Two Kenyan startups have won Meta's first AI pitch contest in Nairobi. Neural Labs Africa and Me-Nasoma took the top prizes at the inaugural AI Academy Kenya Pitchathon, held on Friday and organised by Meta with the Nairobi-based AI accelerator This Is Digital, TechTrendsKE reported on 19 October.
Each winner receives $5,000 in equity-free funding, which Capital FM puts at about Sh645,000, along with advertising credits from Meta. Both have also been invited to pitch at Meta's Regional AI Summit in Istanbul on 24 November.
The winners
- Neural Labs Africa won with NeuralSight, a tele-radiology platform that connects health facilities with remote specialists for diagnostic reporting, built to work in areas with limited internet, according to TechTrendsKE.
- Me-Nasoma converts documents and web pages into audio in local languages through mobile, web and browser-extension versions. It targets students, professionals and readers who struggle with written content.
The rest of the field
The other finalists give a fair picture of what Kenyan founders are building with AI right now. TechTrendsKE lists HakiChain, a legal tool trained on African law; Sawazisha AI, a WhatsApp assistant that helps small businesses comply with the Kenya Revenue Authority's eTIMS invoicing; O.C.A., which audits Social Health Authority medical claims before they are submitted; and TemboTrade, a sales, inventory and M-Pesa payments platform for small businesses.
Sarah Muyonga, Meta's public policy manager for East and Horn of Africa, said the partnership with government and local ecosystem partners is helping expand access to "AI skills, tools and opportunities in Kenya", as quoted by TechTrendsKE. Greg Wanjama, co-founder and chief executive of This Is Digital, said the aim is to connect local talent with technology, industry expertise and a wider stage. Meta has run similar AI Academy programmes in Nigeria, TechTrendsKE notes.
Meta also used the event to cite a May 2026 study by Public First, which Meta commissioned, finding that 81% of online adults in sub-Saharan Africa believe AI products developed in the region will matter for economic growth. That is a sponsor's number, and it says more about Meta's positioning than about the startups. The startups' job now is to turn a Nairobi stage into paying customers.
