NBA Africa has concluded the second cycle of its Triple Double Accelerator program, distributing a total of $70,000 in cash prizes to five standout startups that are developing groundbreaking solutions for the sport and entertainment sectors across the continent. This pivotal program, designed to nurture Africa’s technology ecosystem, celebrated its winners following a competitive process where ten finalists—selected from a robust pool of over 700 applications spanning 32 African countries—pitched their innovations on Demo Day at the Carnegie Mellon University Africa (CMU Africa) campus in Kigali, Rwanda. The success of the accelerator is reinforced by major partners, including CMU Africa, ServiceNow, OpenAI, and ALX Ventures, which together provide the robust support infrastructure for these early-stage ventures.
The five prize-winning companies—Morocco’s Reborn, Egypt’s Fitclan and Athlon Technology, and Nigeria’s Atsur and Songdis—all secured financial backing and gained automatic entry into the prestigious CMU Africa 12-month Business Incubation Program. This comprehensive program focuses on helping the startups evolve their proof-of-concept prototypes into scalable, market-ready products, with the total value of this support package reaching up to $70,000 per company. The top three firms, Reborn, Fitclan, and Athlon Technology, received additional high-value resources: $10,000 in API credits each and an exclusive opportunity for an immersion day with the OpenAI engineering team at their headquarters, reflecting a strong focus on advanced technology integration.
Morocco’s Reborn secured the first-place prize of $25,000 for its platform that furnishes athletes with detailed performance indicators to optimize their physical conditioning. Fitclan, from Egypt, was the second-place recipient, earning $15,000 for its digital fitness hub offering flexible subscription models. Third place went to Athlon Technology ($5,000), which employs mobile technology and artificial intelligence for video analysis targeting amateur sports teams. The two Nigerian ventures, Atsur (4th) and Songdis (5th), each received $2,500 for their focus on leveraging blockchain for African art investment and providing digital distribution for independent musicians, respectively. NBA Africa CEO Clare Akamanzi commended the founders for their innovative approaches, asserting that the solutions developed by these prize-winners are actively shaping the future of sport and entertainment both locally and on a global scale.
