British International Investment (BII), formerly known as CDC Group, the UK government’s development finance institution (DFI), has announced a plan to invest US$100 million in Egyptian startups over the course of its current strategy period. BII announced its future plans for Egypt at a business reception launching its new name, and reaffirmed its commitment to…
Only 33% of persons worldwide are financially literate, indicating a poor level of financial literacy worldwide. The percentage of adults who are financially literate in African nations ranges between 26% (Nigeria) and 42%, according to Standard & Poor’s Global Financial Literacy Survey (South Africa). Comparing the percentage to that of Europe, where it is between…
In order to accelerate its expansion goals, the South African e-health firm BusyMed has secured more money. BusyMed is enhancing communities all throughout the country’s access to pharmacies. Established in 2018, BusyMed gives consumers access to hundreds of items provided by nearby small pharmacies, including prescription drugs, which may then be delivered in 60 minutes…
With a $30 million fully diluted valuation, the gaming DAO Metaverse Magna (MVM) from Nigeria raised $3.2 million in a seed sale token offering. MVM produces developer tools for Web3 gaming and distributes mobile games in developing African markets. The investors included Wemade, a South Korean video game producer, HashKey, Tess Ventures, LD Capital, Taureon,…
A collection of local and regional investors, including EFG EV and Flat6Labs, 500 Global, and Hala Ventures, led a $550,000 pre-Seed round of funding for the Egypt-based enterprise e-commerce solutions startup el-dokan. Every retailer’s business strategy today includes e-commerce, and platforms and technology providers are vying to offer merchants the finest tools possible to help…
An Egypt-based vehicle service app called 3atlana has raised a six-figure seed round from Ghabbour Auto, one of the country’s top automakers, to improve their AI system. Sherif El Adham, Ahmed Hassan, and Amr Hesham established 3atlana in 2020 with the goal of facilitating crucial auto services that drivers may require, such as scheduling maintenance,…
Nigeria’s Anchor has acquired over US$1 million in pre-seed funding and announced the opening of its public beta. Anchor is a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform that enables the seamless development of financial products across Africa. Olamide Sobowale, Segun Adeyemi, and Gbekeloluwa Olufotebi founded Anchor, which offers APIs for offering accounts, money movement, savings, and card goods….
Octiv, a South African platform for managing gyms, has completed an eight-figure Series A fundraising round, which was headed by venture capital company Knife Capital. An executive from the cryptocurrency-powered banking network BVNK made an angel investment in this round, adding to the startup’s previous seed funding from South African angel investors. The investment will…
Mobile Power Limited has received a £1 million investment from All On, an independent impact investing firm with Shell funding, to support the expansion of its Pay-per-use battery sharing platform in Nigeria. Through its creative and cheap solutions, such as MOPO, an energy distribution platform, Mobile Power supplies clean and economical energy to the off-grid…
Pezesha, a Kenyan fintech startup, has raised $11 million in pre-Series A equity debt and expanded into Nigeria, Rwanda, and Francophone Africa. The equity round was led by Women’s World Banking Capital Partners II, with participation from Verdant Frontiers Fintech Fund, cFund, and Cardano blockchain builder Input Output Global (IOG). Talanton and Verdant Capital Specialist…
Sharwa, an Egyptian startup, has raised $2 million in seed funding as it prepares to launch its mobile app, which it claims is the first social commerce app in the Middle East. Sharwa, founded earlier this year by Alaa Shalaby, Hassan Elshourbagi, and Mohamed Hanafy, offers customers low prices on approximately 1,000 grocery, appliances, and…
SubsBase, an Egyptian subscription, and recurring revenue management platform has raised US$2.4 million in a preliminary round of funding to boost its growth across the MENA region and to speed up product development. SubsBase is a cloud-based subscription, recurring revenue, and billing management platform that provides organizations with collection, operational, analytics, and billing solutions to…
To make it easier for Nigerians and other Africans to make overseas payments, fintech companies frequently provide virtual foreign bank accounts. In a recent development, Grey, a fintech in this category that gives African freelancers and remote employees virtual foreign bank accounts, said that it had acquired $2 million in seed capital. Grey was established…
A US$15 million first close of Microtraction’s second fund has been announced. Microtraction is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in African technology firms at the pre-seed level. Yele Bademosi and Kwamena Afful started Microtraction in 2017, and with the help of PAVE Investments, Michael Seibel, Andy Volk, and Chris Shultz, they have since…
Today, the $5 million financing round for the city’s fintech stock exchange, the Cape Town Stock Exchange (CTSE), was closed. The business also disclosed that Mark Fitzjohn, Bruce Ndidi, and Stephan Van Der Walt (all from Empowerment Capital) have joined the board (Pallidus Alternative Investments). Lebashe Investment Group, Pallidus Alternative Investments, Shaolin Investments Limited, and…
In order to develop its pay-as-you-go cold storage service for off-grid users in Kenya, Koolboks, a Nigerian cold storage firm, concluded a $2.5M Seed funding round. This brings the company’s total investment to date to $3.5M. Koolboks will use the funds to scale its operations across Nigeria, including developing its workforce to support its expanding…
Google recently invested an unknown sum in Lori Systems, an African digital logistics startup. This is Google’s third such investment on the continent. SafeBoda and Carry1st are the two businesses that Google previously backed with funds from its $50 million Africa Investment Fund. The fund, which was established to “help the continent’s digital transformation” as…
Pastel, a Nigerian startup, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding in order to expand its product offerings. The round was led by TLcom Capital. Global Founders Capital (GFC), Golden Palm Investments, DFS Labs, Ulu Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, and Soma Capital are among the other investors. Abuzar Royesh, Olamide Oladeji, and Izunna Okonkwo…
Egypt’s startup BONBELL, the first mobile App in the Food-tech industry specialized in food ordering, and digital solutions for table and meal reservations, has raised $350,000 from a Canadian Angel investor to help further develop the App services and achieve a level of growth in terms of user count and daily orders. BONBELL launched its…
To help artists get the much-needed income from their work in the Metaverse, Swiss venture capital firm CV VC has invested an undisclosed amount in South African metaverse startup SodaWorld. The SodaWorld platform, Sodaworld.tv, is a portal modeled after Twitch and Netflix that enables artists to interact with online viewers. The Venice Biennale, an annual…
Nigerian fintech firm TeamApt recently secured more than $50 million in funding to increase the range of loan products it offers. TechCrunch reports that TeamApt is not giving this round a “letter.” The company is still reportedly trying to raise a Series C in 2023, thus it might be considered a pre-Series C round. Novastar…
DataProphet, a South African startup that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to help manufacturers automate their processes, has finished raising its US$10 million Series A round to speed up its international expansion. When Frans Cronje and Daniel Schwartzkopff, two friends from the University of Cape Town, decided to use their expertise in artificial intelligence to launch…
Zeepay, a challenger mobile money provider that specializes in cross-border payments, has announced financing of USD 10 million. The medium-term debt offering, which is a part of its A.5 series, would aid Zeepay in its effort to grow its rapidly expanding remittance to wallet business. Symbiotics BV spearheaded the financing with USD 9 million, while…
Before expanding across the continent, the Ugandan firm Tripesa is focusing on finding the right product-market fit. Tripesa was once known as RoundBob, an online travel marketplace that had to shut down as a result of COVID-19, which paralyzed the travel and tourism sector. However, Tripesa, which is developing infrastructure and logistics to support businesses…
Zeepay, a Ghanaian mobile financial services firm that specializes in offering integrated mobile payment services, has raised $10 million, with Symbiotics BV leading the way with USD 9 million and a Mauritius-based fund investing USD 1 million, for a total of USD 10 million. The A.5 series medium term debt issuance is intended to help…
A seed round of $2.7 million has been secured by energy technology business Beacon Power Services (BPS), which provides data and grid management solutions to assist Africa’s power sector to distribute electricity more effectively. Seedstars Africa Ventures led the company’s seed round, which also included Persistent Energy, Kepple Africa Ventures, Factor[e], and Oridun Capital Management….
Qurious Labs, an Egyptian Web3-focused venture studio, has raised money from Openner in an effort to support fearless businesspeople in the MENA area who are developing Web3 businesses that leverage blockchain, virtual currencies, NFTs, and games to explore the Metaverse. Qurious Labs is able to collaborate with Web3 creatives and engineers that have incredibly low…
A $5.6 million Series A fundraising round, headed by Mucker Capital, was successfully completed by Proto, a Canadian company that offers artificial intelligence (AI) customer experience solutions. Current shareholder Yolo Investments also participated in the round. The company helps contact center operators automate client interactions in their local tongues, including the National Bank of Rwanda,…
Homzmart, an online marketplace for furniture and home goods located in Egypt, has raised a $23 million pre-Series B investment, increasing its total capital to roughly $40 million. In 2020, former Daraz COO Mahmoud Ibrahim and former Jumia head of logistics Ibrahim Mohamed founded Homzmart, a platform that enables furniture suppliers and merchants to communicate…
A $1 million seed round extension has been announced by Youverify, an identity verification firm with offices in San Francisco and Lagos, to increase its capacity from 400 million to 2 billion identities. LoftyInc Capital and Orange Digital Ventures (ODV) took the lead in the expansion round. Along with Octerra Capital, other investors included Plug…