The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has announced the winners of the third edition of the NSIA Prize for Innovation (NPI 3.0), a competition supporting early-stage Nigerian innovators creating transformative solutions in healthcare, agriculture, and education with year’s prize pool totalling $220,000.

Ten finalists were selected from over 5,000 applicants and showcased their innovations at the NPI 3.0 Demo Day before a panel of experts from business and technology sectors.

The top prize went to D-Olivette Labs, creators of AI-powered bio-digesters that turn farm and food waste into clean energy and organics fertilizers.

According to a statement by the agency on Sunday, the finalists received a total prize package of $115,000, including $100,000 from NSIA and a $15,000 Cascador Impact Prize. In second place, Promise Point, a woman-led cassava processing startup linked to over 2,000 smallholder farmers, won $85,000 combining NSIA and Cascador prizes.

Third place was awarded to GeroCare, a health tech platform focused on elderly care, with winnings totaling $55,000 from NSIA and the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC) prize.

Additional winners included Mediverse, Sosocare, and FriendsnPal, receiving awards from the PVAC Healthcare Innovation Prize and Cascador Impact Prize programmes, ranging from $5,000 to $15,000.

NSIA’s Managing Director and CEO, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, emphasized that the prize reflects NSIA’s commitment to fostering homegrown innovation that can drive socio-economic development, create jobs, and position Nigerian entrepreneurs globally.

The NPI competition includes application, accelerator, demo day, and a fully funded five-week training at Draper University in Silicon Valley for the top ten finalists.

This year’s prize pool totalled $220,000, supplemented by $45,000 from Cascador and $15,000 from PVAC, underlining strong partnerships to support Nigerian startups in solving pressing national challenges.