travel startups nigeria

21 Top Nigeria Travel Accommodation Startups & Companies

This article showcases our top picks for the best Nigeria based Travel Accommodation companies. These startups and companies are taking a variety of approaches to innovating the Travel Accommodation industry, but are all exceptional companies well worth a follow.

We tried to pick companies across the size spectrum from cutting edge startups to established brands.

We selected these startups and companies for exceptional performance in one of these categories:

• Innovative ideas
• Innovative route to market
• Innovative product
• Exceptional growth
• Exceptional growth strategy
• Societal impact

Top Nigeria Travel Accommodation Startups

Data sourced from Crunchbase and SemRush .

Crunchbase Website Twitter Facebook Linkedin

Gidanka is a travel company offering serviced beautiful living spaces for travelers to and across African cityscapes

Nigeria’s premium online travel agency providing flights to over 900 destinations and 300,000 hotels on their website

Grandeur Resorts and Hotels

GRH is an Indigenous Company established by Promoters with interest of developing and operating of world-class resorts and hotels

Ryravel is a Online Hospitality Booking Agency.

Kunoch Hotels Limited

Kunoch Hotels Limited is developing a 99 room hotel in Owerri, Imo State.

Ikeja Hotel

Ikeja Hotel Plc offers hospitality services such as hotel and restaurant service, and construction management, accounting services.

Capital Hotel

Capital Hotel operates and maintains restaurants, apartments for letting, recreational facilities, night club and a business center.

Derihunter Aquatransport

Derihunter Aquatransport provides marine transportation services.

Hospitality, Marketplace, Travel, Travel Accommodations

MP Budget is the first hotel management company in Nigeria.

Amara Suites

Amara Suites provides accommodations, visa invitations, tour guides, nightlife, concierge and transportation services.

The Tourist Company Of Nigeria

The Tourist Company Of Nigeria owns many hotels and operates in the hospitality industry.

Traveltickethub

Traveltickethub is the next generation travel metasearch engine which helps you search compare and book cheap flight tickets from agencies

Tafiya is a travel company that provides trip packages, flight deals, hotels, and leisure services to professionals.

Moorhouse Propterties

Moorhouse Propterties is focus on developing hotels to meet the needs of select market segments within the Nigerian hospitality sector.

Skye Capic Select

Skye Capic Select is planned as a 126 room hotel with conferencing facilities located in the Alausa Ikeja area.

Transcorp Hotels

Transcorp Hotels is into hospitality management.

SmileBay Realties Limited

Property leads generation company for real estate developers and vacation home rentals owners.

Calabar Harbour

Calabar Harbour is a resort and spa platform.

Destination Connect

Destination Connect is a destination management company that designs, plans, and delivers accommodations.

Integrity Homes

Integrity Homes is a Home rental and Sales Market Place on a mission to solve the housing problems in Nigeria and Africa as a continent

Written by Mark Smith

21 Top Argentina Travel Accommodation Startups & Companies

21 top myrtle beach travel accommodation startups & companies.

© 2024 by Fupping Media

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Travel Tech Startup TravelTank is redefining Travelling Business in Nigeria

Providus bank and travelport has also restated support for the travel tech startup.

Nigerian financial services provider, Providus Bank PLC and travel retail platform — Travelport Nigeria has restated their commitments to ensuring the success and hassle-free operations of the highly innovative best-in-class online travel agency, TravelTank.

Speaking at the launch of the proudly Nigerian online travel agency, Managing Director, Providus Bank, Mr Walter Akpani said:

“Today we are witnessing the launch of a product that we believe is going to change a whole lot in how travel business is done in Nigeria and I am happy to say that I am proud to be here as a partner.

I strongly believe that TravelTank’s innovative products will support and assist us all in how we plan and book our travels.”

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Fintech startup m-kopa expands west africa’s operations, unlocks $10m in digital credit, afex announces africa exchange to further transform the commodity space, grey unveils new brand identity to drive its global expansion, prolocums launches to transform nigeria’s healthcare staffing with technology.

He continued: “For us, as a bank, we believe in entrepreneurship. TravelTank and its Founder are examples of what we believe in and why as an institution the bank is willing and ready to support young entrepreneurial minds in the country.

As Mr Yemi Smith is a young entrepreneur, we know we have many more like him in this country and you can rest assured that Providus bank is here to support you.”

According to the Managing Director, TravelTank, Yemi Smith, the company was launched with a vision to provide travel opportunities for everyone and a mission in making travel planning and booking quick, easy, and affordable for everyone.

“TravelTank is a product of exhaustive research on a sector which showed very clearly that even with the array of online travel agencies in Nigeria, end-users still had reservations in purchasing online travel products,” he added.

Country Head, Travelport Nigeria, Mr Samuel Akinola described TravelTank as an innovative disruptor in the travel space whose product offerings are unmatched in Nigeria.

He also noted that Travelport Nigeria will go the extra mile to support TravelTank.

Buttressing on TravelTank’s smart offerings set to be presented in a highly competitive industry, Managing Director, TravelTank, Yemi Smith submitted:

“As a company, and by God’s grace, we foresee strong growth especially on our B2B platform which allows TravelTank affiliates to sell travel products in a more personalised manner.”

He stated further: “You know initially when the world was hit by the pandemic, demand for travel halted.

Thankfully, we are now seeing a gradual month-on-month increase in the demand for travel products and travel in general.

This coupled with the multiple approved vaccines now available in many countries around the world including Nigeria, makes us more positive for the future.

Testament to this is the lessening of travel restrictions around the world. This makes us very excited as we begin our quest in creating travel opportunities for everyone.”

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Top 15 Travel Startup Investors in Nigeria

• Financial Services, FinTech, Software
• Pre-Seed, Seed, Angel
• Nigeria, United States, Canada
• Famasi — Famasi is a digital health platform that helps people access their medications, schedule doorstep delivery, and automate monthly refills.
• Pennee — Yana Finance provides up to 50 million Naira for ambitious business owners, with NDIC insured accounts. Yana Finance aims to simplify financial operations for businesses, ensuring they never run out of money and can manage cash flows efficiently.
• Clafiya — Discover Clafiya: Your trusted digital health platform, uniting in-person care and virtual solutions for a personalized and caring healthcare experience. Embrace a healthier, happier you, with us by your side.
• Financial Services, FinTech, Financial Exchanges
• Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
• Nigeria, Rwanda, United States
• Zazuu — Zazuu is a platform for sending money across the border.
• Bitmama — Bitmama is the best cryptocurrency trading platform that lets you buy, sell Bitcoin, ETH, Celo, USDT, XRP, and more. Available in Nigeria & over 100 countries.
• GetFundedAfrica — GetFundedAfrica's mission is to help Africa’s most promising startups find funding, grow & solve society’s greatest challenges. We do this through a media portal - GetFundedAfrica News; a learning portal - REMSANA; and an investment arm - GFA Ventures
• E-Commerce, Hospitality, Internet
• Series A, Seed, Angel
• United States, Ghana, India
• Binded — Binded lets creators claim their copyrights on the blockchain and protect them for free. A creator uploads their art or photos to Binded via our website or integrations with creative tools like Instagram. We create a timestamp in the Bitcoin blockchain and give a​ certificate as proof. We are developing technology to create uniquefingerprints for all copyrighted works and store them on the blockchain. Like Youtube’s Content ID system for the entire internet. For every copyright claimed, we scan the web and show matches for possible copyright infringement. In 5 years we hope to be the main way copyrights are registered and utilized.
• Mishtag — MishTag is a community of the Shoppers, by the Shoppers for the Shoppers. MishTag is a Visual Engagement, Analytics & Advertising platform for making photos more engaging and rewarding for Brands, Retailers, and Publishers.
• Omg Digital — SEO, Speed, WordPress and Question Answers for Experts.
• Delivery, E-Commerce, Retail
• Seed, Series A
• Egypt, Nepal, Myanmar
• Appetito — Buy all your groceries and household essentials from your online supermarket. Order from the comfort of your home at your finger tips.
• FreshGora — Food and Grocery delivery in Yangon, Myanmar.
• Treepz — Treepz Inc. (formerly Plentywaka) is building the largest shared mobility platform in West Africa with over 500,000 satisfied customers.
• Travel, Car Sharing, Mobile Apps
• Canada, Nigeria
• Woveo — Woveo has created a digital community wallet to assist groups of individuals in improving their financial well-being through communal rotating savings.
• Protexxa — Protexxa is a B2B SaaS cybersecurity startup that links the dots between individual cyber hygiene and company risk.
• FinTech, Financial Services, Banking
• Seed, Funding Round, Series A
• Nigeria, Kenya, United States
• Mecho — Mecho is an on-demand auto repair and maintenance platform for individuals and businesses in Africa.
• Bettr — Bettr is a digital banking app for creator. Download the app to get your zero monthly fee digital bank account and virtual card. Join our community of creators, gamers, influencers, freelancers, tiktokkers, streamers, YouTubers and digital gig workers.
• MarketForce — MarketForce connects Africa’s informal retail outlets and consumers directly to suppliers of consumer goods and financial services by digitizing orders, delivery, and payments with the aim of solving the last mile distribution challenge.
• Information Technology, Software, E-Commerce
• Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
• United States, Nigeria, Kenya
• Shuttlers — Shuttlers is a platform that offers mobility solutions by providing scheduled bus-sharing services for the professionals within the region.
• Snowstorm — Snowstorm is a decentralized microproxy network. Already proven in crisis zones, it must now evolve into a next-generation system and internet freedom tool.
• Senga Technologies — Welcome to Senga, custom-built, with love, for businesses shipping in Africa.
• Financial Services, FinTech, Delivery
• Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
• Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria
• Julaya — Julaya is a fintech providing African businesses with a digital account to make payments : disbursing mobile money transactions to their employees, suppliers, and owning their own virtual and physical prepaid cards.
• ImaliPay — ImaliPay is a financial health platform offering financial products to freelancers and blue collar gig workers in partnership with gig platforms.
• Bumpa — The easiest way to set-up and manage your online store. Bumpa helps businesses sell on Instagram, Whatsapp, Facebook, and offline in-store.
• Environmental Engineering, Health Care, Ride Sharing
• Kenya, Nigeria, United States
• BioBuu — BioBuu focuses on the development of manufacturing capacity and environmentally sustainable production.
• EnvisionIt Deep AI — Envisionit Deep AI is an innovative medical technology company that utilizes AI to streamline and improve medical imaging diagnosis for radiologists.
• Software, Financial Services, E-Commerce
• Anchor — Anchor is building the infrastructure needed for businesses to build, launch, and scale banking and payment solutions.
• Blossom.team — Powered by AI, Blossom's science-backed professional coaching brings together experienced coaches & ML to show actual growth on key topics: productivity, communications, leadership, stress management, career development, interpersonal skills, and more. Subscribe and see why it's the successful professional's secret superpower!
• evaluate.xyz — NFT Valuation Platform and Community
• Financial Services, FinTech, E-Commerce
• United States, India, South Korea
• FlowGPT — Discover a vast library of ChatGPT prompts uploaded by the FlowGPT community. Browse popular and useful prompts and get personalized recommendations for prompts that interest you. Join a vibrant community of ChatGPT users and discover, share, and discuss different prompts.
• Read AI — Read AI enables better meetings through shared measurement. Read AI is a provider of a real-time shared dashboard that measures engagement and sentiment for meeting attendees.
• Cambio — Quickly Resolve Hurtful Accounts Like Collections and Improve Your Credit Score with The Cambio App. Download Today!
• FinTech, Financial Services, Software
• Nigeria, United States, Egypt
• Mtor — Mtor is an online marketplace that is reshaping the automotive aftermarket and provides sophisticated technology solutions.
• EMTECH — For Modern Central Banking
• Terragon Group — Terragon is a leading Data and Marketing Technology company that uses data and analytics to help companies focused in Africa, intelligently connect at scale to their customers. We use an aggregation of online and offline data, and predictive scoring to help brands, marketing agencies and platforms accurately target people across channels anddevices. Headquartered in Lagos; Nigeria, we also have a presence in Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and India.

YC W22 batch nets 24 African startups, including 18 from Nigeria

Y Combinator’s latest batch — W22 — features 414 startups from 42 countries, representing more than 80 sectors. Just like last year’s batches, about half of the companies in the W22 batch (where YC’s Standard Deal comes to full effect for the first time) are based outside of the United States.

As usual, the U.S. has the most representation. India, with 32 startups, is the second-largest demographic represented in the new batch, while Nigeria is third, having delivered 18 startups. This is the first time an African country is appearing in the top three.

Africa as a whole has 24 startups in this new batch, a record besting S21’s 15 .

Here we list the startups in alphabetical order, providing more details about each of them, as well as context around what they are building and why YC is backing them.

beU delivery

Website : https://eat.beu.chat/

Founded in : 2021

Team size : 300

Location : Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

What it says it does : Runs a food delivery service in Africa.

Promises include : beU delivery says it offers a “great selection of local restaurants and door-to-door food delivery” that allows customers to have their favorite food from the “comfort of their homes or offices.”

How it says it differs from rivals : The one-year-old startup claims to be the leading food delivery service in Ethiopia and is 67% cheaper than the competition.

Founders : Before beU delivery, Hao Zheng, who leads the team as chief executive, was the founder and CEO of Yooul, a social networking app in China.

Quick thoughts : Off the back of DoorDash’s IPO, Y Combinator seems set on replicating that success in other markets, including Africa, where the likes of Glovo and Jumia Food are ramping up efforts to grab market share.

beU delivery is YC’s first set of investments in Africa’s food delivery space alongside Heyfood, another startup in this batch. But unlike the latter, it has less to worry about with those two big players absent in Ethiopia, at least for now, as it focuses on outdoing the country’s foremost food delivery service, Deliver Addis.

Website : https://withbloom.com/

Team size : 11

Location : Khartoum, Sudan

What it says it does : An app that offers stable savings for users in Africa.

Founders : Ahmed Ismail, a second-time founder who has worked for Goldman Sachs and Barclays, is the CEO. Abdigani Diriye, Khalid Keenan and Youcef Oudjidane, the other co-founders, have combined experience across engineering, investment banking and venture capital.

Quick thoughts : Sudan suffers from inflation and currency devaluation problems, like most African economies. Bloom’s offering allows Sudanese to save in U.S. dollars and spend in their local currency, Sudanese pounds, among other features like remittance and dollar cards.

Given Sudan’s very nascent tech ecosystem — Bloom is the country’s second venture-backed startup in over 30 years and YC’s first in the country — it’ll be interesting to see if the startup, with heavyweight founders, can achieve success and open up the Sudanese tech ecosystem.

Sudan’s first YC-backed startup is helping consumers protect and grow their wealth

Website : https://boya.co/

Team size : 10

Location : Nairobi, Kenya

What it says it does : A platform for corporate expense cards and spend management for businesses in Africa.

Promises include : The startup says more than 50 million businesses across Africa can’t easily streamline and track employee spending in real-time. Thus, its platform makes it “easy for these businesses to issue corporate expense cards (Visa for now) and software, mainly for sales and marketing teams, to track and control spending.

Founders : Alphas Sinja, Boya’s chief executive officer, has over eight years of experience in the banking and finance sectors. Robert Nyangate is the company’s CTO.

Quick thoughts : It was only a matter of time before the corporate spend management buzz made its way into Africa, as well as YC has done with Brex, Jeeves, Karbon Card, Volopay and Kodo. Unlike the U.S. and India, where these companies are based, most of Africa doesn’t have functioning credit card societies, which is the basis of how this model works — maybe that’s why it’s yet to take off in Africa.

Ghana’s Float initially launched as Brex for Africa but later pivoted to offering the same credit features with more emphasis on software and less on cards; Boya, on the other hand, plans to execute on both fronts using overdrafts.

Website : https://getconvoy.io

Team size : 8

Location : Lagos, Nigeria

What it says it does : Building an open-source webhooks infrastructure.

Promises include : The startup claims its “open source cloud-native” webhook services is “secured, reliable, and scalable for customers’ webhooks infrastructure.

How it says it differs from rivals : Convoy claims that no “sane open source tool” exists for engineers to build and ship highly scalable webhooks infrastructure. And Convoy is the first to fill in that gap. “Essentially, just like Redis is to key-value storage, and GitLab is to DevOps, Convoy is to webhooks,” it says.

Founders : Subomi Oluwalana, the CEO, and Emmanuel Aina, Convoy’s chief operating officer, are software engineers who worked together at Tangerine Africa and independently at various local and international tech startups.

Quick thoughts : Convoy is one of the very few — if not the only– devs- and engineer-focused platforms from Africa to get into Y Combinator. As interest in webhooks continues to soar due to their importance in helping web applications communicate with each other in real-time, Convoy’s play, which allows developers globally simply plug its webhooks infrastructure and focus on building their APIs and products, is meritorious. 

Website : https://curacel.co

Founded in : 2019

Team size : 30 

What it says it does : Building Plaid for insurance in Africa.

Promises include : Curacel says it is building the rails to “make it easy and pleasant to get and use insurance in emerging markets and for the next billion Africans.”

Founders : Henry Mascot started a company in 2017 to help hospitals digitize records. He teamed up with John Dada two years later to build Curacel, a fraud detection system for health companies at the time.

Quick thoughts : In 2019, Curacel started with claims automation and fraud detection in health insurance with hospitals as its target market. Now, its insurance APIs are suited for businesses in other sectors, including fintech, e-commerce and logistics.

Insurance APIs from Curacel and other players such as Lami, Naked and Root are required to increase the uptake of insurance in Africa — where penetration stands at less than 3% — by allowing businesses to plug into them so they can offer insurance packages to different segments of the population.

YC-backed Curacel unveils new API platform that enables tech-led businesses to offer insurance

Website : https://www.dojah.io

Team size : 22 

What it says it does : An all-in-one know-your-customer (KYC) and identity verification platform for Africa.

Promises include : The company says its KYC/identity platform allows African fintechs and government bodies to capture a “wholistic, end-to-end verification of an individual.”

Founders : Tobi Ololade, the CEO, was the chief technological officer of TradeBuza, a data and API infrastructure for agriculture finance. Ayomide Oso, the company’s co-founder and product lead, also worked at TradeBuza.

Quick thoughts : There are only a handful of services tackling the problem of identification of Africans, who make up 81% of the people globally living without official proof of identity. So, Dojah is a welcome addition to a list that includes Smile Identity, giving fintechs and other companies more options to better verify their customers.

Website : www.tryduplo.com

Team size : 6

What it says it does : Venmo for B2B in Africa.

Founders : Among them is Yele Oyekola, the chief executive, who worked at Carbon and was an economic policy officer at the UN. He previously launched a buy now, pay later product in East Africa.

Quick thoughts : Innovation in Africa’s B2B e-commerce and retail space has been around the digitization of processes and BNPL services, but not much around cash overdependence and fraud. Duplo is tackling this head-on, creating digital wallets to help these stakeholders move money better and make cash obsolete. The only worry is incumbents might want to eat into Duplo’s meal — but then again, the market is massive.

YC-backed Duplo raises $1.3M pre-seed to build financial OS for B2B companies in Nigeria

Website : https://myeazipay.com

What it says it does : Eazipay, a payroll solution for African businesses, describes itself as the “Gusto for Africa.”

Promises include : The startup claims that its payroll payment solution can be set up in five minutes and is available for neobanks and commercial banks to reach at least 50,000 businesses. It also says it processes eight payroll payment types, from taxes and pension to insurance via its payment infrastructure. 

Founders : Before Eazipay, co-founder and CEO Asher Adeniyi started Gidijobs, a site for jobs in Nigeria. Kingsley Michael and Efosa Uwogiren are the other co-founders, with experience in machine learning, data science and product development.

Quick thoughts : Despite numerous HR management services, payroll is still an issue for many SMEs. Eazipay joins the list of HR, payroll and wellness solutions Y Combinator has recently backed in Africa, including Workpay and Nowpay, to tackle this problem.

Website : https://grey.co

Founded in : 2020

Team size : 15

What it says it does : Provides foreign bank accounts for remote workers.

Promises include : Grey provides foreign (USD, EUR, GBP) accounts for Africans. The startup says these foreign accounts let users receive their salaries or any other payment from foreign companies or individuals abroad, hold it in that form or convert it to their local currency.  

Founders : CEO Idorenyin Obong (ex-Paystack) and COO Joseph Femi Aghedo have worked on a couple of projects for local fintechs, including some volunteering experience with Andela and Ingressive Capital.

Quick thoughts : By taking the bureau de change model online, Grey is solving a convenience problem for freelancers and employees who work for foreign companies from Nigeria. While the platform can quickly dominate the Nigerian market, which isn’t enviously large and susceptible to regulatory scrutiny now and then, particularly around foreign exchange, Grey will need to expand into other countries to keep scaling.

Nigerian fintech Grey gets backing from Y Combinator

Website : heyfood.africa/

Team size : 5

Location : Ibadan, Nigeria

What it says it does : Heyfood is building the “DoorDash for Africa.”

Promises include : Heyfood is targeting Gen Zs, millennials and urban professionals in Africa’s top 70 cities — a number that might reach 140 million within the next decade — who want to order food once a week. With $1 made on every delivery, Heyfood believes it is taking on a $50 billion market.

Founders : CEO Taiwo Akinropo had launched a social discovery platform for students while in the university and worked on a mobile payment solution for merchants. Demilade, a software engineer that has worked for the likes of credit-led neobanks Carbon and Fairmoney, is the CTO.

Quick thoughts : Heyfood operates in Ibadan and that saves it the stress of competing with Jumia Food and Glovo all at once — the former is in Ibadan. However, if its goal is to build the DoorDash for Africa, expanding to Lagos and other megacities across Africa is inevitable — we’re pretty sure it’s in the company’s plans — and raising a ton of money is key to staying alive in a harsh market that has left many lying its wake.

Identity Pass

Website : https://myidentitypass.com

Team size : 17

What it says it does : Building compliance and security infrastructure for Africa.

Promises include : Identity Pass says its infrastructure makes it possible for digital businesses in Africa to “easily verify their customers within seconds.”

Founders : Among them is CEO Lanre Ogungbe, who was head of business at an accounting startup and is currently a strategic adviser for Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures.

Quick thoughts : Data and security are big business, and YC backing two similar companies in the same batch is an indicator of the success of YC-backed Cognito, which was acquired by Plaid, and Veriff, an Estonian unicorn.

Website: https://lenco.co

Founded in: 2021

Team size: 13

Location: Lagos, Nigeria

What it says it does: A pan-African neobank for Africa’s 50 million businesses.

Promises include: The platform provides multi-currency accounts for startups and businesses to pay vendors, suppliers and perform cross-border payments while having access to growth capital.

Founders : Among them is CEO Andrew Airelobhegbe, who says he was previously co-founder and CEO at ogaVenue, which he described as “Nigeria’s largest online event venue booking portal.”

Quick thoughts : Lenco plays in a slightly heated business banking space, which includes startups we have covered within the past year — Sparkle, Prospa, Float, and consumer neobanks Carbon and Kuda. There are millions of businesses that need the services these startups provide, and Lenco’s end-to-end suite — which will include corporate card management in the near future — makes it a player to watch.

Website: www.moni.africa/

Team size: 12

What it says it does: Moni describes itself as a community bank for Africa.

Promises include : In agency banking — a branchless banking system where agents act like human ATMs — liquidity problems abound that affect how these agents withdraw and deposit cash for their customers. That’s where Moni comes in.

It provides financing to these agents using community and trust-based systems, claiming to do so in five minutes. So far, it has disbursed over 10,000 loans and achieved 99% repayment with revenue growing 50% month-on-month.

Founders: Femi Iromini, the startup’s CEO, previously worked with The World Bank Group, and Adedapo Sobayo has experience in blockchain development.

Quick thoughts : Moni is YC’s third backing — after CrowdForce and Kudi, one of its most valuable companies on the continent — in the branchless banking space, where financial services are extended to the last mile via a network of agents.

Website : getnashglobal.com/

What it says it does : An all-in-one finance platform for borderless businesses in Africa.

Promises include : “Nash enables finance teams to manage all their finance flows in one place and craft their money flow experiences globally. Our ledger-based operating system allows your borderless business to connect all your money accounts, accounting systems, payment service providers, treasury operations, spend management in one place.”

Founders : CEO Anthony Wagacha, George Mbuthia and Lione Alushula have combined experience at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, KPMG, Microsoft and Central Bank of Kenya.

Quick thoughts : Yet another digital bank or banking-as-a-service model for businesses. As more businesses come online and expand across Africa, there’s a need for platforms like Nash to help finance teams manage and facilitate transactions between different accounts. 

Website: https://numida.com

Founded in: 2016

Team size: 60

Location: Kampala, Uganda

What it says it does: Numida provides working capital loans for African micro-businesses.

Promises include: Typically, micro-businesses will need to wait for weeks or months to borrow money from informal lenders, family or other sources like banks. Numida’s pitch to these businesses is that they can apply for working capital on its platform and receive it within a day.

Numida has provided $7.5 million in working capital to over 13,000 businesses in East Africa within the past 12 months.

How it says it differs from rivals: “We have figured out how to score and disburse unsecured loans to cash-based businesses that have no digital transaction history while maintaining excellent collection rates,” it says.

Founders : Numida CEO Mina Shahid is a two-time founder, while Ben Best, the CTO, has worked for a YC company in the past, and Catherin Denis, the COO, worked for several companies across Africa and South America. 

Quick thoughts : The provision of working capital to small and medium businesses is a viable solution in almost any market. In Uganda, these businesses deal with informal providers, most of which are loan sharks, and Numida, a startup founded six years ago and the first backed by YC in the country, is positioning itself as the foremost digital option.

MFS Africa leads $2.3M seed round in Ugandan fintech startup Numida

Website: https://payourse.com

Founded in: 2020

What it says it does: Builds tools and infrastructure for easy access to crypto in Africa.

Promises include: Payourse says its tools and infrastructure make it “easier, faster and cheaper” for anyone in Africa to access crypto and web3 services.

Founders : Among them is CEO Bashir Aminu, who said he previously built Coinprofile, a similar company enabling the sending and receiving of cryptocurrency.

Quick thoughts : Nigeria is one of the fastest-growing crypto markets globally, and local exchanges that allow people to send crypto and convert to fiat such as Payourse’s product Coinprofile are key to driving this growth. But Payourse sees its role as bigger than that; by building tools, it will allow other non-crypto businesses to offer crypto services and ultimately accelerate the use of crypto on the continent. 

Website: https://plumter.com

Team size: 2

What it says it does: Easy foreign payments for Africa.

Promises include : “We’re providing payment rails and APIs to help African merchants and consumers easily move money in and out of Africa.”

Founders : Until recently, Yinka Elujoba plied his trade as a writer and critic, contributing to The New York Times. Eni Joshua, on the other hand, is a software engineer who has worked with a couple of startups.

Quick thoughts : While there are a plethora of fintechs like Chipper Cash and NALA enabling P2P cross-border payments within and outside the continent, only a few are targeting businesses, especially around the Africa-China corridor. That’s where Plumter sees an opportunity and is pitching to help African importers process payments to China/APAC within 48 hours.

Remedial Health

Website: https://remedial.health

Team size: 10

What it says it does: A business-to-business e-commerce and fintech platform for pharmacies and hospitals in Africa.

Promises include: With pharmacies in Africa paying higher prices for counterfeit medicines, Remedial Health says its marketplace offers an alternative to higher-quality medicine with fast delivery (within 24 hours) and credit. It claims to sell medicine wholesale to 1 million pharmacies and hospitals in Africa.

Founders : Founder and CEO Samuel Okwuada is a self-taught engineer with experience as a pharmacist. Victor Benjamin, on the other hand, has worked for 10 years in pharma sales.

Quick thoughts : As various health techs try to digitize pharmacies and stem the supply of fake and substandard pharmaceutical products in Africa, Remedial Health is taking a step further to offer them credit via its BNPL offering. Not that it’s an ingenious proposition — given that the likes of mPharma do that already— but offering credit to businesses that previously had little or no access is noteworthy.

YC-backed Remedial Health raises $1 million pre-seed to digitize pharmacies in Nigeria

Website: http://www.sendme.ng

Team size: 40

Location: Ibadan, Nigeria

What it says it does: On-demand provider of meat to households and food businesses.

Promises include: “We built a chatbot that lets customers place orders for meat on WhatsApp and they get it within 3 hours.”

Founders: Daniel Afolayan is the CEO of Sendme; he previously worked as a growth lead at SeamlessHR before running an innovation hub and a logistics company.

Quick thoughts : As of 2019, Nigeria was said to account for half of West Africa’s meat consumption. And what better way to provide convenience to a meat-eating population than via apps or for SendMe, a chatbot. Though the Ibadan-based platform caters to individual households, it also serves food businesses, where it’ll face stiff completion from Vendease, another YC-backed company.

Simplifyd Systems

Website: https://simplifyd.com

Team size: 8

What it says it does: The company delivers toll-free internet apps.

Promises include: Simplifyd is a marketplace for data-free internet apps that, through its Zerodata app, enables businesses to deliver their internet apps (websites and mobile apps) data-free, similar to toll-free telephone lines. The company says it’s on a mission to “make apps accessible to over 2 billion people in emerging economies who simply cannot afford the costs of internet data subscriptions.”

Founders : CEO Tomi Amao, a former Cisco systems engineer, formerly led the team at Eyowo, a Nigerian fintech. Sam Keiru also spent some years at Cisco before co-founding Simplifyd.

Quick thoughts : Internet is expensive in Africa, and providing data-free access to apps and websites to those who can’t afford the costs of internet data subscriptions is one way to go to drive digital inclusion on the continent.

Website: https://tendo.app/

Team size: 15

Location: Accra, Ghana

What it says it does: Tendo says it enables Africans to sell stuff online with zero capital.

Promises include: Tendo connects local wholesalers — who can start using the platform with zero upfront inventory — to drop shippers. “Sellers are able to source products through Tendo and resell items using social commerce tools, such as WhatsApp, arrange delivery, and get paid,” it says.

How it says it differs from rivals: “At the moment, people who want to sell online need to save money, visit hundreds of suppliers to find a trusted one, and risk losing their capital by stocking up inventory. Beyond this, they need to incur costs for logistics and warehousing. We eliminate all that.”

Founders : Among them is CEO Felix Manford, who has some entrepreneurial experience as an engineer in training in MEST Africa , in addition to a stint with Goldman Sachs’ global investment research team. 

Quick thoughts : Africa’s biggest players in social commerce are in Egypt, such as Taager and Brimore. But businesses in other regions are showing that they have an appetite for reselling products via social apps, and YC, having backed Brimore, is likely more than pleased to have another portfolio company in the west of the continent. 

Website : topship.africa/

What it says it does :  A platform where merchants can export and import cargo, freight and parcels to their suppliers, distributors and customers; in other words, Flexport for Africa.

Promises include : Topship says it plans to build a “Global Distribution System” that makes delivery of parcels, cargo and freight easy for African businesses. 

Founders : CEO Moses Enenwali is a two-time e-commerce founder and supply chain operator. Junaid Babatunde is the other co-founder.

Quick thoughts : How many times have we seen YC back this kind of company? Its earliest success, Flexport (S14), is an $8 billion juggernaut, and the accelerator has continuously backed Flexport-esque companies in other regions globally: Nowports, Nuvocargo, Exo Freight, Trella and SEND — the last two from Africa, which signifies a sizable market opportunity for numerous players on the continent.

Touch and Pay Technologies

Website : www.touchandpay.me/

Team size : 55

What it says it does : Digitizes and processes microtransactions in Africa

Promises include : “We process cash-based microtransactions across Africa’s informal sector [such as] payment for bus rides. [Today] we help over 300,000 people make this payment.”

Founders : Olamide Afolabi previously founded a regional payment services company; Michael Oluwole was his director of strategy and operations.

Quick thoughts : Tap and Pay uses NFC technology to help companies from different sectors process payments. The platform — behind the card payments riders make on the bus rapid systems in Lagos — has bragging rights as one of the few companies to get the populace to adopt cashless payments seamlessly in Nigeria.

Website : https://vendy.money

Founded in : 2022

Team size : 9

What it says it does : Vendy enables offline payments in Africa. 

Promises include : The platform says its “alternative payment infrastructure” allows customers to pay businesses on their phones without internet access, payment card or consumer app.

Founders : Among them is Kayode Disu, who says he has over 12 years of experience in building digital security and payments products for “the top banks and payment switches in West Africa.”

Quick thoughts : USSD is Africa’s de-facto method of offline payments. And just in the manner where payment gateways such as Flutterwave and Paystack allow merchants to send payment links to their customers who pay via online banking, Vendy is doing the same with USSD. There are options for this on online payments gateways, but Vendy seems to have a lot more providers.

Travel and Hospitality Startups in Nigeria

1. Arik Air

Provider of passenger airline services

Operator of chartered flights and related services

Provider of bus operating services

4. Lagos Continental

Operator of standalone hotel

5. Nikky Taurus

Provider of car rental services

6. Transcorp

Nigeria based diversified conglomerate

7. OGA Hotels

Operator of hotels

8. Transcorp

9. Fybomide Travel

Provider of corporate travel management services

10. Chisco Transport

Provider of online booking and travel services

Explore our recently updated startup lists

• Travel and Hospitality Startups
• Startups in Nigeria
• Travel and Hospitality Startups in Latvia
• Travel and Hospitality Startups in Namibia
• Travel and Hospitality Startups in Germany
• Travel and Hospitality Startups in Italy
• Travel and Hospitality Startups in Malaysia
• Travel and Hospitality Startups in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Travel and Hospitality Startups in Southern Africa
• Travel and Hospitality Startups in Dominican Republic

BUSINESS Tourism Travel

Setting Up A Travel & Logistics Startup In Nigeria

1st May 2023

By nnaemeka-emmanuel

Industry Data

Setting it up, conduct market research, develop a business plan, register your business, secure funding, set up operations, develop strategic partnerships, implement marketing strategies, provide excellent customer service, embrace technology, focus on quality and safety, you might also like:, 7 easiest businesses to start in nigeria right now, ways smes can successfully make inroads in the nigerian market, the 7 consumer behaviours shaping the nigerian market, how to win your distribution game as a tech startup.

nnaemeka-emmanuel

Nnaemeka is an academic scholar with a degree in History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a creative writer, content creator, storyteller, and social analyst.

Comments (1)

One thought on “setting up a travel & logistics startup in nigeria”.

Nice write up, Nnaemeka! You exhaustively tackled the topic and I only want to add this little point: Expansion and Adaptation: Continuously monitor the market trends, customer preferences, and industry developments. Stay updated with technological advancements and adapt your business accordingly. Explore opportunities for expansion into new markets or diversification of services.

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Related Travel Research

The state of travel startups 2022.

Free for Open Access Subscribers

Phocuswright has tracked the digital travel startup landscape for well over a decade, and innovation in the travel industry has flourished during this period. Though the pandemic has proven to be a challenging period for funding, a significant comeback has occurred – with record funding recorded in 2021. Still, questions remain about the stability of the upswing as inflation and market uncertainty grow. Analysis of travel startups covers those founded since 2012 and includes funding rounds raised by these companies through May 2022. Leveraging Phocuswright’s proprietary interactive database, this updated report provides a comprehensive assessment and outlook for travel startups in today’s dynamic environment. Specific topics covered include:

• Analysis by year, type, region and category
• Funding activity by stage
• Market trends driving investment
• Focus on key verticals

To explore the data behind this analysis, please check out  The State of Travel Startups Interactive Database .

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Meet the 25 media leaders and innovators of the inaugural AI Journalism Lab cohort

• By Newmark J-School Staff
• Published on Friday, April 26th, 2024 at 9:50 am

The AI Journalism Lab at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, created in collaboration with Microsoft, is thrilled to introduce its inaugural cohort of 25 journalists, media leaders, academics, and artificial intelligence practitioners. These individuals are finding ways to navigate and harness generative AI in ethical ways that reinforce trust from communities and increase impact for their news organizations and the larger media industry.

“We’re thrilled to welcome these exceptional newsroom leaders and journalists to our program and eagerly anticipate witnessing the innovative projects they will embark on,” said Program Lead Nikita Roy, who is also the host of the Newsroom Robots podcast and is an ICFJ Knight Fellow. “Their diverse perspectives and expertise will undoubtedly shape the future of AI-powered journalism, inspiring impactful change within our industry.”

Our cohort comes from numerous countries across the world, including France, United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Philippines, Germany, Mongolia, India, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, and Nigeria. They come from all levels of management in editorial, business, audience or tech within news organizations or academia.

“By harnessing the potential of AI technology, journalists will have the tools needed to streamline operations, maximize efficiency, and foster long-term sustainability,” said Noreen Gillespie, Journalism Director at Microsoft’s Democracy Forward. 

The Lab will run from April 26 to June 28, 2024, with a break for the summer, and from September 27 to October 11, 2024. The program is virtual except for a mandatory in-person kick-off at the Newmark J-School in New York May 3-4.

AI JOURNALISM LAB INAUGURAL COHORT

Hannah Ajakaiye Pronouns: She/her/hers Current Location: California, United States Country of Origin: Nigeria Organization: FactsMatterNG Role: Founding Director

Hannah Ajakaiye is an award-winning journalist with a passion for leading innovation in African newsrooms. A native of Nigeria, she is a John S. Knight journalism fellow at Stanford where she is working on a project focused on combating disinformation on Encrypted Social Media Apps (EMA). She has also led fact-checking initiatives on elections and the Covid-19 pandemic as a Knight fellow with the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ). Hannah is the founding director of FactsMatterNG, an initiative collaborating with content creators and fact checking organizations to restore information integrity on digital platforms.

Twitter/X LinkedIn

Undral Amarsaikhan Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Country of Origin: Mongolia Organization: TenGer TV Mongolia Role: CEO & Co-Founder

Undral Amarsaikhan is the co-founder and CEO of TenGer TV, one of the leading news broadcasters in Mongolia. Under his leadership, TenGer TV has emerged as a trailblazer in the Mongolian media landscape, championing progressive agendas focused on critical issues such as climate, science, and technology, and setting new standards for journalistic excellence. Prior to his tenure at TenGer TV, Undral co-founded Unread Media, a pioneering hybrid media-tech startup committed to empowering the next generation through innovative storytelling and immersive community events. His commitment to utilizing media as a force for positive change and fostering meaningful dialogue has been the cornerstone of his career.

Zay Arguelles Pronouns: She/her/hers Current Location: Philippines Country of Origin: Philippines Organization: GMA Integrated News Digital Strategy and Innovation Lab (GMA Network Inc.) Role: Acting Supervising Producer

Zay Arguelles, a Filipino and British national currently based in the Philippines, is employed by GMA Network Inc., the leading broadcast company in the country. In their role as Acting Supervising Producer for GMA Integrated News Digital Strategy and Innovation Lab (DigiLab), Zay oversees various positions, including Executive Producer for the digital documentary program DigiDokyu, Climate Change Communications Specialist, and Innovation Lead. They also concentrate on managing internal collaborations and external partnerships. Zay completed a degree in journalism at City, University of London in 2015, where they took modules in humanitarian reporting and international news. They are a digital and social media native with training to work on different multimedia platforms. Zay is also an enthusiastic reader (with piles of to-be-read books and notes of to-buy lists) and a foodie (known to eat too much and take an unnecessary amount of #foodstagram photos).

Utkarsh Arora Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Noida, India Country of Origin:  India Organization: Times Internet (Times of India Group) Role: Senior Director – Product Management

Utkarsh is a seasoned Product & Growth leader with 10+ years of experience at India’s category leading brands across domains – Travel, Advertising, Tech-Logistics & Media, with expertise in subscription programs, churn management, scaling consumer engagement & revenue. Currently, as Senior Director of Product at Times Internet, he leads Data-Products, Platforms & Governance across multiple flagship brands including Economic Times & Times of India. Previously, he has served as a Director on the Regional Board of International News Media Association (INMA), alongside CXOs from South Asia’s top media houses. He has won global recognition from leading industry bodies: US-based INMA’s 30-under-30 award, INMA-Grand Prize Winner, Global Rising Star in Media by UK-based FIPP. In 2022, he was featured in ‘Product50’, the list of 50 most impactful global leaders in Product alongside accomplished leaders from Google, Etsy, AmEx etc. He actively supports journalism sustainability initiatives & has served as a Product expert at INMA, Google News Initiative and the INMA & Meta Journalism Project – Audience Accelerator program.

Ali Ihsan Aydin Pronouns : He/him/his Current Location: Brussels, Belgium Country of Origin:  Turkey Organization: Euronews Role: Editor-in-Chief, Head of Innovation

Ali Ihsan Aydin is a digital media leader with over 20 years of experience in journalism, overseeing multinational newsrooms and spearheading digital editorial development. Throughout his career, Ali has successfully orchestrated the transformation of intricate traditional newsrooms, established pioneering digital editorial teams renowned for delivering consistent audience engagement and revenue growth, and devised innovative editorial workflows. His expertise lies in revolutionizing newsrooms, crafting audience-centric content strategies, and developing captivating editorial products and formats to expand audiences and generate new revenue streams. Ali firmly believes that journalism, empowered by technological advancements, holds greater significance and excitement than ever before. However, he advocates for its evolution to comprehensively understand and meet audience needs, as well as to continually innovate to enhance its value and impact. With a PhD in Political Science and Government from Sciences Po Paris, Ali brings a wealth of academic knowledge to complement their practical experience in the field of journalism.

Dustin Block Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location:  Detroit, Michigan, United States Country of Origin:  United States Organization:  Graham Media Group Role: Audience Development Lead

Dustin Block is the Audience Development Lead at Graham Media Group, a role in which he oversees audience engagement strategies across multiple platforms, including TV and digital media. With over two decades of experience in local media, Block has made significant contributions to the industry, particularly through innovative content strategies and digital content production.

Caiwei Chen Pronouns: She/her/hers Current Location: New York, New York, United States Country of Origin: China Organization:  Rest of World Role: Reporter

Caiwei Chen is a journalist, writer and podcaster based in Brooklyn, New York. She is currently the China reporter at Rest of World, a nonprofit publication that covers technology outside of the Western bubble. Her work has been seen in publications including Wired, South China Morning Post, Protocol, TechNode, Rolling Stone, and Radii in both English and Chinese. She was part of Chaoyang Trap, a Substack newsletter about having fun on the Chinese internet. Caiwei is originally from Xiangyang, Hubei in China, and grew up on the fascinating place of Chinese internet. Her journey in journalism is driven by a deep fascination with China’s vibrant tech scene and rich online culture, as well as the cross-border exchange of business practices and ideas mediated by digital technology. Currently, she is dedicated to writing human stories at the intersection of tech, culture, and society, for audience both inside and outside of the Great Firewall. Caiwei is more online than she would like to admit. On Twitter/X, she is @CaiweiC. Learn more at www.chencaiwei.com.

Russel Chun Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Brooklyn, New York, United States Country of Origin: United States Organization:  Hofstra University Role:  Associate Professor

Russell Chun is an associate professor in the Department of Journalism, Media Studies, and Public Relations at the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University where he teaches multimedia storytelling, design, and data journalism. His research focuses on visual communication, data visualization, and information design, and has been published in The Journal of Visual Literacy, Visual Studies, and Visual Communication Quarterly, where he serves as an associate editor. Previously, he worked as a medical illustrator, senior producer at an educational publisher, and developer of interactive animations.

David Cohn Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Berkeley, California, United States Country of Origin: United States Organization:  Advance Local Role:  Senior Director of Research & Development

Over the past fifteen years, David Cohn played a role in early initiatives that explored new ways to create, manage, and distribute news and engage the audience. In 2008, he launched the first platform dedicated to crowdfunding for journalistic projects. Following this he was the Chief Content Officer of Circa, a startup that aimed to transform the news consumption experience on mobile devices. Cohn then served as an Executive Producer at AJ+, a branch of Al Jazeera aimed at redefining how social video could be leveraged by news organizations. Currently, he holds the position of senior director at Advance Digital’s Alpha Group, where he contributes to internal startup projects like JoinSubtext.com and exploring new ideas and strategies within the company.

Selymar Colón Pronouns: She/her/hers Current Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico Country of Origin: Puerto Rico Organization:  GFR Media Role:  Executive Director, Digital

Selymar Colón is the Executive Director for Digital at GFR Media in Puerto Rico. She oversees the digital aspects of leading newspapers El Nuevo Día and Primera Hora. Colón has a background spent the academic year 2019-2020 as a Nieman fellow at Harvard. Before her current role, she was the head of digital news at Univision. She led a team focused on digital storytelling and social media, contributing to Univision’s receipt of top industry honors, including a World Press Photo award for Digital Video. Recognized by The Huffington Post as a prominent Latina under 40 in American politics, Colón has a master’s degree in Investigative Journalism and a bachelor’s degree in Communications and Business.

Rodney Gibbs Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Atlanta, Georgia, United States Country of Origin: United States Organization: National Trust for Local News Role: Head of Product and Audience

Rodney is Head of Product and Audience for The National Trust for Local News, which owns over 60 small newsrooms across the U.S. He leads the Trust’s product innovation, artificial intelligence strategy, and audience development efforts. As Chief Product Officer of The Texas Tribune for eight years, he helped grow it into an exemplary digital newsroom. During his tenure, he spearheaded the Tribune’s Revenue Lab, helping news organizations nationwide in discovering new revenue streams and expanding their audiences. With a proven track record of founding and successfully selling two startups, Rodney has also been instrumental in driving digital transformation within traditional media. An active member of the digital journalism community, Rodney serves on the board of the Online News Association and co-chairs the 2024 Online Journalism Awards.

Monsur Hussain Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Abuja, Nigeria Country of Origin: Nigeria Organization: Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development Role: Head of Innovation

Monsur Hussain is a Computer Scientist with expertise in Media Tech, AI Ethics, Intelligent Automation, Web Development, and Project Management. Currently, he leads the Innovation team at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), where he spearheads the development of impactful media tech solutions.

Blake Montgomery Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: New York, New York, United States Country of Origin: United States Organization:  The Guardian US Role: Tech Editor

Blake Montgomery is a journalist and fiction author in New York City, where he edits tech news at The Guardian US. He previously managed and edited the tech news and consumer tech teams at Gizmodo. He has published work in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, BuzzFeed News, and Vice’s Motherboard. He was once arrested and jailed in Seattle for a story on deadly testicular injections.

Lucy Nicholson Pronouns: She/her/hers Current Location: London, United Kingdom Country of Origin: United Kingdom, United States, & Poland Organization:  The Associated Press Role: Director of Photography

Lucy Nicholson is Director of Photography for The Associated Press, where she leads global photo coverage. She has a master’s degree in journalism, science and climate from Columbia University; studied international politics at Penn State; and attended the Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, where she participated in a program in news innovation and leadership. Lucy joined the AP from Reuters, where she led the agency’s photography in Europe. She was previously a staff photographer for Reuters, based in Los Angeles for 17 years. She was a 2019 Pulitzer Prize winner in Breaking News Photography for Reuters team coverage of migration.

Swagatika Priyadarshini Pronouns: She/her/hers Current Location: New York, New York, United States Country of Origin: India Organization:  Reuters News Agency Role: Director of Strategy & Planning

Swagatika Priyadarshini is the Director of Strategy & Planning at Reuters News Agency. Swagatika has been with Thomson Reuters for more than 10 years, managing versatile roles in strategy and product. In her current role, she is focused on growing the Agency business through strategic initiatives and identifying new opportunities eg. AI, new customer segments etc. She was previously Director of Reuters Connect, the award-winning platform from Reuters. Swagatika is a member of the Agency Leadership Team and is based in New York. She is an avid book-lover, traveler and fitness enthusiast.

Ole Reissman Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Hamburg, Germany Country of Origin: Germany Organization:  Der Spiegel Role: Director of AI

Ole Reissmann is a journalist with over 15 years of experience in editorial development, digital innovation, product management, and platform strategies. Throughout his career, he has launched podcasts, apps, newsletters, and a news brand. Ole also teaches at universities and has studied political science and journalism.

Gabriel Ribeiro Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: São Paulo, Brazil Country of Origin: Brazil Organization:  UOL Role: Editor

Gabriel Ribeiro, a journalist with over 14 years of editorial experience, nearly nine of which were at UOL, the biggest website in Brazil. Throughout that time, he primarily worked in sections such as Sports and Technology. However, more recently, he spent three years focusing on SEO strategy. Since August 2023, Gabriel has been involved in the field of new artificial intelligence innovations, seeking opportunities for the organization and analyzing AI tools.

Nico Russo Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina Country of Origin: Argentina Organization: SAOViVO Role:  Founder

Nico Russo is the founder of SAOViVO, a free and open-source software that makes live streaming on YouTube more accessible for newsrooms. He has over 15 years of experience managing digital media outlets and launching innovative projects that have earned him several grants and fellowships from organizations like Google News Initiative, Meta, LSE’s Polis, and The International Center for Journalists. Since 2015 he has been a part of Media Party, one of the most important events in Latin America about the use of technology in journalism.

Nick Saffan Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Washington, D.C., United States Country of Origin: United States Organization: The Washington Post Role:  Audience Strategy Editor

Nick Saffan joined the Post Opinions section in 2023, where he works on a variety of audience projects and initiatives. Before that he was a multiplatform editor on the Emerging News Products team.

Ludwig Siegele Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Berlin, Germany Country of Origin: Germany Organization: The Economist Role:  Audience Strategy Editor

Ludwig joined The Economist as US technology correspondent in 1998. In 2003 he moved to Berlin as the newspaper’s Germany correspondent, before relocating to London in 2008 to cover the IT industry. In 2019 he returned to San Francisco as US technology editor, before moving again to Berlin as European business editor in early 2022. In early 2024, he became the newspaper’s senior editor for AI initiatives. Ludwig started his journalistic career in 1990 as the Paris business correspondent of Die Zeit, a German weekly. In 1995 he moved from France to California to write about the internet for several German publications. He holds a degree in economics and political science from Cologne University and degrees in journalism from the Kölner Journalistenschule and the Centre de Formation des Journalists (CFJ) in Paris. He is also co-author of a book on SAP (“Matrix der Welt – SAP und der neue globale Kapitalismus”). From November 2018 to March 2019 Ludwig was Mercator Technology Fellow at the policy-planning unit of the German Foreign Office in Berlin.

Clare Spencer Pronouns: She/her/hers Current Location: United Kingdom Country of Origin: United Kingdom Organization: Newsquest Role:  AI Project Coordinator

Clare Spencer is a coordinator of a team of local newspaper and online journalists who utilize generative AI. Previously, she worked as a product owner in a research and development team, collaborating with software engineers to create prototypes of tools for journalists. Clare has a background as a journalist herself, with more than a decade of experience in the field.

Chitranshu Tewari Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Delhi, India Country of Origin: India Organization: Newslaundry Role:  Director of Product & Revenue

Chitranshu is the Product and Revenue Director at Newslaundry – India’s most successful subscription news media outlet. He has led the organisation’s growth from a few hundred subscribers to a community of more than 60K+ paying readers. For the last eight years, he has led teams that have built and scaled Newslaundry’s business, tech, product, and audience engagement. He and his team have shipped some of the most awarded news products in India – ranging from apps, and websites to native podcast players. He also curates The Media Rumble, an annual media forum that brings together journalists, business leaders, investors and policymakers. His work has been recognised by international awards and honours, including the World Youth Summit Award by the United Nations GAID, the WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards, the Laadli Media Award and the INMA Global Media Awards. Outside work, he is an amateur cyclist – always looking to climb the next hill on his bike.

Priyanka Vora Pronouns: She/her/hers Current Location: New York, New York, United States Country of Origin: India Organization: Axios Role:  Director of Audience

Priyanka Vora is an award-winning journalist who focuses on the intersection of product, business, and strategy. Currently, she is the Audience Director at Axios and has previously worked for Quartz, Business Insider, Financial Times, Scroll, and Hindustan Times.

Rignam Wangkhang Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Toronto, Canada Country of Origin: Canada Organization: CBC Toronto Role:  Community Producer

Rignam Wangkhang is an award-winning journalist and producer. He is currently the Community Producer for CBC Toronto, where he is helping the newsroom experiment with new ways of engaging underserved communities in the GTA. Previously, he was Producer with the CBC Creator Network. In this role he worked with a select roster of digital storytellers to amplify the voices of young, diverse Canadians. Rignam also served as Chair of DiversifyCBC, an Employee Resource Group that champions diversity, fosters belonging and is a catalyst for change in the way CBC thinks about people and programming. After producing a radio documentary about his father’s escape from Tibet, Rignam co-founded The Chyssem Project. The project is a grassroots community oral history initiative to create a permanent archival record and book on the first Tibetans who arrived in Canada in the early 1970s.

Rune Ytreberg Pronouns: He/him/his Current Location: Tromsø, Norway Country of Origin: Norway Organization: MEDIEHUSET ITROMSØ AS Role:  Data Editor

Rune Ytreberg (55) has for 30 years worked with data-driven and investigative journalism, at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and the daily business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv. Since 2020 he has headed iTromsø’s data journalism lab, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to develop new editorial tools for 70 local newspapers in the Polaris Media Group in Norway. He has a master degree in business journalism and has received several journalism awards for his investigative data journalism. Ytreberg has a long experience in journalism product development and teaches data-driven investigative journalism at several universities. He is currently board member of the AI steering committee in the Polaris Media Group, the AI Group in Norways Mediacompanies Organisation (MBL) and the network Media in Artificial Intelligence (MAI). Ytreberg lives in the city Tromsø in the northern part of Norway with his wife Ingeborg and has four children.

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