Acecore walked away from TechCabal's Moonshot 2026 conference with $10,000 in its pocket. The Nigerian climate-tech startup claimed the grand prize at TC Battlefield 2026, the annual pitching competition sponsored this year by Yango Group, the Dubai-based technology company. The competition offered a total of $17,500 in equity-free funding across its top three finishers.
Acecore's win centers on its Powercell product, a locally manufactured, AI-powered solar battery system paired with a Powercore app that lets users monitor energy performance and manage their power supply. For a continent where unreliable electricity is a daily frustration, the pitch clearly landed.
Supplya, a Nigerian startup connecting small retailers to manufacturers and offering interest-free buy-now-pay-later inventory financing, finished first runner-up and took home $5,000. Navidyn Limited placed third, earning $2,500.
The three winners emerged from a final ten that showed just how wide African founders are casting their nets right now. The TC Battlefield finalists included Fertitude, a healthtech platform combining reproductive health tracking with AI-powered guidance and access to specialists; Lena, an edtech startup using AI-powered games to teach children mathematics and science; and Qiqi Farms, which connects farmers to markets using cold-chain infrastructure to deliver fresh produce.
Moonshot 2026 drew thousands of founders, investors, operators, policymakers, and builders to the National Theatre in Lagos over two days of conversation spanning AI, fintech, capital markets, cybersecurity, and more. If the startups on that stage are any indication, the ideas coming out of this year's gathering are only just getting started.
Originally published by TechCabal.