.

The “Builders in Africa” panel boosted of Iyinoluwa Aboyeji of Future Africa, Nigeria; Barbara Iyayi of Liquid Credit, US; Alexandre N’djore of Digitech, Cote d’Ivoire; and Benjamin Fernandes of NALA, Tanzania. The consensus from the panelists comprised the reality that building in Africa is harder and it takes longer than founders and their backers often imagine at the onset. “In retrospect, if I knew it would be that hard and long, I would not have embarked on the journey” said Mr. N’djore whiles Mr. Aboyeji boldly declared that “to succeed in Africa one has to have a high threshold for pain tolerance”.

The concluding keynote fireside chat featured the legendary photographer of 50 years, Lou Jones from the Pan Africa Project which aims to photograph contemporary images of all fifty-five African countries.

With twelve countries under their belt, the project has produced two volumes of their book showcasing these incredible photos on healthcare, industry, media, business, culture, etc from the continent. The project aims to get these images into the school system in America to help change the stereotypical perception of Africa that has being portrayed in the developed world for centuries.

These high-powered panels and keynotes were interspersed with pitches from eleven amazing founders. After Dr. Moka Lantum, Chief Executive of CheckUPS COVA, Kenya opened the floor with Africa’s first health benefits trading platform, he was followed by Radhika Bhachu, the CEO of Ndovu, also from Kenya, who has built a Robinhood-like platform for Africa which allows the average African to access high performing stocks in the global markets. Next: Agnes Mukuiya, Chief of Staff of ChipMango, a forward-looking startup focused on training the next generation of microchip designers.

The chip mango executive passed the pitch baton to Cordy Joseph, Chief Marketing Officer of Timo Rides, a software developer that is building a decentralized ride hailing platform for South Africa. Cordy Joseph was followed by Mutembei Kariuki, CEO of Fastagger, a new venture that shrinks AI models to run on smart phones and field systems – even with no connectivity. Max Smith, founder and CEO of Lengo AI, an AI co-pilot for emerging markets, brought the first round of pitches to an end.

After lunch, Aziz Omar, Chief Executive of SaveApp, developer of a save and spend platform introduced the company’s niche product, whilst Matthew Nam, founder & CEO of ViaNexta highlighted the firm’s platform that connects coffee farmers directly with buyers, whilst giving providing timely access to roasters, warehouses and ethical sourcing.

Next, Michael Ogundare, CEO of Crop2Cash presented the company’s model of making formal financing, including access to credit and building a digital financial profile, accessible to smallholder farmers. Baba Afolabi of Babatronics who introduced the venture’s product TitàTax, which automates sales, tax filing and compliance, putting compliance on autopilot.

The highlights of the day included a photo session (below), featuring the founders and AFA@12 partners, before heading to the Gentlemen’s Factory for the closing mixer.

AFA@12 was made possible by Chanzo Capital, Five Two Five, Google, BAG Collective, Ataande & Advisors, Gentlemen’s Factory, COSSA Africa, Kenya Airways and media partners; Africa.com, ITEdge News, Business & Financial Times, Tech Moran and My JoyOnline ‎

[1] https://globalhealth.duke.edu/events/social-entrepreneurship-practice-global-health

[2] https://www.ashoka-visionaryprogram.org/ashoka_people/dr-moka-lantum/

[3] https://ventureburn.com/2019/04/connectmed-founder-joins-google