Acecore wins TC Battlefield 2026 with Nigerian-made batteries

Acecore, a Nigerian startup that builds home energy storage systems, won TC Battlefield 2026 at Moonshot by TechCabal in Lagos on Thursday, October 29, taking home the $10,000 grand prize.

Supplya, which gives informal retailers stock on credit, came second and won $5,000. Navidyn, a maritime robotics startup, came third with $2,500.

Caleb Iwuoha, Acecore’s founder and chief executive, told the judges at Wednesday’s final that the system’s casing and battery management software were “all built here in Nigeria by our very own hands.”

Acecore sells a home battery system and a smart socket that lets users control their appliances. It says its system costs more than 20% less than comparable products, and a partner bank lets customers pay in instalments

The startup is building locally in a market that imports most of its power hardware. Nigeria imported 1,721 megawatts of solar panels from China in the 12 months to June 2025, making it Africa’s second-largest importer after South Africa, according to the energy think tank Ember.

The three winners were chosen from 10 finalists that also included Growwr, Kuraway, Fertitude, Lena, QiqiFarms, Riwe and Swiftway Shippers. The judges were Folakemi Osho, general manager of HoaQ; Elijah Shokenu, head of ventures at SWIT; Kosen Kenta, principal at Antler; and Adeniyi Adebayo, chief business officer of Yango Group, which sponsored the competition.

Acecore faced the toughest questions on price. One judge pointed out that imported Chinese systems land in Nigeria at a price similar to Acecore’s, which starts at about $5,250, and pressed Iwuoha on his unit economics. He said the company runs a 62% margin.

Navidyn, which builds underwater robots to inspect offshore oil and gas sites, made the broader case for hardware. “So far, Africa has invested in fintech, logtech, agritech, edtech. Now it’s time to invest in advanced AI and robotics,” its co-founders told the judges. The startup says a Sahara Group representative brought it a $5,000 inspection job before its product was ready.

Supplya, the runner-up, says it has extended more than $150,000 in credit to small shops since October 2024, and that 98% has been repaid.

Navidyn and Supplya, along with the women’s health app Fertitude, also won places in Antler’s residency programme, where they can raise up to $250,000 in pre-seed investment.

Two of this year’s three podium spots went to startups building physical products in Nigeria, a slower and costlier path than software. If Acecore and Navidyn can hold their margins against imports, they will show investors that hardware made in Nigeria can compete on price as well as on story.

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