Demand is outgrowing the system.
Electricity demand is growing rapidly, while infrastructure, capital and technical capacity remain constrained.
Cohort 2027 · by invitation
Africa's best Energy Tech & AI startups, bridged to European investors.
Each year we choose the most promising B2B Energy Tech and AI founders from across Africa, work with them for a week, and the best get active fundraising support from our top-tier European investor network.
Our thesis
Africa's energy future can be built by African entrepreneurs.
AI is enabling small teams to solve infrastructure problems once reserved for large organizations. Africa combines urgent energy challenges with a growing generation of software entrepreneurs.
AI can have an outsized impact
AI can multiply the productivity of engineers, automate complex workflows and intelligently manage thousands of distributed assets.
Proximity is an advantage.
African founders understand unreliable grids, costly electricity and distributed generation because they live with them.
One cohort a year. One week deep dive.
Active fundraising support.
We select ten startups
We scout across Africa and invite ten teams to camp.
One week, no distractions
Ex-Founders and VCs spend real time with each team. We look under the hood, and ask hard questions about PMF, GTM and Tech stacks.
Active fundraising support for the best
From the cohort, we select the best teams and give them active fundraising support — alongside our network of top-tier European investors. We don't just make introductions; we help close the round.
European investors & funders
We de-risk investments in African energy startups
We identify and work closely with high-potential African energy startups, giving investors access to opportunities that have been screened from the inside.
Climate funds
European early-stage funds with an Africa mandate who want deal flow stress-tested by people who understand the grid.
Development finance
DFIs and blended-finance vehicles that can co-fund pilots with utilities and off-grid operators.
Operators & corporates
European energy groups looking for commercial partners who know the ground.
We back teams already building the future.
We back B2B founders solving operators' real problems: demand forecasting and management, billing intelligence, fault detection, solar and storage optimisation, e-mobility, grid-edge hardware, and carbon measurement. No consumer apps.
StageLive product and paying customers
FocusB2B Energy Tech: software, hardware, data, and applied intelligence
TeamHigh energy, stellar team with at least one technical founder
CommitmentOne week with the cohort, no exceptions
The RELAI family
Three ways we back African energy founders.
RELAI Camp
The yearly accelerator: ten African B2B Energy Tech teams spend a week with us, and the best get active fundraising support from our top-tier European investor network.
RELAI Fellows
Alumni and invited founders with ongoing access to private sessions, operator roundtables, and active fundraising support.
RELAI Network
The tight circle of European investors, DFIs, and operators who trust our judgment and back the teams we introduce.