Knight Ventures is a Pan Africa Digital Accelerator

Deadline: 29 February 2024

Knight Ventures is a Pan Africa Digital Accelerator is providing a platform to connect startups, mentors and Investors.

They have a mission to develop 100 high-growth tech enabled startups to scale and success.

Programs

The Incubation Program
- The incubation program is to guide the budding entrepreneur in doing research on market & industry for detailed understanding of the competitive landscape, industry structure, growth outlook, and other key factors. They help in identifying the problem to be solved by validating the business idea. The program helps in building an investable product, finding product-market fit, product design and prototyping, how to get early customers and grow pitch deck preparation along with mock pitch session to communicate their mission through storytelling. The duration of program is 6-12 months.
Acceleration Program
- The Acceleration program is targeted at founders, who desire to scale their businesses and attract investment. The program runs virtually over a 3-month period with programming and events optimised for WAT time zones, though founders may participate from anywhere in the world. They offer a structured curriculum of strategy development and execution for deepened market traction and the required supporting operational and managerial capacity. Founders will be subjected to rigorous reviews through the duality of matched industry mentors and through peer cohort group conversations to test revenue models, scalability and sustainability. Founders businesses will be appraised and supported using due diligence measures towards determining their level of Investment readiness particularly in areas governance, financial health and returns, brand architecture and partnerships.
Investor Connect Seed, Pre-Series A, Series A
- The investor connect is a network of investors with an African affinity from Angels to Capital Ventures who leverage the platform in accessing quality deal flows of due-diligenced high growth enterprises. The funding gaps to be filled are at early stages from pre-seed to Series A. Deal flows will be expertly matched to interest and expertise in a seamless process allowing for more familiarity with options presented. Critical value from this platform is the strategic partnerships and network of home-grown investors who will derive deepened capacity and more regional investment opportunities in scalable solutions driven by innovative founders.

Why Join them?

Access to global and local mentors
- You will be matched to a mix of local and global successful mentors who have experience and expertise closely matched to your field of business and are passionate about supporting your journey. They deliberately seek out mentors who understand the peculiarity of the African terrain and were possibly entrepreneurs themselves. A great opportunity to leverage their insights, networks and reputation.
Access to network partners
- They are opportuned to have a network of corporate partners who share in the mission to provide value and give you a headstart with a bouquet of resources, tools, software and platforms to accelerate your business idea.
Access to entrepreneurial courses
- The Knight Ventures program offers a curriculum focused on the business realities of scaling a business and housed within a supportive community of enterprise-oriented founders and mentors. The structured curriculum anchors peer group conversations focused on product viability, market traction, customer acquisition and fundraising, supplemented with focused brainstorming on topics founders identify as particularly relevant to them.
Access to founders community
- Thrive and be incentivised as you network and get constructive feedback in a structured manner from other peer cohort members and the founder community.
Access to investors
- The network of investors are matched by interest in your business and provided upfront information to assist in quick decision making. Participants will have to reach a level of interest for the different funding stages of investment. The investors are selected for their commitment to ethical investment practises and consciousness to build profitable legacies
12 weeks remote programme
- Founders participate in the accelerator from wherever they choose to work virtually and build their companies. All programming and events are designed for the best possible virtual experience. Knight’s physical hubs are in Lagos Nigeria. Networking activities and other in-person events will take place on both platforms in those areas.
Legal & compliance assistance
- They provide the cohort members legal and compliance assistance as part of the proactive due diligence measures to ensure smooth discussions at potential partner and investment negotiations.
Brand & PR Networking
- Visibility is key to your business scale aspirations and they will support this through appropriate negotiations for publicity of your brand and offerings.