7 African Startups to Watch: Matchmaking, Mortgages, Medical Records, Music & More Inspired by TechCabal’s
“Startups On Our Radar” series – full credit to TechCabal for the original spotlight (November 2025 edition). We’ve rewritten and expanded it for our FintechTodayNews audience with additional 2025 context and referral-friendly angles.
Africa’s startup scene keeps delivering solutions that feel built for the continent. This week we’re shining light on seven impressive companies solving real problems in proptech, healthtech, music, media, creator economy, AI translation, and dating. Here they are:
1. Mortgage Market (South Africa – Proptech)One application → offers from ALL major banks in 24–48 hours.
Tim Akinnusi (ex-banker) built Mortgage Market to kill the painful, opaque home-loan process. Users fill one form, upload docs, and get real-time competing offers from ABSA, FNB, Nedbank, Standard Bank and others. The platform has already originated >R5.7 billion (~$330M) in loans across South Africa and Namibia.
Why it matters in 2025: SA’s residential property market is heading toward $1 trillion by 2029. MortgageMarket is digitising the pipeline and adding “gap funding” short-term loans for deposits.
2. Reedapt (Nigeria – AI Language Intelligence)Real-time speech interpretation + dubbing that actually understands African accents and idioms.
Founders Owoade Apotierioluwa & team beat Google Translate in head-to-head tests for YorubaEnglish and Hausa content. Reedapt clones your voice, preserves tone, and handles cultural context (no more “lost in translation” Nollywood dubs). Already 200+ paying users. Why we’re excited: The tool is built for African creators who want to go global without losing authenticity.
3. Afreekaplay (Côte d’Ivoire – Music Streaming) African music catalogue + mobile-money payments across 13+ Francophone countries.
No credit card? No problem. Buy songs/albums or subscribe (~$3/month) directly via Orange Money, MTN MoMo, etc. Artists keep up to 70%. 500+ independent artists onboarded since beta.
2025 vision: Launching personalised video shout-outs from artists in Jan 2026.
2025 vision: Launching personalised video shout-outs from artists in Jan 2026.
4. Makifaa (Togo – Stock Photography & AI Images)Finally, authentic African stock photos that don’t look AI-generated or stereotypical.
8,000+ images shot by 300+ photographers across West Africa. Plus “Samba AI” – open-source image generator trained on African faces, fashion, and scenes. Photographers earn 40–60% per download.
Goal: 1 million authentic African images by end of 2026.
5. Allof Health (Nigeria – Healthtech + Blockchain)Your medical records in a decentralised wallet you control.
Encrypted records stored on IPFS, access managed via blockchain smart contracts. Patients grant temporary access to doctors with one click. Already 1,000+ users and 12 hospitals since September 2025 launch.
Revenue play: 15% commission on telemedicine bookings + crypto rewards for data sharing.
Revenue play: 15% commission on telemedicine bookings + crypto rewards for data sharing.
6. Allies (Nigeria – Creator Economy + AI Matchmaking)AI agent that connects African creators with brand deals (no more cold DMs).
Creators set rate cards, upload portfolio → brands search by niche, budget, location. 10% platform fee. ~10,000 users and ₦50M+ payouts already.
Coming 2026: WhatsApp-integrated AI assistant for creators.
7. Kipenzi (Kenya – Dating with Emotional Intelligence) Dating app
that matches on attachment style, love language, and emotional patterns before you even swipe.
Onboarding quiz + therapy-backed compatibility scoring (70–95%). Gemini LLM generates culturally-aware conversation starters. Currently Kenya-only and free.
Big idea: Move beyond job title and looks to real emotional compatibility. Big shout-out again to TechCabal for originally spotlighting these founders in their November 2025 “Startups On Our Radar” edition.
We love what they’re doing and just wanted to share the excitement with our fintech-focused audience. Which of these startups are you most excited about? Drop it in the comments, and if you’re building something similar – tag us!
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