African Leadership International (ALI), an organisation dedicated to driving innovation in Africa and across the globe, has obtained the rights to the renowned ‘Global Finder’ platform for tech startups from Israel-based Start-Up Nation Central (SNC), an organisation that promotes Israeli innovation to the world.
Renamed The FutureList, the platform is positioned to become an essential resource for the global innovation ecosystem.
ALI initially embarked on a partnership with Start-Up Nation Central in 2021 and has seen impressive results from using its platform to map the booming startup scene in Africa–which saw record years for funding in 2021 and 2022, with $4.85 billion raised last year.
The platform was developed based on the expertise and knowledge of Start-Up Nation Central, a nonprofit organisation that has played a vital role in strengthening Israel’s innovation ecosystem, promoting its vibrant tech community, and creating significant visibility for Israeli startups. Start-Up Nation Finder is SNC’s engagement platform, encompassing over 7000 Israeli tech startups, 850 investors, 400 multinational corporations, and 375 hubs.
Today, Israel is known as the ‘Startup Nation’ with one of the highest number of startups per capita worldwide–most of which can be found on the Finder platform.
“For two decades our goal has been to transform Africa and make a global impact through innovation, and we see entrepreneurship as one of the most powerful forces to do this,” says Fred Swaniker, Founder and CEO of ALI.
“We’ve been thoroughly impressed with the catalytic role Start-Up Nation Central has played in Israel’s innovation ecosystem, and we hope to replicate that success with The FutureList. This is an exciting opportunity to shine a spotlight on tech startups across Africa and around the world, thereby helping entrepreneurs to grow and get connected to global capital, talent, investors, and other crucial resources.”
Over the last year, ALI has used the platform to map detailed insights and trends of 3000 African tech start-ups, 1000 investors, 300 accelerators and incubators, and 150 innovative multinational corporations. Utilising a team of professional analysts and researchers, ALI has curated a database of more than 4 000 active players in the innovation ecosystem across the continent.
The FutureList will build on this success to focus on the global landscape, showcasing and connecting startups, investors, innovative corporations, and hubs worldwide. It provides an ideal opportunity for investors to explore partnerships with founders shaping the future of tech in various sectors, enabling growth-stage startups to unlock access to global capital and global markets.
“ALI is the best partner to take this endeavour to the next stage in Africa and we are excited to see its evolution with the launch of The FutureList,” says Avi Hasson, Start-Up Nation Central’s CEO. “We are confident that ALI will continue to scale this mission by leading the innovation efforts across Africa and key sectors worldwide, inspiring young entrepreneurs, boosting local economies, and supporting the development of a robust and collaborative ecosystem through research, knowledge, and insights.”
Providing free and accessible data and profiles along with a weekly newsletter and a host of online and offline events, The FutureList will create a vibrant community for collaboration across the ecosystem. It aims to bring visibility to technology start-ups in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the USA. It will also facilitate flows of social and financial capital to entrepreneurs and provide insights to policy makers.
“Any investor or multinational looking for the most innovative start-ups in tech can now go to one place to find them–The FutureList. We also look forward to profiling many of the entrepreneurs we develop at ALI on this platform.
Ultimately, this is part of our contribution to fostering innovation and job creation in Africa and throughout the world,” Swaniker adds.
For more information, visit www.thefuturelist.com.
