AFRICA’S LAUNCHPAD FOR GROUNDBREAKING HEALTH VENTURES

July - November 2026

A hybrid incubator for teams building health ventures across Africa — from tested prototype to launch, traction, and investor readiness in 5 months

2026 Applications Now Closed.

In 5 months, we take founders from prototype to launch. Refining business models, nailing product–market fit, and unlocking the networks and funding needed to scale across Africa. This isn’t just incubation. It’s a launchpad for the next generation of African health pioneers.

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OFFICIAL PARTNERS:

Ecosystem Partners:

WE BACK THOSE BOLD ENOUGH TO BUILD.

WE SUPPORT AFRICA’S TRAILBLAZING VISIONARIES AT THE EARLIEST STAGE AS THEY LAUNCH GAME-CHANGING VENTURES

The Futurize Incubator propels startup ideas, provides expert coaching and prepares for investment through a rigorous curriculum of workshops & mentorship. At the Futurize Summit, founders pitch to a panel of investors looking to secure funding. The selective program admits 15-20 promising startups to tackle healthcare challenges across Africa, leveraging tech.

Our program is tailor-made to your needs as an African founder. Whether it's dynamic workshops, personalized coaching sessions with our top advisors, or hands-on support through our tech, legal, and finance mentors, we've got you covered. Forge connections with fellow founders across Africa and local hubs in Nairobi and Kigali.

WE BACK AMBITIOUS BUILDERS. APPLY IF THIS IS YOU:

An early-stage pre-seed startup. You may or may not have launched your MVP in the market but you have a tested prototype, leveraging AI.

EARLY-STAGE

The solution is AI/Tech driven & you have already developed a functioning prototype, which has been tested.

TECH-ENABLED

At least two co-founders with complementary skill sets who are dedicated to putting in the time and resources to build, fail, rebuild and scale fast.

2+ FOUNDERS

The solution is focused on healthcare with a scalable business model beyond one country (structured around tech).

SCALABLE

APPLY IF YOU ARE BUIDLING IN…

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early. We assess teams continuously and move the most promising founders through each stage as they demonstrate traction, speed, and strong potential.

  • Basic Info

    Fill in the stage 1 application form by submitting information about your startup’s problem, solution, and team (includes your pitch deck). We’ll evaluate your team's execution speed, initial traction, and health innovation fit.


  • Market Evaluation, Customer Discovery & Testing

    Selected teams from stage 1 get one week to stress-test their riskiest core business assumptions.

    You will conduct user interviews and launch a zero/low-code rapid test.

  • Interview

    Selected teams from stage 2 get a 30-minute deep dive with our committee to defend your market validation data.

    Final Selection & Onboarding

    The top 15 teams from stage 3 are officially selected for our July 6th kick-off.


Register your interest for 2027 cohort

Register your interest for 2027 cohort

FROM VISION TO IMPACT: HEAR FROM ALUMNI

Designed for founders building across Africa, not Silicon Valley.

Each block of the incubator provides world-class workshops and mentoring on the most crucial aspects in the early development of a health startup

Week 1

Program Introduction

Team Building & Strategic Goal Setting

Weeks 2-3

Idea Refinement Market Research & Data Analysis

Weeks 4-6

Product/Market Fit
and Business Model Canvas Development

Week 7-8

Marketing and Sales and pricing & customer strategy

Week 9

Healthcare Regulations & IP, and Compliance in Africa

Weeks 10-12

Fundraising and Finance - preparaing to raise a pre-seed round

Weeks 13-15

Go-to-Market Strategy & Legal and how to scale across countries

Weeks 16-18

Invest Readiness to pitch at Futurize Summit in Nairobi, Kenya

Walk away with everything needed to close funding

✅ Business Model and Value Proposition

Having a clear, scalable business model and value proposition by the end of the program.

4.‍ ‍✅ Your First Customers/Pilot Partners

You have successfully secured 1-2 customers, and/or grown user adoption throughout the incubator.

✅ Target Customer Segment & Strategy

Conducted customer discovery interviews and a validated target customer segment. ‍ ‍

✅ Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

MVP or prototype developed and tested with pilot partners with support from our Technology Partner

✅ Storytelling & Investor Pitch Decks

A clear and compelling pitch deck ready to be used for your first round of investments (pre-seed) or grant applications.

✅ Investor Introductions

Through our strategic partnerships with VCs and Angel Investors, you’ll pitch for investment in person.

THE 2024/25 COHORT

Our founders from 15 countries are working on the next big thing in health

  • RWANDA

    Aggregating diagnostic tests from health facilities to tackle the unavailability of diagnostic tests.

  • NIGERIA

    A comprehensive platform for secure health data documentation

  • NIGERIA

    AI-driven diagnostics to prevent vision impairment through early detection and intervention of ocular diseases

  • TANZANIA

    AI and cloud technology to provide accurate, real-time ECG interpretations, enabling early detection of cardiovascular diseases

  • RWANDA

    Transforming Breast Cancer Care in Africa with AI and Community Support

  • EGYPT

    AI-based Automated Radiotherapy Planning Software

  • EGYPT

    A smart wall-mounted pill dispenser which connects to an app accessible by caregivers to monitor usage

  • KENYA

    Non-invasive and highly accurate diagnostic tool that uses serological marker and AI for early detection of cervical cancer.

  • EGYPT

    Medications and counseling via a vending machine and mobile app for those without access to hospitals or pharmacies

  • KENYA

    Building Sote.AI is an artificial intelligence model for the early diagnosis of liver cancer.

  • SOUTH AFRICA

    Customizable probiotic synced to the different phases of the menstrual cycle. for pregnant and postpartum mothers across Africa.

  • KENYA

    A Low-Cost Device and Platform using AI for Early Detection and Prevention of Pregnancy Complications

  • RWANDA

    Online platform to optimize the pharmaceutical supply chain in Africa, improving the availability of pharmaceutical products through streamlined logistics.

  • RWANDA

    AI-powered medical diagnosis, remote follow-up, results delivery, and interoperable medical records to improve healthcare access and quality in Rwanda

BECOME A MENTOR FOR THE 2026 COHORT

We invite you to contribute your expertise as a mentor to young founders on transforming healthcare in Africa. Your guidance will be crucial in refining startup ideas, ensuring they are impactful and ready for launch.

Duration: Mentor window runs Weeks 1–15 (13 Jul – 25 Oct 2026). Your specific weeks depend on your specialty block.

Commitment: 3 hours total within your block — six 30-minute back-to-back sessions across two days (3 teams per day, 1.5 hours per day).

Specialty Blocks

Mentors are slotted into one of 7 specialty blocks based on expertise:

  • Foundation (Wk 1–2)  ·  13 – 26 Jul

  • Product & Traction (Wk 3–4)  ·  27 Jul – 9 Aug

  • Go to Market (Wk 5–6)  ·  10 – 23 Aug

  • Legal & Compliance (Wk 7)  ·  24 – 30 Aug

  • Sales & Partnerships (Wk 9–10)  ·  7 – 20 Sep

  • Finance & Investor Readiness (Wk 11–12)  ·  21 Sep – 4 Oct

  • Pitching (Wk 13–15)  ·  5 – 25 Oct

Requirements for Mentors:

  • Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in fields such as population health, medicine, healthcare supply chain, medical device industry, climate change, technology, business, innovation, health policy, or financing

  • Understanding of Africa’s health systems or climate change challenges

  • Motivation to support entrepreneurs pre-launch, aiming to validate and scale their innovations to address major health challenges

  • Fluent in English with a reliable internet connection

APPLY TO BE A MENTOR

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  • You should be pre-seed startup focusing on a country across Africa. You should not have received any equity-based investments thus far - grants and non-financial aid is accepted.

    You should have a clear understanding of the problem you are solving, have done extensive market and customer research for at least 2-3 months, and have a prototype in place. This will be mandatory to show in the application.

  • 2 founders are mandatory, no more than 5 on the founding team.

  • Founders must be current students or alumni of Futurize partner universities across Sub-Saharan Africa; teams of the Fuel Africa program please indicate this during the application.

    At least one technical founder on the team (if the solution requires a high degree of software development/technical knowledge)

    We are looking for a balanced skillsets of the founding members of healthcare expertise, software engineers and creative minds ready to tackle big challenges!

  • You are tackling early-detection of cancer (any type), early-detection of other non-communicable diseases, or improving access to healthcare using AI and Machine Learning. In 2024 there is also a new track for ideas tackling Climate Change and mitigating its impacts.

  • August 12 - November 15. The physical Demo Day is on Novemer 29th in Nairobi, Kenya.

    Travel and eligibility to attend the Demo Day will be assessed individually.

  • November 29th in Nairobi Kenya as part of the Futurize Summit. If physical attendance is not possible, there is a virtual pitching session.

  • Yes, our technical partner of the program will assist you in building your models.

  • Yes. At least two members per team must attend every session and mentoring session throughout.