Africa Tech Summit Nairobi 2027 (10-11 February): a general tech summit with one Money & DeFi track

The Africa Tech Summit Nairobi 2027 takes place on 10 and 11 February 2027 at the Sarit Expo Centre in Nairobi, according to the official event page, which calls it the 9th edition. It is a general technology conference, not a crypto event. Crypto readers will find their topics, if anywhere, in one of its four tracks, Money & DeFi.

Three months out, the page gives the dates, the venue and the track names. When we read it on 7 November 2026 it had no ticket prices and no 2027 speakers.

Africa Tech Summit Nairobi 2027: four tracks, one close to crypto

The official page lists Money & DeFi, AI & Digital, Climate Tech & Investment and the Startup Summit, with no description for any of them. Nothing on the page names crypto, stablecoins or mobile money. We could not open a Money & DeFi sub-page, so its sessions are unknown.

Speakers: only last edition’s names so far

The speaker section of the official page is still headed “2026 Speakers”, and no 2027 speaker has been announced. That 2026 list leaned on fintech and investors. Bernard Parah of Bitnob, a bitcoin payments firm, sat on it with Nikolai Barnwell of PawaPay, Dolapo Omotoso of Moniepoint and Abi Ajayi of the London Stock Exchange, next to venture investors Sapna Shah (Novastar Ventures East Africa) and Ngetha Waithaka (Norrsken22). None of them is confirmed for 2027.

Africa Tech Summit Nairobi tickets: no prices yet

The event is paid, but the organiser has put no figures online. The page has a button to register for “Early Bird Passes” and says startups can attend at reduced rates, without amounts. Travel and hotels are not included in the ticket. We will not quote a price, in dollars or euros, until the organiser publishes one.

Venue: Sarit Expo Centre in Westlands

The organiser’s host venue page puts the Sarit Expo Centre inside the Sarit Shopping Centre in Westlands, Nairobi’s commercial district, 25 km from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It gives no street address. Delegates arrange their own transport, though some partner hotels offer airport transfers. The centre has more than 1,500 parking bays, paid by the hour at a machine.

That page has not been updated for 2027: on 7 November 2026 it still welcomed delegates to the 8th edition, held on 11 and 12 February 2026. Its hotel rates are last year’s, so read them as an order of price, not a 2027 offer.

What past editions add up to

The official page shows “2k+ delegates”, “1k+ companies”, “170+ speakers” and “90+ exhibitors”. It does not say which edition these figures describe or whether they add several years together. We found no post-event recap of the 2026 edition with attendance figures.

Kenya’s VASP licence deadline passed three days ago

For crypto readers the timing is what stands out. Kenya’s Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (Act No. 20 of 2025) was gazetted on 21 October 2025 and took effect on 4 November 2025, according to a joint notice of the Central Bank of Kenya and the Capital Markets Authority. Firms already operating had one year to get a licence, which law firms count to 4 November 2026. Our page on the Kenya VASP licence deadline sets out the rules in full.

The National Treasury gazetted the detailed VASP Regulations, 2026 on 22 July 2026, according to a legal alert by Oraro & Company Advocates. They create ten licence categories split between two regulators. The central bank supervises wallet providers, payment processors and stablecoin issuers. The CMA covers exchanges, brokers, investment advisers, managers, coin offerings and tokenisation. Minimum paid-up capital runs from KES 10 million for a broker to KES 100 million for an exchange and KES 300 million for a stablecoin issuer.

What happened on 4 November is not known. In November 2025 the two regulators said they had licensed no provider under the Act. As of 7 November 2026 we found no notice from either of them published after the deadline, so we cannot say whether any firm now holds a licence or has stopped serving Kenyan users.

Stablecoins and M-Pesa: the local context

In January 2026 Business Daily reported a partnership between M-Pesa Africa, owned by Safaricom and Vodacom, and the Abu Dhabi-based ADI Foundation. ADI’s blockchain was to support cross-border payments through a dirham-backed stablecoin in eight countries, Kenya among them, with transactions planned for early 2026. We found no announcement that those payments have started.

Under the 2026 Regulations, payment processors and stablecoin issuers serving Kenya fall under the central bank, so this is the kind of business the Money & DeFi track may cover. For figures on how Kenyans use dollar stablecoins, see our guide to stablecoins as dollar access in emerging markets; for the practical side, how to buy crypto in Africa with mobile money and P2P.

Who it suits, and a nearer date

The summit runs in English and draws founders, investors and corporate teams from across African tech. For readers in Europe it is a chance to meet East African fintech firms in one place, not a crypto trade show.

Readers who want a stablecoin event sooner have the Africa Stablecoin Summit in Cape Town on 12 and 13 November 2026.

What is still unknown

• Ticket prices and pass tiers for 2027.
• The 2027 speakers and the agenda, including what the Money & DeFi track will cover.
• The street address, the daily opening hours and the 2027 hotel rates.
• Which edition the “2k+ delegates” figure refers to.
• Whether Kenya’s regulators have granted any VASP licence since 4 November 2026.

We will update this page when the organiser publishes prices and the 2027 line-up.