Startups Emerge for Qualcomm Make in Africa 2025

Qualcomm has announced the shortlisted startups for Qualcomm Make in Africa 2025. The Qualcomm Africa Innovation Platform, now in its third year, supports the development of Africa’s deep technology ecosystem by providing mentorship, and technical, business and IP training programmess with a focus on 5G, Edge-AI/ML, Compute, and IoT.

This year, Qualcomm received an overwhelming response, with approximately 435 applications from 19 countries. 

The 2025 cohort had 10 startups announced for the third year of the Qualcomm Make in Africa startup incubation programme.

Eligibility for stipends and award of 2025 Wireless Reach Social Impact Fund,

supporting startups in scaling their societal and market impact. 

As the first initiative of its kind in Africa, Qualcomm Make in Africa is an equity-free mentorship program that identifies promising early-stage and deep-technology startups eager to use advanced connectivity and processing technologies such as 5G, on-device Edge-AI/ML, Compute, and IoT in innovative end-to-end systems solutions.

The startups have demonstrated exceptional potential in applying advanced connectivity and processing technologies to innovative end-to-end systems solutions. The selected startups will receive free hardware platforms, mentorship, business coaching, access to engineering consultations for product development, and guidance on protecting intellectual property.