Best startup grants and accelerators for startups in Nigeria

SMEDAN Conditional Grant Scheme

A ₦50,000 grant for Nigerian nano businesses

Best for: Solo founder, SMB, Early-stage

Student Venture Capital Grant (S-VCG)

Up to ₦50 million for Nigerian student-led STEMMS ventures

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS, Solo founder

The Baobab Network

$100,000 into early-stage African startups

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

Catalytic Africa

Matches angel investment into African startups 1:1

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

DDISA Fund

ZAR 45,000 to ZAR 85,000 for digital democracy work in Africa

Best for: Solo founder, Early-stage

Lagos Innovates Workspace Voucher Programme

Up to ₦150,000 a month toward workspace for Lagos startups

Best for: Early-stage, Solo founder

LSETF MSME Loan Programme

₦50,000 to ₦5,000,000 in low-interest loans for Lagos businesses

Best for: SMB, Solo founder

Nigeria Youth Futures Fund

$1,000 individual grants and $10,000 organisation grants

Best for: Solo founder, Early-stage

Bank of Industry (BOI) iProgrammes

₦500,000 to ₦1 billion at 9-12% interest for Nigerian businesses

Best for: SMB, Solo founder

CivicHive CivicTech Fellowship

A stipend and incubation from BudgIT's civic tech lab

Best for: Solo founder, Early-stage

Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB)

Equity-free accelerators from Africa's best-known innovation hub

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

Creative Economy Development Fund (CEDF)

Federal funding for Nigeria's creative and cultural businesses

Best for: Early-stage, SMB, Agency

Ecobank Fintech Challenge

$50,000 plus access to Ecobank's 35 African markets

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS, SMB

Future Africa

Pan-African VC investing in Africa's future

Best for: Early-stage

MEST Africa

Pan-African accelerator and talent investor

Best for: Early-stage, Solo founder

Techstars Africa

Global accelerator with dedicated Africa programs

Best for: Early-stage

Ventures Platform

Nigeria's most active early-stage VC

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

Visa Africa Accelerator

A free three-month fintech accelerator with ~$200,000 in perks

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS, SMB

UNICEF Venture Fund

Up to $100,000 equity-free for open-source frontier tech

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

timbuktoo Pan-African AgriTech Incubation Programme

Rolling quarterly intakes for African agritech startups

Best for: Early-stage, SMB

Seedstars

Acceleration and investment readiness across emerging markets

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

Renew Venture Lab

Accelerator and investment pipeline across 13 African countries

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

Katapult Africa Accelerator

$150,000 to $500,000 for agritech, food and climate ventures

Best for: Early-stage, SMB

Ashoka Fellowship

A living stipend so you can go full-time on systems change

Best for: Solo founder, Early-stage

develoPPP Ventures

Matched growth funding for startups in seven African markets

Best for: Early-stage, SMB, SaaS

Google for Startups Cloud Program

$2,000 in Google Cloud credits at the entry tier

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

Antler Nigeria

Day-zero venture building and investment in Lagos

Best for: Solo founder, Early-stage

ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator

Up to $120,000 for African fintech, mobility and commerce startups

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS, Ecommerce

Fushly

$5.2M+ in startup software credits in one place

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS, Solo founder

Orange Corners Nigeria

Incubation and prototype funding for Nigerian founders aged 18–35

Best for: Early-stage, Solo founder, SMB

Anthropic Claude for Startups

Claude API credits and priority rate limits for startups

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

Acumen West Africa Fellowship

A fully funded leadership fellowship for West African changemakers

Best for: Solo founder, Early-stage

Norrsken Evolve

€250K to €500K for impact startups - but Europe-first

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

Visa Everywhere Initiative

Up to $50,000 in prizes for payments and commerce startups

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS, Ecommerce

Norrsken22

$200M impact-focused fund for African tech companies

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

Anzisha Prize

Over $140,000 a year for Africa's youngest entrepreneurs

Best for: Solo founder, Early-stage

GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize

US$50,000 awards for young African agrifood founders

Best for: Early-stage, Solo founder, SMB

Grindstone Accelerator

A free, no-equity accelerator for 20 companies a year

Best for: Early-stage, SMB, SaaS

AECF (Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund)

Competition-based finance for rural agribusiness and energy ventures

Best for: SMB, Early-stage

Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF)

$1,000 to $20,000 for digital rights work in Africa

Best for: Solo founder, Early-stage

Africa's Business Heroes

US$1.5 million in annual grants for African entrepreneurs

Best for: SMB, Early-stage

Tony Elumelu Foundation

$5,000 grant for African entrepreneurs

Best for: Early-stage, Solo founder

Villgro Africa

Seed funding and incubation for African healthtech

Best for: Early-stage, SMB

Westerwelle Young Founders Programme

A six-month fellowship with a funded week in Berlin

Best for: Early-stage, SMB

timbuktoo MineTech Accelerator

UNDP-backed acceleration for African mining technology

Best for: Early-stage, SMB

timbuktoo CreativeTech Launchpad

Open rolling incubation for African CreativeTech startups

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS, Agency

Open Technology Fund Internet Freedom Fund

$10,000 to $900,000 for open-source internet freedom tools

Best for: Solo founder, SaaS, Early-stage

NVIDIA Inception

A free NVIDIA program for AI and accelerated-computing startups

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

Fast Forward Accelerator

$25,000+ unrestricted for AI-powered tech non-profits

Best for: Early-stage, Solo founder

FLOSS/fund

Up to $100,000 a year for free and open-source projects

Best for: Solo founder, SaaS

GitHub Secure Open Source Fund

$10,000 plus security tooling for open-source maintainers

Best for: Solo founder, SaaS

Global Innovation Fund

Staged grant, debt and equity for scalable development innovations

Best for: SMB, SaaS, Early-stage

GSMA Innovation Fund

£100,000 to £200,000 grants for mobile and digital ventures

Best for: Early-stage, SMB, SaaS

Echoing Green Fellowship

$100,000 over 18 months for early-stage social entrepreneurs

Best for: Solo founder, Early-stage

Emergent Ventures

Fast, unrestricted grants for individuals with zero-to-one ideas

Best for: Solo founder, Early-stage

Cartier Women's Initiative Regional Awards

US$30,000–US$100,000 grants for women impact founders

Best for: SMB, SaaS

Cloudflare Project Galileo

Free enterprise-grade protection for at-risk public interest sites

Best for: Solo founder, SaaS

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation

Up to $300,000 unrestricted over three years

Best for: SMB, Early-stage

Google for Startups Africa

Equity-free support from Google

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS

Milken-Motsepe Innovation Prize

Multi-million dollar prize competitions with an Africa spotlight

Best for: SMB, Early-stage

MIT Solve Global Challenges

Equity-free prize funding for tech solutions to global problems

Best for: Early-stage, SMB

Mulago Rainer Arnhold Fellowship

$200,000 unrestricted - but referral only, no application form

Best for: Solo founder, SMB

Obama Foundation Leaders Africa

A fully funded leadership programme, no entity required

Best for: Solo founder

Orange Social Venture Prize Africa & Middle East

Up to €25,000 for tech-enabled social ventures

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS, Solo founder

The Pollination Project

Up to $500 seed grants, no registration required

Best for: Solo founder

YouthADAPT Challenge

$100,000 grants for youth-led climate adaptation businesses

Best for: Early-stage, SMB

Zayed Sustainability Prize

A share of US$7.2 million across six sustainability categories

Best for: SMB, Early-stage

AWS Activate

AWS credits and technical support for eligible startups

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS, Solo founder

Microsoft for Startups

Azure credits and developer benefits for eligible startups

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS, Solo founder

Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation

Open: £85,000 prize pool for sub-Saharan African innovators

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS, SMB

Y Combinator

The world's most valuable startup accelerator

Best for: Early-stage, SaaS