Zeckathon 5.0 is the fifth edition of Zenith Bank’s annual hackathon competition and incubation programme held on November 20 2025, and designed to discover and empower early-stage Nigerian tech startups.

This year’s programme offered a total prize pool of ₦140 million, bringing together developers, entrepreneurs, and visionary innovators committed to driving Africa’s digital transformation.

The flagship innovation challenge featured two key components this year, Zeckathon and the newly introduced Business Pitch.

Meanwhile, Trustloop emerged as the first-ever winner of the Business Pitch category, also smiling home with ₦30 million as the top prize.

Zeckathon 5.0

Zeckathon is designed to empower startups and creators to transform bold ideas into real-world solutions.

Cubbes, the winner of this year’s edition, emerged tops among five finalists. The startup is an Antler Lagos–backed edtech platform launched in 2024.

Using AI tutors, flashcards, smart planners, and other intelligent learning tools, Cubbes helps university students organise course materials and improve academic performance.

The platform has already reached over 60,000 students across more than 100 institutions in Nigeria and Uganda, with early users reporting over 50% improvement in grades.

Other finalists – Venilles, Sowota, InvoPay and Flow, each received ₦10 million.

Business Pitch Debut

Zenith Bank introduced a new platform at its Tech Fair – FUTURE FORWARD 5.0 to enable more startups pitch to investors.

The platform, known as Business Pitch, produced Trustloop as the inaugural winner with a ₦30 million mega prize.

Other finalists – Konfam, The Very Hacked Men, Zenith IntelliScore, and Zerax received ₦10 million each.

The Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, joined Dr. Jim Ovia, Founder of Zenith Bank, and Dame (Dr.) Adaora Umeoji, GMD/CEO, at the Tech Fair themed “Future Forward: Tech for Success – Innovate, Adapt, Accelerate” to present cheques to the winners.

According to Governor Sanwo-Olu:

“The theme encourages us to stay curious, learn quickly, and use technology to open new doors. It was inspiring to see so many young talents at the hackathon and startup pitch competition. Beyond the cash prizes, the finalists will enter a mentorship and incubation programme to refine their ideas, scale up, and grow.”

He added:

“I believe deeply in our youth, and this is exactly how we build a stronger and more innovative future.”

The company is making advanced AI tools more accessible in markets where high subscription costs have limited adoption.

The Plus plan, priced at roughly $5 per month in most regions, offers a six-month, 50% discount in selected countries like Nepal and Mexico. It grants users access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, a multimodal AI capable of generating images and videos, alongside integrated productivity features in Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. 

Subscribers also get 200GB of cloud storage and enhanced capabilities within Google’s AI research assistant, NotebookLM, which now supports long-context document analysis, a feature particularly useful for students, researchers, and journalists.

Tools like Flow, Whisk, and Veo 3 Fast are also included. They allow fast creation of animations, visual content, and video assets, directly appealing to the creator economy in regions where mobile-first usage dominates.

The launch comes a day after OpenAI expanded its ChatGPT Go plan to Indonesia, a sub-$5 subscription tier that grants access to GPT-4-turbo but lacks the integrated productivity tools and cloud storage of Google’s Plus tier. 

Analysts see these pricing strategies as a transition from competing on raw AI model power to offering complete ecosystems that integrate seamlessly into daily workflows.

Usage of AI tools in Africa has surged by 240% since 2023, with Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt leading growth, according to Statista and GSMA. Southeast Asia is witnessing similar trends, particularly in Indonesia and Vietnam, where freelancers and small businesses increasingly adopt AI-powered productivity tools.

India, despite being a top AI market where OpenAI debuted ChatGPT Go, is missing from Google’s rollout. Experts say this may relate to ongoing adjustments in pricing and compliance strategies to address data localisation and regulatory challenges.

Google is making AI affordable without sacrificing utility, especially in emerging markets where a $20 subscription is usually prohibitive. For users in Nigeria and similar economies, the new Google AI Plus plan could be a game-changer.

Flow enables businesses in the sector automate their processes and utilize social media marketing to scale and increase revenues.

The proptech’s customers include real estate agencies, developers, portals and CRMs who leverage the platform to connect individuals to properties and enhance brand visibility.

Flow automatically creates ads from business listings and brand profiles, linking them to their target audience on Facebook, Instagram, Google and Digital Billboards, to build brand and generate leads straight to agents’ mobile.

The funding will help Flow add other social media platforms such as TikTok and LinkedIn, as well as other advertising channels like out-of-home billboards to boost users’ businesses. Added to this, the funding will also go into Flow’s B2B growth strategy and the integration of its social media–driven real estate marketing platform into existing international property portals and CRM platforms.

The pre-Series A round was led by Futuregrowth Asset Management. Endeavor Harvest Fund and serial entrepreneur Steven Heilbron also participated, with existing investors such as Kalon Venture Partners, Vunani Fintech Fund and Buffet Investments.

Flow’s proptech marketing platform improves revenue for agents and experiences for property buyers and sellers. The startup revenues come from agents leveraging its SaaS platform and a percentage cut from their marketing spend. 

While Flow has had a 20% monthly revenue growth within the past year, it affirms to have over 300 clients using its platform, with almost 6,000 agents across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mauritius and Australia. In partnership with property portals and CRM platforms, Flow plans to expand into Europe – France, Germany, Belgium and the UK.