A hub built by people who had to build it anyway.
7Square Startup Hub is the venture arm of 7Square Inc. — the consultancy that builds sovereign AI, health systems and data infrastructure for African institutions. We kept meeting founders solving problems we understood, with no capital and no room to stand in. So we built both.
The constraint is not talent.
There is no shortage of African founders who can build. What is scarce is the first US$15,000, a room where an investor will actually sit down, and someone who has already made the specific mistake you are about to make.
The 2025 numbers say it plainly. The continent raised US$4.1 billion, but seed was the only stage that went backwards — down 4%, while Series A rose 21% and Series B rose 27%. Four markets took 72% of it. And of the companies that did close a seed round, 3.8% went on to raise a Series A. We published the full analysis, because a thesis you cannot check is just a slogan.
Those three scarce things are cheap to supply and enormously expensive to go without. A team that would have reached revenue in four months instead spends eighteen doing consulting to stay alive. The idea does not die dramatically — it just gets outrun.
So the hub is deliberately narrow. We put money in at entry, we put an operator in the room every week, and we run the rooms where founders and investors meet in person across 12 cities. Everything else is downstream of those three.
Converting Africa's challenges into companies — which is the same sentence 7Square has been running on since the start, with a cheque attached.
Six things we will not negotiate on.
Capital at entry, not at graduation
A programme that pays you at the end has asked you to fund it yourself for twelve weeks. Ours writes the cheque on day one, because runway is what makes the twelve weeks possible at all.
A customer beats a demo
Demo Day is the last day, not the point. We measure a cohort on signed customers and revenue, not on how well the slides landed.
A fast no is a gift
Every vehicle publishes a clock, and every decline comes with the reason in writing. A four-month maybe against a nine-month runway is a cost we refuse to pass to founders.
Africa is the market, not the pitch
We back companies whose first customer is here — a Zambian cooperative, a Tanzanian bank, a Kenyan ministry. Not companies using the continent as a story for a foreign round.
We have built the thing we are funding
7Square ships sovereign AI, health systems and data infrastructure for African institutions. When we sit with a founder on a procurement problem, it is because we lost a year to that same problem once.
The network outlasts the cohort
The directory listing, the deal drops and the alumni channel do not expire in week thirteen. The cohort ends; the relationship does not.
7Square Inc.
Africa's AI-native consultancy. Sovereign AI infrastructure, production-grade agent systems and high-resolution disease intelligence for African ministries, regulated institutions and global health partners.
7squareinc.com→An engineering bench
Founders get a real build pod, not an advisor with a calendar link.
Institutional relationships
Warm routes into the ministries, banks and health systems we already serve.
Regulatory scar tissue
Data protection, procurement and sectoral compliance, learned the expensive way.
A continental footprint
Teams and partners across 12 cities in Southern, East and West Africa.
The questions we actually get asked.
01Do I need to be incorporated to apply?→
Not for Incubate — we help you incorporate correctly during the programme, which is usually better than unwinding a structure someone set up badly. Accelerate does require an existing company.
02Do you only take companies from Zimbabwe and Tanzania?→
No. We run programming in twelve cities across Southern, East and West Africa. What we require is that Africa is your first market, not an afterthought.
03What do you take?→
Incubate is US$15,000 for 4% on a post-money SAFE. Accelerate is US$50,000 for 6%, or an uncapped SAFE if you would rather not price the company yet. The Venture Studio is a founding stake, negotiated openly before anything is signed.
04Can I apply if I have a co-founder abroad?→
Yes, provided at least one founder is on the continent and full time. Distributed teams are normal; absentee founders are not.
05Do I have to give up my job?→
By the time the programme starts, yes, for at least one founder. Twelve weeks of part-time attention produces a part-time company.
06How do investors join the network?→
Apply through the investor page. We verify that you are actively deploying — angels with at least two cheques written, funds with a live vehicle — and then you receive the biweekly deal drop and directory access.
07Is there a fee to attend events?→
Pitch nights and masterclasses carry a small ticket to keep the room serious. Mixers are usually free. Roundtables and Demo Days are invite only.
08What happens after the programme ends?→
You stay in the network permanently — the directory listing, the investor drops, the alumni channel, and follow-on eligibility from the Seed Fund. The cohort ends; the relationship does not.
Come and see for yourself.
Apply to a cohort, join the investor network, or just turn up to a pitch night in your city and make your own mind up.