Startup Nigeria is a nationwide talent show for entrepreneurship, reality-TV energy with real capital on the line. We built it because great ideas in Nigeria too often stay great ideas: founders with real, scalable products struggle to get in front of the people who could fund them, and the public rarely gets to watch or back the startups being built around them.
So we made it a show. Founders apply and pitch their business or product. Selected participants get 90 days to build in public, sharing their journey through weekly videos on our platform. The public votes for their favorites (real money, real stakes, ₦1,000 per vote), and investors can fund any participant directly. At the Grand Finale, the startups with the strongest public backing compete on stage for investor funding.
Every naira from votes and funding goes toward helping a founder build. No middlemen, no gatekeeping. Just founders, the public, and the investors willing to back them.
Days of public voting per season, start to Grand Finale.
Per vote. Every vote adds real funding pressure behind a founder.
Of investor funding goes directly to the startup, no middlemen.
Applications for Season 1 are open now.