African startups have been invited to apply for the AIA Accelerator in Hong Kong, a joint venture between insurance firm AIA and startup accelerator Nest aimed to supporting innovative businesses in the healthcare arena.
The 12-week programme is the second iteration of the accelerator, which launched late last year and ended with a demo day in June. Seven of the eight startups that participated in the inaugural programme successfully secured funding.
Disrupt Africa reported last month Nest, which services early-stage, high growth businesses, had opened an office in Nairobi as it looks to run programmes and invest in startups in Africa. The company is also attempting to form a bridge between Africa and Asia, earlier this month inviting African startups to apply for its Infiniti Accelerator.
Two African startups – Kenya’s SuperFluid and South Africa’s creditable – are already taking part in another Nest programme in Hong Kong, held in conjunction with DBS Bank, while it has also partnered co-working spaces Nairobi Garage and Cape Town Garage to offer startups a “soft landing” when visiting Hong Kong.
African e-health startups are now invited to apply for the AIA Accelerator. Applications close on October 9, after which eight startups will be selected to join the programme, which begins on November 16 and concludes with a public investor demo day in March next year.
