The Africa Startup Festival (ASF) Lagos 2025, held on Friday, November 28, 2025, at the Balmoral Convention Centre, Federal Palace, Victoria Island, successfully concluded the year as one of the continent’s most critical gatherings for deal-making and innovation. Attracting over 3,000 attendees from across Africa, the festival was a dynamic environment for innovations and partnerships.
The startup festival featured a robust lineup of over 30 industry-leading speakers across the Main Stage and Impact Stage, bringing perspectives from venture capital, high-growth startups, and corporate tech.
The day was defined by high-value, no-fluff conversations that centred not just on raising money, but on building lasting value and operational excellence in challenging markets.
The voices shaping Africa’s tomorrow
The Main Stage hosted a stellar lineup of thought leaders, including Kola Aina, Founding Partner at Ventures Platform Fund; Chidi Iwuchukwu, Executive Director, Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria; Ifedayo Durosinmi-Etti, Founder/CEO of Herconomy; and Nobuhiko Ichimiya, Managing Director at AAIC Nigeria.
Their panel sessions, fire-side chats, and keynotes provided clarity on navigating the current global funding climate, the tech ecosystem, operations, and the non-negotiables for success on the continent.
One of the most interesting tensions running through ASF 2025 was the widening trust gap between founders and investors.
“The truth is, a lot of things that scale cost money; they require capital. One thing you’ll find once you start building a startup is that it’s very easy to want to build or automate systems, but once you start doing that, you realise that engineering resources are very expensive,” Yanmo Omorogbe, Co-founder and COO of Bamboo, shared during a session.
The panel sessions made it clear that global capital is becoming more cautious about Africa, not because the opportunities have shrunk, but because the distance between narratives and data has widened. Several investors insisted that founders must move from theory to performance proof.
Other sessions focused on agritech, EVs, health tech, retail distribution, payments, and logistics, where the conversation leaned into the part of African tech that rarely makes headlines.
“Automation unlocks value. It saves time and cost, and so businesses become more profitable. Those profits can then be reinvested into creating value or as tax to build more amenities,” Emeka Emetarom, Founder and CEO of Qore, told attendees at the event.
What was refreshing was how openly the founders discussed failed products, failed expansions, and failed assumptions.
“As a founder, I had raised a lot of money for the company, and I had this huge profile that people knew. But to start over, I had to test everything I knew and had to be humble to learn,” Abasi Ene-Obong, Founder 54gene and CEO Syndicate Bio, shared at the event.
One of the more energetic conversations at the festival revolved around the persistent gender gap in African tech. Female founders discussed why African women are often framed as female entrepreneurs rather than simply entrepreneurs. They dug deeper into the politics of capital allocation.
The Antler Super Day pitch
The second core pillar of the Africa Startup Festival was the emphasis on deal-making and showcasing businesses through high-stakes pitching and exhibition. This focus culminated in the Antler Super Day, in a partnership with the global VC firm.
Over 15 carefully selected founders took the stage to pitch their ventures across diverse industries, including healthcare, enterprise software, and sustainable agriculture. The focus was less on the excitement of the idea and more on the clarity of the revenue model, the strength of the team, and evidence of early traction.
The top 10 founders secured exclusive mentorship from the Antler team and $50,000 in resources, advancing them from the pitch stage to securing real support for scaling their solutions and potentially joining Antler’s Lagos program.
The festival also doubled as an exhibition floor for several startups, including Spiro, Cafe One, BMoni, Buildvs, Juicyway, and Platnova.