Your weekly dose of startup energy ⚡

Hi, it’s Sena 👋

By now, you probably expect to hear from me every Friday, and today I have something exciting to share.

Last week, we hosted the very first Founders Live Cotonou, and it was nothing short of amazing. Five inspiring founders took the stage, each with just 99 seconds to pitch their startup. Then came the real test: a flood of questions from an eager audience, determined to see how well these founders knew their projects. The room was buzzing with energy, curiosity, and ideas.

At the end, the votes were cast and we crowned our winner: Freddy Agbonna, founder of Lurnix. You’ll get to know more about him in the Startup Spotlight section below.

If this sounds like something you’d love to be part of, whether as a founder pitching or simply as part of the audience soaking it all in, check out the forms below.

But for now, let’s dive into what I’ve prepared for you this week. There are tons of opportunities you can benefit from.

Latest News:

FeexPay reaches a major milestone by becoming the first Beninese fintech licensed by the BCEAO, consolidating its regulatory legitimacy and paving the way for regional expansion, with the stated ambition of connecting African economies through reliable digital payments.
Finnfund injects $4M into Poa Internet to strengthen its fiber network with Nokia technology, aiming to provide affordable high-speed internet (starting at 1,575 KES/month) to more than 238,000 subscribers. The project, supported by the EU through the Global Gateway initiative and the EFSD+ fund, seeks to bridge the digital divide in Kenya by boosting access to education, healthcare, financial services, and economic growth.
The Invigilator, a South African edtech startup, raises $11M from Kaltroco to enhance its AI-powered online exam proctoring tool (suspicious behavior detection, AI-resistant handwriting profiling), already used by more than 100 institutions, and now targeting rapid international expansion.
Egypt's Munify Raises USD 3 M Seed Round To Build Cross-Border Digital Bank, led by Y Combinator with participation from BYLD and Digital Currency Group. The round comes as Munify graduates from YC’s Summer 2025 batch, one of the few MENA fintechs in a cycle dominated by AI.

Insights:

Avoiding the B-Round Cliff

The most dangerous time for a startup here isn’t pre-seed, it’s right after your first big raise.

Core Insight:

Founders hit the “B-round cliff” when they scale people before they scale proof. If your early growth is driven by hustle, not a repeatable process, the second you step back, growth dies.

Breakdown:

Delay the hiring spree until you’ve proven repeatability.
Protect decision speed — big teams slow you down.
In Africa, where funding cycles are longer, over-hiring is even riskier.

Opportunities:

ITC Global Challenge for Assistive TechnologiesA global competition supporting young tech entrepreneurs developing scalable assistive solutions — physical, mechanical, or digital — that address the needs of persons with disabilities in developing countries. Winners receive up to funding, mentorship, and a platform to showcase their work internationally.Apply before September 10, 2025
Miller Center for Global Impact Social Impact AcceleratorA programme supporting mission-driven social enterprises focused on women’s economic empowerment or climate resilience, helping them scale and attract investment.Apply before September 10, 2025
START Fellowship – Accelerator & IncubatorFor young founders from Africa or Latin America to access mentorship, workshops, deep dives, and potential equity-free funding. The accelerator includes a 3-month immersion in Switzerland, while the incubator is a 7-week online program to take you from idea to MVP.Apply before September 14, 2025
SPARK Climate Tech GrantsJIF offers catalytic funding (€100K–€250K) to African-led consortia scaling digitally enabled climate solutions across Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. Grants are milestone-based and come with mentorship, visibility, and investment readiness support.Eligibility: African-led startup with climate solutions in Benin, DRC, Ghana, CIV, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, ZambiaApply before September 16, 2025
Youth Ecopreneur Programme 2025A global competition supporting young entrepreneurs developing scalable green, circular economy, or land-restoration solutions that address environmental challenges. Winners receive $100,000 equity-free funding, a $10,000 cash prize, mentorship, training, and global exposure.Applications close on September 14, 2025: Apply here.
African Collaborative Open Application (Grantmaking)A grantmaking initiative supporting African-led organizations driving bold change across Sub-Saharan Africa in sectors such as education, health, livelihoods, technology, climate, human rights, and gender equity. Winners receive multi-sector grants, mentorship, and support to scale their impact.Apply before September 17, 2025
Dory Foundation GrantsA funding programme supporting non-profit organizations using technology and AI to tackle critical challenges. Winners receive $10,000–$250,000 to develop and scale early-stage projects.Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis. Apply here

Events:

Join us for Founders Live Cotonou on 26 September 2025!Five bold startups will each have 99 seconds to pitch their idea to a local and global audience, followed by 4 minutes of live Q&A. You decide the winner, your vote counts!Want to pitch? Apply here. Want to be a part of the audience? Reserve your spot here.
Seamless Africa - September 08, 2025 in JohannesburgSeamless is a unique global event brand bringing together the converging worlds of the banking financial services industry and the retail and e-commerce ecosystem. Register to attend in Joburg.
Africa Money & DeFi Summit – Happening Sept 24–25 in Accra, the summit will host 500+ fintech and Web3 leaders. Startups can apply for the Investment Showcase to pitch to investors. Apply here.

Start-up Spotlight:

As I mentioned earlier, we caught up with Freddy, the winner of Founders Live, and here’s what he shared about his startup and his pitching experience. Enjoy!

Q: Can you introduce Lurnix and tell us what inspired you to create it?

A: Lurnix is a coding learning platform that is faster, more personalized, and more practical.

In 7 days, the user builds solid foundations, in 30 days they create their first real projects, and then progress toward more advanced skills with a personalized roadmap. They are guided by an intelligent system that adapts the difficulty to their pace, and supported by a community of learners and human mentors.

What inspired me was my experience mentoring more than 500 learners. I kept seeing the same obstacles: too many tutorials, no structure, no concrete projects, no personalization. Many give up, and very few feel truly ready for a job. Lurnix is my direct answer to this problem. After manually testing this learning method with a hundred profiles, I decided to scale it.

Q: How was your experience pitching at Founders Live Cotonou — and what did winning mean for you and your startup?

A: Pitching in front of a very curious audience was a motivating experience.

This victory was strong validation of our vision: the audience connected with the problem we are addressing and recognized the relevance of our solution. For Lurnix, it represents an opportunity to accelerate our visibility, strengthen our credibility, and attract our first users and partners.

Q: What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far as a founder, and how did you navigate it?

A: The biggest challenge has been building with very limited financial resources. I had to make tough choices: focus only on the essentials (an MVP without an app, doing everything manually, building a community, distribution) and delay anything that wasn’t vital.

What I learned is that you can move fast by staying close to your users: listen to their problems, test quickly, iterate. Our Discord and our first signups already give us this direct feedback.

Q: Looking back, what’s one key lesson you’ve learned on your entrepreneurial journey that other founders should know?

A: I actually have two lessons.

The first: don’t build in isolation. Talk to your users from day one. They’re the ones who give you clarity, not just your vision. Many of my learners shared their frustrations with me (distractions, useless theory, lack of context, lack of personalization), and by starting from their words I was able to build a relevant solution.

The second: the power of community. Because I talked about Lurnix from the very beginning and co-built it with my community, they rallied behind me at Founders Live. Their presence and support made all the difference.

Q: What’s next for Lurnix, and how can the community support you on that journey?

A: The next step is the public launch next month, with the goal of reaching our first 50–100 active users.

The community can support us by:

joining our Discord to test the method,
sharing Lurnix with others (students, self-learners, career changers),
and giving us honest feedback to improve the product.

Fun Content:

Uhhmmm, how many paying customers do you have??

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Office hours with Future Studio:

Got questions about your startup journey? Need guidance before you launch? Join our open office hours and get direct insights from the Future Studio team.

Limited slots. Apply here to join

That’s it for today, see you in no time. Bye!