Where are Africa’s 24 Y Combinator startups three years later?

In March 2022, Y Combinator’s Winter 22 Demo Day featured 24 African startups in a single batch, 18 of them Nigerian.

For the first time, an African country ranked in YC’s global top three by representation, behind only the US and India, beating the previous Africa high of 15 in S21. 

Three years on, the W22 batch is the clearest lens yet for what YC backing actually means for African founders. Nine raised meaningful follow-on rounds or made acquisitions. Eight appears to be still operating. Seven have no recent public signal.

The list of W22 startups

Read also: Ten years after Paystack: what Y Combinator’s African portfolio looks like

The top 4 performers of the cohort

Chowdeck: The Lagos food delivery startup raised a $2.5M seed in 2024, then a $9M Series A in August 2025 led by Novastar Ventures with YC participating again. It now serves 1.5 million customers, operates in 11 cities across Nigeria and Ghana, runs a 20,000+ rider network, and reached its first profitable month before the Series A. It acquired Mira, a restaurant POS startup, in June 2025.

Remedial Health: It raised a $4.4M seed round in 2022, then a $12M Series A in July 2023, co-led by QED Investors and Ventures Platform, with Y Combinator and Tencent participating. It now operates across 34 of Nigeria’s 36 states, supplying authentic pharmaceutical products to over 5,000 pharmacies and hospitals. The $12M round included $4M in debt to scale inventory financing. The Financial Times named Remedial Health as part of the fastest-growing health technology companies in Africa.

Numida: It raised $12.3 M in a pre-Series A in September 2022, led by Serena Ventures. The Ugandan digital lender had provided over $20M in working capital to 27,000 micro and small businesses. It expanded into Rwanda and made the Financial Times’ 2026 list of the fastest-growing companies. 

beU Delivery (Ethiopia): It is notable for operating in one of the continent’s most structurally challenging markets — marked by conflict, forex controls, and infrastructure constraints. It reported its first profitable month in May 2025, after three million deliveries and $4M in total raised.

The active startups with notable developments:

Moni: It secured over $4M in venture capital, acquired AjoMoney and the Zazzau Microfinance Bank, and rebranded as Rank, a pivot from its original agency banking model to a licensed microfinance institution. This allows it to legally hold customer deposits and issue direct loans, thereby unlocking a crucial revenue engine. 

IdentityPass: The startup raised a $2.8M seed round and acquired Tunnel, a data analytics infrastructure startup expanding from identity verification into the broader data infrastructure layer that KYC companies need to scale.

Tendo Technologies (Ghana): It officially acquired Shopa, a retail-tech startup, thereby deepening its position in Africa’s B2B commerce infrastructure.

Bloom (Sudan): The first Sudanese startup ever accepted into YC. It also joined the Visa Fintech Fast Track Program. It raised a $6.5M seed round, a remarkable outcome given that Sudan has been in active conflict since April 2023.

Grey Finance: It raised $2M in seed funding and has since expanded from Nigeria into Kenya and North Africa, expanded USD payouts to 174 countries, added USDC support, and partnered with dLocal and Clear Junction. Focused on cross-border payments for African remote workers and freelancers.

A second tier is still operating, but there has been no recent news on fundraising. This includes startups like Topship, Lenco, Dojah, EaziPay, Duplo, Touch and Pay, and Boya, which are still operating based on public presence and LinkedIn activity as of early 2026 but have not announced any follow-on rounds.

Some had minimal recent public activity. This may mean operating quietly or winding down without an announcement. This includes Simplifyd, Convoy, Sendme, Plumter, Vendy, Payourse, and Nash (Egypt).

What the cohort tells you

1. Fintech concentration carried real risk. Of the 18 Nigerian startups, at least 12 were operating in fintech-adjacent categories. The sector faced severe headwinds in 2023 and 2024, including a sharp devaluation of the naira, intensifying regulatory pressure, and tightening cross-border payment restrictions.

2. The non-fintech companies held up better proportionally. Chowdeck (food delivery), Remedial Health (pharma supply chain), beU Delivery (food delivery), and Numida (SME lending) are all among the batch’s strongest performers.

3. Geography shaped survival. The single companies from Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, and Egypt had no local peer cohort to benchmark against. However, each was operating in a market with competitive dynamics different from those in Nigeria. Numida in Uganda and beU in Ethiopia had fewer direct YC-adjacent competitors and built in relative isolation.
4. YC follow-on is concentrated. Of the 24, YC participated in follow-on rounds for at least Chowdeck and Remedial Health, confirming that the accelerator does continue to back its best performers.

Notably, the batch’s strongest performers cut across sectors in ways that weren’t obvious in 2022. They survived by solving something physical or regulatory, staying lean, and building in markets with little competition