Number of African participants in latest Y Combinator accelerator climbs to 15 Written by TOM JACKSON The number of confirmed African participants in the Y Combinator accelerator’s S21 cohort has increased to 15 after two more were named ahead of demo days taking place yesterday (August 31) and today (September 1). Disrupt Africa reported last month…
PawaPay, an African payments company, has raised $9 million in seed funding PawaPay, an African payments business, has raised $9 million in seed funding. MSA and 88mph, a UK-based investment fund, co-led the round, which also included Vunani Capital, Kepple Ventures, and Zagadat Capital. PawaPay, which was founded in 2020, focuses on the mobile money infrastructure…
LoftyInc Capital, a Pan-African Venture Capital firm, has launched its third fund, valued at $10 million, for African tech startups LoftyInc Capital, a pan-African venture capital firm, announced today the launch of its third fund, LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund 3, with a $10 million investment target for African tech startups. The firm has completed its first…
Rwandan e-health startup Viebeg raises pre-seed funding to further scale Written by TOM JACKSON Rwandan startup Viebeg, which provides high-quality medical supplies and equipment throughout Central and East Africa through an innovative data-driven procurement platform, has raised a pre-seed round funding to help it scale. Founded in 2018 by chief executive officer (CEO) Tobias Reiter…
APPLY: $24,000 for grab at Seedstars Digital Democracy Hackathon The hackathon is for socially committed innovators, writes Joan Aimuengheuwa Leveraging technology and entrepreneurship to further its mission of impacting the lives of people in emerging markets, Swiss-based group, Seedstars, has launched the application for its hackathon. Themed “Digital Democracy Challenge”, the programme seeks innovative, low-cost, and viable…
Zoom announces first startups receiving funding from $100M investment fund Written by Ron Miller For more than a year now, Zoom has been on a mission to transform from an application into a platform. To that end it made three announcements last year: Zoom Apps development tools, the Zoom Apps marketplace and a $100 million development fund to invest in some of…
Nigerian B2B marketplace Sabi raises round of seed funding as it hits 150k merchant mark Written by TOM JACKSON Nigerian startup Sabi, a B2B marketplace serving Africa’s informal sector, has secured a seed funding round as it announces the milestone of over 150,000 small business users on its platform. In stealth mode since last year, Sabi is…
Moroccan B2B e-commerce startup Chari.ma raises funding, acquires mobile credit platform Written by TOM JACKSON Chari.ma, a B2B e-commerce app allowing traditional proximity store owners in Morocco to order products and have them delivered, has closed a round of funding and announced the acquisition of mobile credit book application Karny.ma. Founded last year by husband…
$100,000,000 YouTube Shorts fund now available to creators in Nigeria Written by Yinka Okeowo YouTube Shorts launched in July and has now introduced the YouTube Shorts Fund aimed at creators to earn and build their growing businesses especially during this time when the world is focusing on economic recovery. In other words, YouTube Shorts creators can…
Egypt’s MaxAB acquires Morocco’s WaystoCap after securing $15m extra funding Written By TOM JACKSON Egyptian retail-tech startup MaxAB has acquired Moroccan counterpart WaystoCap as it plots expansion into the Maghreb region after adding US$15 million to the US$40 million Series A round it secured last month. Founded in 2018 by Egyptian and Libyan entrepreneurs Belal…
Kenya’s MarketForce raises further $100k funding from Harambeans Prosperity Fund Written by TOM JACKSON Kenyan retail-tech startup had added an additional US$100,000 in funding from the Harambeans Prosperity Fund to the US$2 million pre-Series A round it announced last month. Co-founded in 2018 by Tesh Mbaabu and Mesongo Sibuti, MarketForce enables consumer brands to optimise how they deliver…