South African VC firm Grindstone Ventures has launched a ZAR100 million (US$6.5 million) fund dedicated to predominantly funding startups that have completed, or are part of, the Grindstone Accelerator programme. Grindstone Accelerator is a structured entrepreneurship development programme co-owned by VC fund manager Knife Capital and Thinkroom Consulting, and principally funded by SA SME Fund. An equity-free structured…
You’re a startup founder. You have overcome every self-doubt standing in the way of you launching out; you have invested painstaking hours in defining your idea and building out your solution. You are convinced your solution is what the market needs. Definitely, without your solution in the market, the total user experience will be a…
Nigerian blockchain-based Wi-Fi sharing startup Wicrypt has closed a strategic US$1.5 million funding round to help it expand into new countries. Wicrypt is a decentralised mobile internet sharing and monetisation network that allows anyone to get paid for sharing their Wi-Fi. Users download the Wicrypt app and provide Wi-Fi through their mobile device or by purchasing…
South African startup Adbot, which provides online advertising solutions for owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa, has announced a ZAR7 million (US$500,000) capital raise from Enygma Ventures to help it expand its user base. Launched in 2019, Adbot empowers small business owners with simple and supportive tools for success, giving them access to new…
Egypt-based home furniture e-commerce startup Efreshli has raised a seed round worth US$550,000 to help it build on strong early growth. Founded in early 2019 by Heba El-Gabaly, Efreshli is a technology-enabled furniture design and shopping solution that has created a new way for consumers in Egypt to shop for their homes, from their homes. “Efreshli solves…
In March 2020, Google.org announced a $25 million Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls to support organizations focused on gender equity in recognition that COVID-19 had put the economic future of women and girls at even greater risk. Today, Google.org announced the 34 funding recipients of the award. The $25M global philanthropy challenge was launched in March 2021 and called for…
African cross-border payments provider Chipper Cash has secured $150 million in an expanded Series C round, which included participation from FTX, Ribbit Capital, SVB Capital, Deciens Capital, and Bezos Expeditions. Chipper Cash is now a unicorn, having been valued at over $2 billion. CEO Ham Serunjogi and President Maijid Moujaled founded the company in 2018. Additionally,…
Facebook, the social media platform owned by Meta, removed a post on the page of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for allegedly violating its policies against inciting violence. The post in question, uploaded to Facebook on Sunday, asked citizens of Ethiopia and of its capital city of Addis Ababa to use ‘any type of weapon’ to…
Bicycle community delivery platform Errand360, which was built to serve users with demand for quick and short errands within their communities and on-demand delivery services, has raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding to expand across Africa. Launched earlier this year, Errand360 bicycles serve users with a variety of delivery services, with the first phase of rollout…
Egyptian e-health startup Bypa-ss has raised a US$1 million pre-seed funding round to further improve its platform and accelerate its expansion plans. Founded in 2019 by Andrew Saad, Bypa-ss has developed an end-to-end health information exchange (HIE) platform called HealthTag where healthcare professionals and patients are able to securely access medical records stored in a cloud-based database. Having originated…
Kenyan startup BasiGo, an electric vehicle technology and financing company working to bring electric bus services to Sub-Saharan Africa, has launched operations in Nairobi having secured KES100 million (US$900,000) in funding earlier this year. BasiGo provides state-of-the-art electric buses along with charging and maintenance services for bus operators, making these vehicles affordable through a financing model…
Revital Healthcare (EPZ) Limited, a Kenyan medical supply manufacturer, has received nearly $4 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to expand production of auto-disable vaccine syringes. This funding will enable Revital to increase syringe production volume from approximately 72 million to nearly 265 million annually towards the end of 2022, enough to cover more than…
South African startup FinMeUp has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding to help it add a host of new features to its financial education platform. Launched last year by Higgo van Biljon, FinMeUp has developed a gamified app that aims to take users, either entrepreneurs or investors, on a journey from education to execution. The startup…
Egyptian tech startups have raised almost US$800 million between them since January 2015, with more than 50 per cent of that – over US$400 million – having been secured in the first three quarters of this year. That is according to the newly-released Egyptian Startup Ecosystem Report 2021 from Disrupt Africa, which dives into the local ecosystem by…
At the National Conference of Startups “Algeria Disrupt 2020,” the Algerian Startup Financing Fund was officially launched. The fund, which has raised $7.2 million in its first year, will focus on the country’s most innovative startups. Yacine El Mahdi Walid, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister, remarked on the sidelines of the occasion that the…
Credit startup, Payhippo has announced a $3 million seed funding raise. This brings the fintech startup’s total raise to $4 million in just four months. It raised $1m pre-seed for its large scale expansion in July. The round was led by influential African fintech founders and financial leaders Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled, co-founders Chipper Cash. Other investors include…
ShipBlu, an Egypt-based e-commerce startup backed by Y Combinator, has raised a $2.4 million seed round headed by Nama Ventures, with participation from 1984 Ventures, Orange Ventures, Starling Ventures, and other VCs and angel investors. ShipBlu is designed to provide a one-of-a-kind e-commerce shipping experience. ShipBlu uses its fleets to deliver shipments on schedule, thanks…
The Femtech Accelerator Program, launched by Organon and Flat6Labs, aims to help female-founded digital health start-ups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) flourish by assisting them in developing products, determining market fit, and improving business models. Organon, a global healthcare company with the mission of making every woman’s day better and healthier, has…
Kenya-based electric mobility startup Opibus has raised US$7.5 million in equity and grant funding to help it scale its operations in electric motorcycle and bus manufacturing. Founded in 2017, Opibus is the leading provider of electric vehicles designed and manufactured locally. Its vision is to create reliable and cost effective products designed for the pan-African mass market….
Years ago, Americans spent most of their disposable income on food but consistent investment in retail infrastructure has changed that. Now, they only spend 6% of their household income on food and beverages. Africa still battles with this and it is not hard to see why. The continent’s retail markets are highly fragmented and mostly made up of small…
Rwanda-based electric motorcycle company Ampersand has secured a US$9 million loan facility from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to expand its operations in Rwanda and Kenya. Launched commercially in May 2019, Ampersand assembles and finances electric motorcycles that cost less to buy and operate, and perform better than the five million petrol motorcycle taxis in…
The Africa Blockchain Centre (The ABC), a Kenyan startup focused on building technology capacity and offering blockchain solutions to key sectors announced today that it has raised an undisclosed investment from Next Chymia Consulting HK Limited, an Asian based company that provides blockchain solutions, consultancy services and training to global entities. Founded in September 2021, The Africa…
The Catalyst Fund Inclusive Digital Commerce Accelerator welcomed four Ghanaian digital commerce companies, OZÉ, Shopa, Swoove, and Tendo, as the second cohort to receive funding and support. The Accelerator, managed by BFA Global in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), focuses on building the resilience of Ghana’s micro and small enterprises (MSEs). The companies selected for the second…
South African online healthcare marketplace and booking platform RecoMed has raised a US$1.5 million funding round as it prepares to expand to Kenya next year. RecoMed allows patients to easily book appointments with a diverse selection of healthcare practitioners in their area, driving more patient volume to healthcare practices by integrating several patient booking channels into…
African entrepreneurs with promising climate-focused solutions have been invited to apply for Africa ClimAccelerator, which will provide selected companies with funding, expertise and mentorship to help them scale. Partner organisations GrowthAfrica and Carbon Trust are seeking 15 startups to participate in the Africa ClimAccelerator, which is supported by the Climate-KIC International Foundation and funded by GIZ. The pan-African programme aims to enhance the…
Nigerian auto-tech startup Autochek has raised a US$13.1 million seed funding round to bolster its core auto loan processing platform and deepen its footprint in West Africa. Autochek aims to build digital solutions that will enhance and enable a seamless and safe automotive commerce experience across Africa, starting with Nigeria and Ghana. It plans to use…
Y Combinator-backed Nigerian agri-tech startup Vendease has raised US$3.2 million in seed funding to expand operations and build out its technology. Founded in January 2020 by Tunde Kara, Olumide Fayankin, Gatumi Aliyu and Wale Oyepeju, Vendease helps to solve food supply chain problems by digitising procurement processes, storage operations and logistics, and offering flexible payment systems to…
Only three per cent of African tech startup funding since 2013 has gone to companies with all-female founding teams. That is according to the “In Search Of Equity: Exploring Africa’s Gender Gap in Startup Finance” report released by research firm Briter Bridges and the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) based on years of…
Brass, a Nigerian digital bank delivering easy access to affordable premium banking services for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), has today secured $1.7mn in funding to address the heavily underserved banking needs of local entrepreneurs, traders and fast-growing businesses. The financing round sees participation from Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola (Co-Founder of Flutterwave), Ezra Olubi (Co-Founder of Paystack, acquired…
Francophone region-focused neobank PaySika has completed a fundraising round. The funding will allow the fintech to deploy online payment services to Cameroon, Benin, and Gabon. These funds are from British, French, and Nigerian investors. The company is soon gearing for an official launch in the first quarter of 2022. The investment roundtable was led by top fintech…