Kenya’s HustleSasa among finalists for NBA Africa start-up accelerator demo day

Kenyan event services e-commerce platform HustleSasa is among ten start-ups selected to pitch at the ‘Triple-Double: NBA Africa Start-up Accelerator’ demo day on September 25.

Start-up accelerators, or seed accelerators, are fixed-term, cohort-based mentorship programs that provide guidance, support and limited funding in exchange for equity. They usually end in a public pitch event or demo day.

Founded in 2020 by Peng Chen, Michael Denuh, Rizz Jiwani, and Sauti Sol member Bien-Aime Alusa, HustleSasa’s platform supports live event payment processing, attendee check-in, merchandise sales, customer data management and influencer tracking.

The e-commerce company is backed by Antler; in January 2021, it raised $100,000 (about Ksh.12.9 million at current exchange rates) in pre-seed capital from the Singapore-based early-stage investor, per its CrunchBase profile.

HustleSasa will pitch to a panel of international industry leaders at the National Basketball Association (NBA) headquarters in New York City, United States on the demo day.

The panel will pick four winning companies to be awarded undisclosed financial support and mentorship.

NBA Africa’s accelerator was launched in April to support the continent’s technology ecosystem and the next generation of African entrepreneurs to help drive growth in the sports and creative industries.

It was operated by ALX Ventures and targeted early-stage start-ups in Africa that develop solutions in event management and ticketing, youth development, AI, and digital marketing.

The other ten finalists are Backrest from Rwanda, Buzza (Nigeria), Festival Coins (Nigeria), Gara (Côte d’Ivoire), Naemo Global (Nigeria), Power to Girls Foundation (Ghana), Salubata (Nigeria), UBR VR (Egypt) and Vambo Technologies (South Africa).