Legal

Program Policies

Eight short sections a founder reads once and can find again. By paying your program fee you accept them, alongside the Terms of Service.

Last updated 29 June 2026

1.Fees and payment

The program fee is KES 25,000 for Spark and KES 35,000 for Scale. The fee is shown on your offer and your invoice in Kenyan Shillings.
You can pay in full, or pay a 50% deposit to hold your place and the balance by the program midpoint, the end of week 6. A different first payment agreed with the team in writing replaces the 50% deposit.
Payments go through our payment provider by M-Pesa or card. Paying also accepts the provider's terms.
A place is confirmed when a payment has been received. An offer without a payment lapses on the date in the offer email and the place goes to the next founder.
Where the balance is not paid by the midpoint, access to the platform and sessions may be paused until it is. A place still unpaid four weeks after the midpoint may be ended, and the deposit is not refunded.
No equity. Hackhouse does not take equity in your company as a condition of the program.
Sponsored places are governed by the sponsor's agreement with Hackhouse. Nothing is refunded in cash to a sponsored founder.

If Hackhouse cancels or does not run a cohort you paid for, everything you paid is refunded in full within 14 days, or moved to the next Gen if you prefer.
The deposit is not refunded once you accept an offer, because it holds a place another founder could have taken. It can be moved once to the next Gen under the deferral policy.
Withdrawing before induction day: anything you paid above the deposit is refunded in full. Tell us in writing before the induction day printed on your offer.
Withdrawing from induction day onwards: no refund. You may ask to defer before week 2 begins.
Switching track after paying: if the new track's fee is lower, the difference is refunded or credited; if it is higher, the difference is due before the switch takes effect.
Removal from the program for a breach of the conduct or attendance policies does not carry a refund.
Refunds go back by the method you paid with, within 14 days of our confirming the refund. Send requests to legal@hackhouseafrica.com with your name, startup and cohort.
Overpayments and duplicate payments are refunded in full as soon as they are spotted, without a request.

You can defer once, to the very next Gen, if something makes the current cohort impossible.
Ask in writing before week 2 begins. From week 2 there is no deferral, only withdrawal under the refund policy.
What you have paid carries to the next Gen. If the fee has changed by then, you pay the difference or receive the credit.
A deferred place not taken up in the next Gen is treated as a withdrawal after week 1: nothing is refunded.
A founder who defers keeps their platform account and can follow the community in the meantime.

The program is 12 numbered sessions in the first six weeks, Wednesdays in person and Saturdays online, then six weeks of building with your lead mentor, then Demo Day. Induction day comes before week 1.
To graduate and join the alumni network you attend at least 9 of the 12 sessions, submit the session worksheet every week, and present at Demo Day.
Online sessions count the same as in-person sessions. Arriving more than 20 minutes late, or leaving before the last third, counts as a miss.
Two consecutive weeks with no session and no worksheet trigger a check-in from your lead mentor. Four missed weeks in total across the program may end your place, without refund, after you have had the chance to explain.
A founder who cannot present at Demo Day for a serious reason may present to the mentors separately within two weeks.
Co-founders share one place. At least one of you attends each session; the worksheet is one per startup.

Treat everyone in the house, online and in sessions with respect: founders, mentors, staff, visitors and the day-pass members who share the building.
No harassment, discrimination, threats or intimidation of any kind. One warning at most; a serious case ends the place immediately.
What other founders share in sessions about their numbers, customers and plans stays in the room. Do not pass it on, use it against them, or post it.
No soliciting other founders or mentors for investment, employment or services during program time without their invitation.
House rules apply on site: the shared spaces, the kitchen, the equipment and the quiet rooms are everyone's. Damage you cause is paid for.
Represent Hackhouse honestly. Do not present yourself as speaking for the program or the house without agreement.
A concern about anyone's conduct goes to the program lead, or to one of the Hackhouse co-founders at legal@hackhouseafrica.com if the concern is about the lead. It is handled within seven days.

You own everything you build, your data and your content. Hackhouse takes no equity and claims no intellectual property in your company.
Mentors and staff treat what you share as confidential. Mentors are not a party to your company and do not acquire rights in it through the program.
Hackhouse may name your startup, show its logo and use a one-line description and your Demo Day outcome in program materials, on the startups page and in reports to partners. Tell us in writing if you do not want this, and we will leave you out.
Photographs and recordings of sessions and Demo Day may be used to tell the program's story. You can opt out of being pictured by telling the team on induction day.
Investor and partner introductions are made in good faith with no promise of an outcome. Any agreement you reach with an investor or partner is between you and them.

How the platform handles your personal data is set out in the privacy policy.
Outcome check-ins after the program, at 30, 90 and 180 days, are voluntary and reported by you.

These policies apply from the cohort you join. Changes are published on this page and apply to cohorts that open after the change.
Questions about any policy: legal@hackhouseafrica.com.