SANTIAGO / LAGOS — Adeola Ayoola, the founder of the Nigerian healthtech platform Famasi, has been named one of the top 10 finalists for the 2026 Aurora Tech Award. Selected from a record-breaking pool of 3,400 applications across 127 countries, Ayoola will travel to Santiago, Chile, to pitch for funding and access to a global venture capital (VC) network designed specifically to scale women-led tech companies in emerging markets.
The Aurora Tech Award, powered by inDrive, aims to address a stark disparity in global tech: while all-women-founded companies returned 2x more revenue per dollar invested in 2025, they received just 1.4% of total global VC funding.
Famasi: Digitizing the Pharmacy Backbone
Adeola Ayoola’s startup, Famasi, is a seed-stage platform tackling the “fragmented supply chain” in Nigeria’s healthcare sector.
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Real-Time Inventory: The platform allows pharmacies to manage operations and view stock levels across a wider network in real time.
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Smart Routing: When a patient presents a prescription, Famasi’s technology routes the order to the nearest pharmacy that actually has the medicine in stock, reducing wait times and improving health outcomes.
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Economic Impact: By optimizing stock management, Famasi helps small and medium-sized pharmacies reduce waste and increase turnover.
The 2026 Finalists: A Global Snapshot
The 10 finalists represent the “high-impact” sectors identified in our Intelligence Divide analysis, spanning AI, fintech, and sustainability. Nigeria and Kenya represent the African frontier in this year’s top 10:
| Founder | Company & Country | Sector | Stage |
| Adeola Ayoola | Famasi (Nigeria) | Healthtech | Seed |
| Penny Musengi | Pesira Tech (Kenya) | Agritech | Seed |
| Mariana Zuliani | OncoAI (Brazil) | Healthtech | Pre-seed |
| Mercedes Bidart | Quipu (Colombia) | Fintech | Seed |
| Estefanía Abello | Muta (Colombia) | Sustainability | Seed |
The “Female Founder” Multiplier Effect
The 2026 Aurora Tech Award highlights a critical economic truth: supporting female founders is a high-yield investment.
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Efficiency: All-women teams accounted for 6.2% of global VC exit value in 2025, despite receiving minimal funding.
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Strategic Support: Beyond the cash prize (previous Nigerian winners like Solape Akinpelu won $30,000), the award provides alumni with a “leverage network” to navigate the complexities of emerging markets.
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Sector Diversity: The 2026 cohort shows a shift toward AI-driven insights (OncoAI) and digital traceability (Muta), proving that women-led firms are at the forefront of the new technological epoch.
