Nine Start-ups Compete for Glory at Pitchathon In Surulere
Nine Nigerian start-ups took the stage at the National Stadium, Surulere, on Thursday, 23 April 2026, as part of The Gathering On 100, the country’s largest youth link-up, in a high-stakes pitching competition that tested the founders’ composure, business acumen, and capacity to withstand forensic questioning from an experienced panel of judges.
The event, which had originally been scheduled to feature 15 startups, saw six contestants absent on the day, but those who did appear more than compensated with an afternoon of spirited presentations spanning artificial intelligence, fintech, agri-processing, social media automation, education technology and on-campus commerce. At the close of proceedings, three competitors were selected to advance to the next phase of the competition.
Victor Babatunde of Sane AI opened the competition with a mental health solution sold to employers rather than individuals, disclosing monthly recurring revenue of 1,200 to 1,500 and a 45% churn rate. URI Social’s Precious Zino followed, presenting Jane, an AI social media assistant operating entirely through WhatsApp, with over 30 paying customers since its March 2026 launch and a developing partnership with MTN. Ramasend’s Emmanuel Isika generated the sharpest judicial exchange, defending his cross-border payments model, which charges a flat 0.5% fee across 14 countries and 30,000 users against concerns about over-reliance on MTN’s Momo infrastructure.
Daniel Egunjobi of YourStudyPath.com pitched an examination-focused education platform with 5,000 users and $55,000 in cumulative revenue, though judges noted that YouTube advertising dominates its income stream. “This is just the beginning. We are going to embed AI learning and other things later,” he reassured. Dharkag Empire’s Kofoworola Awoyera presented a NAFDAC-approved farm-to-table herbs and spices business with ₦15.9 million in 2025 revenue, pursuing backward farm integration to improve margins. Victor Ndu’s Nviti, a WhatsApp-native AI chatbot, earned ₦3.5 million in three months without paid advertising but faced questions about competitive differentiation.
Temi AI’s Gideon Okubanjo offered a technically distinctive pitch, which was about an offline AI assistant on Airtel’s infrastructure generating ₦9 million in beta revenue. Quad Limited’s campus marketplace recorded ₦1.8 million in sales across four months at one university, while Kandybook’s Charles Dairo closed proceedings with a booking and payments tool for beauty businesses that has processed ₦70 million in transactions on a commission-only model. When asked what makes Kindly book different from Fresha, “he said, we don’t charge for subscriptions unlike Fresha, we only make money when the business makes money.”
After the judges retired to deliberate, the host confirmed that Emmanuel Isiaka, CEO Ravasend; Kofoworola Awoyera, Founder of Dharkag Empire Ltd, and Precious Zino, Co-founder Uri had been selected to proceed to the next phase of The Gathering 100 competition.
