Kenyan company HustleSasa among finalists at NBA Africa startup accelerator demo day

Kenyan e-commerce event services platform HustleSasa is among ten startups selected to showcase at the “Triple-Double: NBA Africa Start-up Accelerator” demo day on September 25.

Startup accelerators, also known as seed accelerators, are fixed-term, cohort-based mentoring programs that provide guidance, support, and limited funding in exchange for equity. They typically culminate in a public product launch event or demo day.

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

The e-commerce company is backed by Antler and in January 2021, it raised $100,000 (approximately 12.9 million Kenyan shillings at current exchange rates) in pre-seed funding from a Singapore-based early-stage investor, according to the CrunchBase profile.

HustleSasa will showcase its solution to a panel of international industry leaders at the National Basketball Association (NBA) headquarters in New York, United States, during a demo day.

A jury will select four winning companies, which will receive undisclosed financial support and mentoring.

The NBA Africa Accelerator was launched in April to support the continent’s tech ecosystem and the next generation of African entrepreneurs and contribute to the development of the sports and creative industries.

It was managed by ALX Ventures and targeted young African start-ups developing solutions in event management and ticketing, youth development, artificial intelligence 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).