The inaugural Entertainment Week Africa (EWA) concluded its intensive four-day Deal Room program (November 19-22), successfully establishing itself as a vital engine for investment in the continent's creative and tech economies. Dedicated to its theme, “Close the Gap”, the program brought together high-potential African startups, investors and expert advisors, resulting in actionable outcomes for early-stage companies.
This year's cohort demonstrated a remarkable maturity, with advisors focused on helping founders strengthen their value propositions to successfully close potential investment deals. Of the 10 initial finalists, 8 high-potential companies completed the full program and inspired investors, securing significant follow-up meetings and generating significant investor interest.
Kemdi AB, Co-Founder and CEO, EnterFive Inc., and Lead Mentor of EWA Deal Room, highlighted the impressive progress: “This year's Deal Room group really raised the bar. Compared to last year, the progress was clear. Founders came away more prepared, more intentional, and far more grounded in building sustainable, investable businesses. We also saw exciting new industries emerging from art-tech to sports-tech, bringing new dynamics into that mix. Add to that what we are already using. Many startups came up with and walked away with new investment and/or partnership commitments, reflecting the increased urgency and maturity they have demonstrated this year. My hope is that the momentum they have built here will become a launchpad for long-term success, shaping the next wave of creative and tech leaders across Africa.
Activate (martech/creator economy), a creator marketing platform, has already generated nearly six figures in revenue and processed over $740,000 in GMV. The company is seeking strategic partners to accelerate growth and market expansion, leveraging Activate's dashboard to streamline brand-maker collaboration. – FriendPal (HealthTech), Africa's first predictive, multilingual AI mental health platform, has delivered over 10,000 therapy sessions and prevented 70 suicidal crises. Raising a pre-seed round of $500,000, the platform is using behavioral AI to close Africa's critical mental health care gap. – Grower (Future of Work/HRTech) is solving global recruitment inefficiencies as an AI-powered work platform, connecting vetted African tech talent with global businesses. The company boasts of very good numbers in total revenue as well as monthly recurring revenue, aiming to grow its talent infrastructure in the US market. – SportsReels (Sports/Entertainment), a sports recruiting system, streamlines the scouting and transfer processes for young athletes from emerging markets, featuring 2.3k emerging talents on the platform.
The group's standouts also include HalfAfricaPlay (Music Tech), a pan-African music streaming and distribution platform built for independent artists. With a rapidly growing user base and strong year-to-date earnings, HalfricPlay is raising a $1M seed round to launch its distribution arm, Halfric Distro, across the continent. – Prop'ly (Creative & Entertainment), described as the “Airbnb for props”, is Nigeria's largest prop rental platform, supporting over 450 productions in 2024. The company is increasingly balancing demand from its physical prop house and concept studio while mapping out scalable tech solutions, including AI, to broaden its reach. – Finally, Atsur (Fine Arts) is tackling market security by verifying and tracking the ownership history of fine art using AI and blockchain technology, raising a $200,000 pre-seed round to validate institutional adoption and secondary-market liquidity for African art.
One of this year's standout startups, Atsur, has already registered a major milestone following the EWA Deal Room – winning at the NBA Africa Triple Double Accelerator in Rwanda. Company placed among top five winners out of ten startups, securing prize money after strong pitch performance
The success of the Deal Room program underlines the strong and growing ecosystem committed to African creative and tech enterprises. Investors supporting the Deal Room and parallel hackathon included several active angel investors as well as investors from Future Africa, Askya Investment Partners, Catalyst Fund and Consonance Invest.
Founder of Entertainment Week Africa, Devla Art Alade, confirmed the festival's long-term vision: “Our ambition in the coming years is to establish Entertainment Week Africa as an important part of the economic, intellectual and artistic capital of this great city. We are delighted to take the first steps in this direction.”
The next edition of Entertainment Week Africa is scheduled for November 17-22, 2026, promising expanded pan-African programming and a continued commitment to accelerating creative-industry growth.
Registration for EWA 2026 is now open on the website.
