Kenya leads Bloomberg's 2026 Africa startups to watch list

Bloomberg News has named 25 startups to its 2026 "Africa Startups to Watch" list, led by a strong showing from Kenya, which supplied four companies: BuuPass, Leta, Oye and WorkPay. The compilation spans healthcare, fintech, transport and logistics, climate technology and artificial intelligence, and highlights firms that Bloomberg editors and analysts judged on the scale of the problems they address, the originality of their approaches and their traction with customers and investors.

"Across a diverse range of sectors, the startups present an array of solutions to pressing challenges and problems," Jennifer Zabasajja, Bloomberg Television’s chief Africa correspondent and anchor, said in a statement. She added that almost half of the funding raised by companies on this year's list came from African investors.

Why these startups were selected

Bloomberg’s list captures companies tackling persistent service gaps—from healthcare financing and clean water to digital payments and emergency response. The editors emphasised both product-market fit and investor backing as key metrics. The 25 companies include firms backed by global strategic investors and local capital, and span established ventures and recent seed-stage entrants.

Notable companies and details

• BuuPass (Kenya) – Founded in 2016 by Sonia Kabra and Wyclife Omondi, BuuPass digitises ticket bookings for buses, trains and flights and is backed by Founders Factory Africa and Google’s Black Founders Fund.
• Leta (Kenya) – A 2021-founded logistics software startup that completed a $5 million seed round in July 2025 and is backed by Google’s Africa Investment Fund; it helps businesses plan, assign and track deliveries in real time.
• Oye (Kenya) – Launched in 2022 and backed by Britam, Oye links accident insurance and access to credit to everyday fuel purchases for motorcycle taxi riders and is targeting one million riders as it scales.
• WorkPay (Kenya) – An HR technology startup highlighted for its traction in the regional market.
• Remedial Health (Nigeria) – YC-backed, founded in 2021, supported by Tencent and reported to have financed tens of millions of dollars worth of medicines through its platform.
• 10mg Health (Nigeria) – A 2022-founded firm that combines healthcare and fintech to help hospitals and pharmacies access financing and assess risk using medical and behavioural data.
• PawaPay (Pan-African) – Founded in 2020, the payments infrastructure firm processes millions of transactions daily across about 20 countries and has reported profitability since 2023.
• HUB2 (Ivory Coast) – Building payment rails that connect mobile money wallets, bank accounts, cards and digital wallets across the CFA franc zone.
• Black Swan (Tanzania) – Founded in 2022, uses AI and alternative data to assess borrowers and is backed by Germany’s develoPPP Ventures.
• Deaftronics (Botswana) – Founded in 2019 and supported by Johnson & Johnson, the company develops solar-powered hearing aids for regions with unreliable electricity.

Outlook

Kenya’s four entrants give the country the largest representation on Bloomberg’s list. South Africa, Nigeria and Tanzania each contributed three startups, with the remainder of nominees hailing from Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius and Somalia. Bloomberg’s selection underscores a mix of local capital participation, strategic partnerships and product-driven impact metrics; several firms cited global backers such as Tencent, TransUnion and Google alongside regional investors like Alitheia Capital and local ministries. Analysts and founders will be watching how these startups convert investment and early traction into sustainable scale across African markets in 2026.