Brydge

Nathan Agama traded goods across several African countries and kept hitting the same walls: suppliers he could not verify, expensive currency conversion, and paperwork that stalled every deal. Conversations with more than a thousand businesses confirmed the pattern. Only around 17% of African trade happens inside the continent.

Brydge, started in late 2023, puts the whole deal in one place: a dealroom to find and verify suppliers, payments across 42 African countries and currencies, invoicing, virtual local accounts and trade financing, with the shipment tracked along the way.

The company is backed by Mastercard and 54 Collective, works from Lagos, Kano and New York, and was second runner-up at the 2025 Wharton Africa Business Forum New Venture Competition, sponsored by Adaptive.