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Accelerator · Foster City, California, United States

Visa Accelerator Program for Africa

A free three-month hybrid accelerator for fintech startups operating in Africa, from seed to Series A. Cohorts get mentoring, Visa product training and a demo day with Visa, Plug and Play and other investors.

Closed Run by Visa, with Plug and Play

Apply on the programme's site Programme website

Verified 19 October 2026 · From the programme's own pages

Terms

Funding
not published
Instrument
No investment
Equity taken
not published
Programme fee
No fee No fees; startups pay their own visas, flights and other costs, and Visa covers accommodation for one founder at the in-person demo day
Duration
12 weeks
Cohort size
not published
Cohorts
not published
Delivery
Hybrid
Stages
Seed, post-seed
Sectors
Fintech
Open to founders from
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Perks
  • One-to-one mentoring with founders and industry experts
  • Visa fintech training and access to the Visa developer portal
  • Product perks and discounts from over 100 vendors, with a combined value of about US$200,000
  • Demo day with Visa, Plug and Play and regional and global venture capital investors

Onboarding week, ten virtual focus weeks, an investor week and an in-person demo day. Visa or Plug and Play may consider investing at the end of the program; the page expects up to half of a cohort could receive an investment.

Application dates

Closed2026 cohort

Usual timing: Applications for Cohort 7 are open; the closing date is not published. In 2026 applications closed on 17 May, the cohort was announced on 31 July and it ran from 31 August to 30 November.

Who can apply

  • Seed to Series A startups with at least a minimum viable product
  • Existing operations in Africa, or a strong commitment to expand into African markets
  • Solutions in payments, embedded finance, merchant and SME tools, payment infrastructure or inclusive finance
  • Startups may not be enrolled in another accelerator during the program
  • Stage: seed, post-seed

What founders should check

  1. The programme does not publish how much equity it takes. Ask before you accept a place.
  2. It charges no programme fee.
  3. It mixes remote and in-person sessions in Foster City. Ask how much time on site it expects.
  4. The last window we track closed on 17 May 2026. Applications for Cohort 7 are open; the closing date is not published. In 2026 applications closed on 17 May, the cohort was announced on 31 July and it ran from 31 August to 30 November.

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