Africa Tech Summit London Showcases 13 Startups—None from Zimbabwe, Again

Thirteen African startups will take the stage at the upcoming Africa Tech Summit London on June 6, 2025, showcasing their innovations to investors and tech leaders at the London Stock Exchange. But as we’ve come to expect, none of them are from Zimbabwe.

The summit, now in its ninth edition, is a huge platform for African tech ventures looking for international capital and visibility. It brings together more than 350 founders, investors, and corporates to explore how African businesses can scale, raise funding, and stay competitive.

This year’s selected startups are in fintech, healthtech, SAAS, climatetech, HR, legal tech, and cybersecurity. Most come from Nigeria and South Africa, Africa’s two largest startup markets.

We are quite numb to the absence of Zimbabwean ventures from lists like these. We hardly ever ask the question: why aren’t we in the room where capital decisions are made?

“The funding taps may have slowed, but the appetite for scalable, impactful African solutions hasn’t gone anywhere,” said Andrew Fassnidge, founder of Africa Tech Summit. “We aim to connect ventures with global investors and capital markets at the London Stock Exchange next month.”

So, just not Zimbabwean ventures then heh Andrew. It’s not Africa Summit’s fault and we need to figure it out.

Funding on the Rise Across Africa

What’s encouraging is that despite recent economic challenges affecting even the first world, African startups are still managing to attract investment.

According to Africa: The Big Deal, startups raised $803 million between January and April 2025 — a 43% increase compared to the same period last year.

In April alone, $343 million was raised, the second-highest total for that month since 2022. Not too shabby African startups.

They say investor confidence is also rebounding. Over 225 unique investors have participated in deals already this year.

If it continues like this, 2025 could surpass last year’s total funding.

But, like we mentioned above, much of this capital continues to go to startups in Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa.

If you asky why, you’ll hear that those countries have well-developed systems for supporting new businesses (venture networks) and a large pool of investors who are ready and able to fund those businesses (investor pipelines).

Zimbabwean startups, though active and innovative, continue to face barriers such as limited exposure, policy uncertainty, and poor access to early-stage capital.

Who’s Showcasing at the Summit?

Participating ventures include:

• Blockradar (Pan-African) – Offers wallet infrastructure for fintechs, enabling secure stablecoin transactions.
• Blueroomcare (Nigeria) – Expands access to affordable mental health services.
• Build Africa (Nigeria) – Uses AI to streamline and lower the cost of housing development.
• CtrlFleet (South Africa) – Provides logistics and fleet management solutions.
• Lawyered Up (South Africa) – AI-driven platform simplifying legal services for SMEs.
• MyItura (Nigeria) – Offers integrated digital healthcare services, from consultations to prescriptions.
• NotchHR (Nigeria) – Automates HR processes for businesses of all sizes.
• NjiaPay Group (South Africa) – Delivers payment-as-a-service solutions for online businesses.
• Pika Insights (Nigeria) – Offers real-time data on informal commerce and retail markets.
• Rafiki (South Africa) – Helps remote teams collaborate, contract, and receive payments efficiently.
• Smartfill (South Africa) – Uses IoT to reduce plastic waste and improve food affordability.
• straitPay (Pan-African) – Facilitates seamless cross-border payments across the continent.
• WALLX Africa (Nigeria) – Tackles B2B payment fraud with secure transaction systems.

These startups will pitch their solutions to investors and corporates including Bank of America, Amazon Web Services, Deloitte, Helios Investment Partners, and Novastar Ventures.

What of Zimbabwe?

Zimbabwe’s absence from this summit and many others like it shows investor preferences but we don’t have to accept it lying down.

Local startups continue to make progress in fintech, healthtech, and agri-tech, and so they need stronger visibility on the international stage.

This could come from stakeholders in Zimbabwe’s startup scene, from founders to funders to policymakers, investing more in global outreach, venture readiness, and building relationships with platforms like Africa Tech Summit.

I don’t have answers on exactly how we could go about doing that but it needs to happen.

The Africa Tech Summit has helped many African companies launch and scale globally. With the right support and visibility, Zimbabwean startups could be part of that conversation.