Get investment ready. Raise with confidence. Close the deal.
Elev8te helps startup programs, accelerators, and the founders they back get investor-ready, worldwide. Through workshops, advisory, and practical tools. We also run a select deal desk for West African SMEs closing raises above $1M.
Who we help
One question decides everything: who are you?
Startup programs & accelerators (global)
For accelerators, DFIs, universities, and conferences, anywhere in the world, whose founders need to be investor-ready. Workshops, two-week sprints, and portfolio partnerships. Your founders leave with scored outputs, not notes.
Get a program estimate →Founders who want practical tools
For early-stage founders who need to solve a problem now and don't want to pay for consulting. Diagnostics, checklists, and calculators built from real VC experience, priced so you can actually use them.
Find your tools →West African SMEs raising $1M+
A small number of engagements each year. If you're a revenue-generating SME in West Africa raising above $1M, we help you find the deal, prepare for it, and close it.
Start the deal-desk screening →What Elev8te does
Fundraising is an operational problem, not a pitching problem.
Most founders lose time guessing what investors want, chasing the wrong capital, and breaking their company internally just to look good on a call. Elev8te removes that chaos and replaces it with structure. Founders leave with scored outputs and a decision about their next move, built from their own business data.
Readiness training for programs (global)
Workshops, two-week sprints, and portfolio partnerships that take a cohort from unready to investor-ready, with before-and-after scores. Built for accelerators, DFIs, universities, and programs, anywhere, that want their founders to raise and deploy capital well.
Conferences, workshops & speaking
Conference workshops, panels, and keynotes on investment readiness, capital strategy, and African and emerging-market SME finance. Founders in the room work with a live tool, and the audience leaves with something they can use the same week. Plan a session →
Practical tools for founders (anywhere)
Scorecards, checklists, calculators, and playbooks that do the work with you. Built once from VC-grade frameworks and priced for founders who can't afford an advisor, so you can solve the problem in front of you today.
The deal desk for West African SMEs (select)
For a small number of revenue-generating SMEs in West Africa raising above $1M. We help you get investment-ready, structure your materials and data room, map and approach the right investors, prepare you for meetings, and coordinate the transaction to close. Backed by real bank and investor relationships in the region. Milestone-based fees, credited against a success fee at close.
Scope note: we advise and coordinate. We don't build financial models from scratch, give legal advice, or broker guaranteed raises.
Conferences, workshops & speaking
Put investment readiness on your stage.
Conference workshops where founders build with a live tool, and panels or keynotes that decode how investors actually decide. Delivered in person, virtual, or hybrid, with content tailored to your audience and region.
- Conference workshops. 60 minutes to half-day. Founders leave with scored outputs, not notes.
- Panels & keynotes. Investment readiness, capital strategy, the founder journey, and African and emerging-market SME finance.
- Any format. In-person, virtual, or hybrid. Travel for in-person events is arranged by the host.
Pick an option to continue.
Find your fit
Not sure where you fit? Start here.
Answer a few quick questions. We'll point you to the right service, tool, or resource. No long forms, no wasted calls.
Program estimate
Find your tools
Deal-desk screening
The deal desk takes a small number of revenue-generating West African SMEs each year. Eight quick questions.
About Jainaba
Built by someone who's sat on both sides of the table.
I'm Jainaba Njie, founder of Elev8te. I've been an investor and a founder, and I build the bridge between what investors expect and what founders actually have.
On the investor side, I've worked in venture capital at Oryx Impact, a $200M fund of funds in Barcelona, held an investment committee seat and venture partner role at ADUNA Capital / Sabou, a $20M gender-lens fund, and was a fellow at Include VC. I've audited more than 500 pitch decks and run over 100 founder strategy sessions.
On the founder side, I built an agritech startup through the e-Works accelerator and tested it in Kenya, and worked as a founder associate at an e-commerce company. Before all of that, I was a renewable energy engineer, trained and working in the US for a decade.
I did my MBA in entrepreneurship at ESADE in Barcelona, and I now run Elev8te from The Gambia, working with clients across the world. I've lived and worked across the US, Spain, and West Africa, so I move easily between Western, European, and African business cultures.
I believe practical tools and real structure should be within reach of any founder, not gated behind expensive consulting. That's why I build diagnostics and playbooks anyone can use, and why I still take on the hands-on work when a company is ready to raise.
Proof
The numbers behind the work.
Background: Oryx Impact · ADUNA Capital / Sabou · Include VC · ESADE
Worked with / trusted by: Slauson & Co (workshops delivered) · e-Works Accelerator (Esade) · Tropingo Foods · Tali Logistics
Testimonials
Jainaba was instrumental in preparing us for investment. She led the development of our pitch deck and data room, connected us with the right investors, and coached us through investor calls. Her support was essential in reaching due diligence with a potential investor.Momarr Taal, Director, Tropingo Foods (EcoSoil Africa)
Sharp and focused on what actually matters for early-stage founders, not generic theory. Genuinely interactive and built around our founders' real businesses. She's an excellent fit for a structured cohort, and I'd gladly work with her again.Miki Reynolds, Programs Lead, Slauson & Co
What stood out was how applied her sessions were. She didn't simply present material, she built in activities so founders could act on it during the session. She knows investment readiness and fundraising well, and she's good at getting founders to act on it.Davide Rovera, Director of eWorks, Esade Entrepreneurship Institute
More testimonials and recommendations can be provided upon request.
Tools & products
Practical tools, not more reading.
A lot of early-stage founders can't afford consulting, and most just need a quick solution to the problem in front of them. These tools are that. Each one does the work with you and gives you an output you can use right now. Free ones just need a click. Paid ones are one-time.
Free tools & resources
Build the data room investors expect before they ask, with a guided Claude setup that structures it for you.
Get it freeAn email series on capital types, investor mapping, thesis research, and what to have ready before you ask for the meeting.
Join the seriesSee what each instrument actually costs you before you take the money.
Run the numbersA plain-language decode of the terms that matter, before you sign anything.
Get the glossaryWork out how much to raise and which kind of capital actually fits your business.
Find your fitPaid products
Answer a detailed questionnaire, get scored across the readiness framework, and leave with a gap report and action plan. Score in the investment-ready range and you'll get the option to join our deal-flow list, shared with our global investor network.
Get the ScorecardThe detailed diligence checklist: every item investors look for, including the ones you'd normally pay a consultant hundreds to walk you through.
Submit your deck and get a structured review of what works and what needs fixing, slide by slide.
Estimate what your company is worth by stage and method, with regional context built in.
A matched map of investors by your region and startup type, so you know who to approach and where to find them.
More on the way.
Self-paced workshops are coming: step-by-step videos that walk you through each tool, plus live sessions where we work through the real questions founders get stuck on, from readiness and valuation to picking the right investors and the right kind of capital. Join the waitlist and you'll hear first, before it opens to the public.
From the founder: I also run Behind the Check, a YouTube show and newsletter where investor expectations meet founder reality. Interviews, case-study breakdowns, and the fundraising mechanics no one explains.
Ready to find your fit?
Whether you run a program, want the tools, or you're an SME ready to raise, start with a few quick questions.