A venture studio is a unique type of investment support that actively helps build and accelerate early-stage companies. Unlike traditional venture capital firms that primarily invest in existing scaling companies, our Venture Studio takes a more hands-on approach, providing resources like access to funding, mentorship, and operational support to help your new business get off the ground across our 9-month programme.

Applications for our first Venture Studio cohort close on November 5th, 2024 and onboarded in December 2024.

Applications for cohort 2 close on September 20th, 2025.

Shortlisted candidates will then be invited for interviews. Please note we will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis, so encourage you to apply earlier.

We will start the onboarding, with the 9-month programme kicking-off soon after.

• We are particularly interested in startups operating in the following sectors:

  • Food Systems & Agriculture: innovation driving sustainable agriculture practices and food security 
  • Clean Energy: Exploring the transformative power of clean and renewable energy and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels
  • Climate Adaptation: Technologies enabling communities and businesses to build resilience and adapt to the impacts of climate change

  While we believe the above sectors are a primary focus to drive change, we are open to hearing from any climate-innovations accelerating the Just Transition in Africa.

Yes, we are open to considering startups that have already received some funding. However, we will evaluate each application on a case-by-case basis, to ensure our offered support is most relevant to your business.

The application form will ask you all relevant questions on your business and founding team. 

This includes short answer questions on your venture and it’s impact, milestones and goals. We will also ask you to attach a copy of your pitch deck.

Interested startups can submit their applications online through our website. We review all submissions carefully and select the most promising companies for further consideration.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to a 2-stage interview process to allow the Venture Studio team to better understand your businesses, goals, and challenges.

We are looking for businesses with strong founding teams, innovative ideas, and significant market potential. Applying startups must:

• Have an African Founder operating in Ghana
• Have a validated MVP that is tackling Climate Change
• Have a registered or pending legal business entity

Preference will be given scalable innovative solutions with potential for impact

The Startup Discovery Africa Venture Studio is a 9-month programme of hands-on support giving you access to leading software tools and tailored mentorship across technical, commercial and impact to execute your strategic roadmap. The programme will amplify ventures and support with access to customers, partners and a global investor network.

Key to the Venture Studio’s support is our ecosystem partners. We have partnered with Autodesk Foundation to give all ventures on the programme access to Autodesk tools and technical experts to support them to build and scale. Our investment partner, Sahara Impact Ventures provides critical capital to allow us to invest catalytic capital into our cohorts and support them to drive impact into rural communities and MSMEs. 

No – we do not have a fee or take any equity for your participation in our programme. If your company is selected for further Sahara Impact Ventures investment, we will discuss these terms in detail with each selected startup.