By Aoma Keziah,
Three Kenyan startups comprising Solar Freeze, Farmer Lifeline and Pollen Patrollers are among ten firms shortlisted for the Qualcomm Make in Africa 2025,an American multinational corporation that creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless technology. The Kenyan innovators will benefit from equity-free mentorship, technical support, and global exposure.
“This year’s cohort of deep technology startups is a testament to Africa’s burgeoning innovation landscape. By leveraging Qualcomm’s cellular, IoT, and edge-AI technologies, these startups are poised to revolutionize agriculture, sustainability, climate change, transportation, and healthcare. We are honored to support their journey toward creating transformative solutions for a better future,” said Wassim Chourbaji, SVP and president, Qualcomm MEA & SVP, Government Affairs EMEA.
At its third year, the Qualcomm Make in Africa program continues to support Africa’s deep-tech ecosystem by offering equity-free mentorship, access to Qualcomm’s global engineering expertise, business coaching, hardware platforms, and intellectual property (IP) guidance. This initiative is part of its broader Africa Innovation Platform, which has empowered dozens of startups to build scalable, market-ready technology solutions across the continent.
Startups in the Qualcomm Make in Africa program receive high-impact, equity-free support valued at thousands of dollars. This includes:Tailored mentorship from Qualcomm’s global experts in connectivity, AI/ML, IoT, and systems design, access to hardware platforms and engineering consultations to advance product development business coaching and guidance in scaling operations and refining market strategy, support in protecting intellectual property, including access to the free L2Pro Africa e-learning platform for IP training and eligibility for the Wireless Reach™ Social Impact Fund, with one startup receiving funding and the remaining nine awarded stipends to support growth and development.
The mentorship program not only enhances technical capabilities but also improves investor readiness, builds strategic networks, and positions startups for global visibility and future funding opportunities.
“Innovation is the engine of Africa’s future, and it is clear the ten startups in this year’s cohort exemplify its power. While ATU works to align spectrum policy, regional standards, and open-data practices so that new technologies move quickly from lab to market, we also recognize that real progress demands a broad coalition. We therefore call on governments, academia, investors, and industry to back these ventures and every initiative that puts African ingenuity first.” Remarked John Omo, Secretary General of African Telecommunications Union (ATU)
In addition to the three Kenyan companies, the cohort features startups from across the continent: Aframend (Nigeria) AI-driven drug discovery using African phytochemicals, AmalXR (Tunisia) AI-powered VR rehabilitation solutions, Archeos (Benin) Solar/IoT automation for fish farming, ClimatrixAI (Nigeria) Hyperlocal AI-powered flood prediction systems, Ecobees (Tunisia) AI-based hive monitoring for climate and water tracking, Edulytics (Senegal) AI-enabled mobile ultrasound for liver disease detection and Pixii Motors (Tunisia) Electric scooters with IoT-based battery optimization.
This year, the corporation received an overwhelming response, with approximately 435 applications from 19 countries, the innovations reflecting a strong and growing pipeline of African startups building deep-tech solutions to solve global problems, from healthcare and energy to agriculture and sustainability.
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