News
Welcoming SAIS Cohort 2026: The Next Generation of African AgTech Founders
At this year’s SAIStival in Nairobi, our annual community gathering and the starting point of the Investment Readiness Programme, we welcomed 12 new start-ups from nine countries into the SAIS family. Cohort 2026 arrived with fresh energy and bold ideas, connecting with the outgoing 2025 cohort, mentors, investors, and ecosystem partners from day one.
While Africa’s startup landscape has matured rapidly, a persistent “missing middle” often prevents innovative ideas from reaching investment-ready scale. Venture studios are emerging as a vital structural response to this gap, acting as institutional co-founders that go far beyond traditional mentorship to provide hands-on execution, operational talent, and early-stage capital.
Innovating Across Africa’s Animal Agriculture Sector: The SAIS Livestock Programme Cohort
Alongside our flagship Investment Readiness Programmes, SAIS runs a dedicated support stream for livestock tech start-ups from Africa. These founders are tackling some of the most pressing challenges in animal health, dairy, poultry, aquaculture, and sustainable protein. Like their peers across the broader SAIS community, many gathered in Nairobi this […]
SAIS at GITEX AFRICA Morocco
GITEX AFRICA in Marrakech provided a valuable platform for SAIS-supported ventures to engage with investors and partners active in African agri-climate innovation. NoorNation, an Egyptian venture developing solar-powered energy and water solutions, won the AgriTech & Sustainability category of the Supernova Challenge, securing the $10,000 grand prize. The win reflects […]
The SAIStival & Ag Safari Summit After-Movie
Two events, one incredible week in Nairobi. From the SAIStival, where two cohorts of founders came together to begin/end their Investment Readiness journey, to the Ag Safari Summit, where targeted sessions addressed the most pressing issues facing African agriculture. Get a glimpse of what it looked like from the inside: […]
The SAIStival After-Movie is Here
On the 8 of February our SAIS community came together for SAIStival in Nairobi, our annual kick-off of our Investment Readiness Programme. Two cohorts, one room: outgoing founders sharing hard-won lessons and incoming founders bringing fresh energy. The event brought peer sessions, sector discussions, and a farm visit, but above […]
Founder Voices from the SAIStival 2026 Nairobi
At SAIStival in Nairobi, we sat down with founders from both our outgoing and incoming cohorts. Their answers? Honest, inspiring, and full of the kind of insight that only comes from building in the real world. Here’s a sneak peek at what they had to say: AquaDeep | Axiom Zorn […]
African innovators in the livestock sector
Are you building a tech or digital solution for livestock farming in Africa? What is SAIS? SAIS (Scaling digital Agriculture Innovations through Start-ups) is a company development and accelerator programme for African tech start-ups. Since 2019, we’ve supported 100+ start-ups from 22 African countries, of which over 70% of them […]
SAIS at the Africa Tech Summit Nairobi
The Africa Tech Summit brought a week of peer exchange, investor dialogue, and community building in Nairobi to a fitting close. Following SAIStival and the Ag Safari Summit, the majority of our founders stayed on to attend one of Africa’s most established tech conferences, and for good reason.
A Day of Deep Dialogue: The Ag Safari Summit in Nairobi
The day after SAIStival, our navigators and founders gathered at Shamba Events for the AgSafari Summit, a full-day conference bringing together African AgTech founders, investors, ecosystem builders, and sector experts for twelve focused discussions on the most pressing challenges and opportunities in African agriculture.