ArK Kapital, based in Stockholm, has secured a €150 million senior secured debt facility from Pollen Street Capital after raising €165 million in March to provide long-term alternative financing options. Through AI-powered financial forecasts and non-dilutive funding, the company will be able to assist startups in growing smarter. ArK Kapital, which was founded by six-time…
IFC, a World Bank Group member, will invest $15 million in Algebra Ventures’ second fund, which will support the growth of approximately 20 technology startups in Egypt and across Africa. Algebra Ventures II, with a target size of $90 million, will focus on women-led businesses and those serving rural communities, and will provide access to…
Rology, an on-demand teleradiology platform based in Egypt, has closed a pre-Series A round of funding to help it expand across the Middle East and Africa. Rology, founded in October 2017 by Amr AboDraiaa, Moaaz Hossam, Mahmoud Eldefrawy, and Bassam Khallaf, has built a cloud-based platform that provides intelligent matchmaking between patients and remote radiologists,…
The last e-Track Programme concluded earlier this month with seven of the graduating startups pitching their businesses to an audience at a hybrid event hosted on the GSB campus, which was run by UCT GSB Solution Space – a specialized centre of the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business focused on high-impact early…
Intella, the Middle East and North Africa’s first real-time intelligence provider, has announced a $1 million seed funding round led by Hala Ventures and Falak Startups, with participation from the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation and its venture capital arm, Egypt Ventures, as well as the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation. Other investors have also…
Sticitt, a South African fintech startup, has received an oversubscribed round of seed funding to help it grow. Sticitt, which was co-founded in January 2018 by Theo Kitshoff, Mitch Dart, and Dennis Wevel, simplifies payments within the South African education market with its simple payment system, Sticitt Pay, which offers niche communities an alternative payment…
Kwik, a French-Nigerian business-to-business startup that provides Software as a Service (SaaS) logistics services to African social vendors and e-commerce platforms, has raised $2 million in its Series A round. With the new funding, the company will be able to focus more on developing digital services for the three core pillars of last-mile delivery, e-commerce…
Pivo, a Nigerian startup, offers an all-in-one financial services platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the supply chain sector, including banking, lending, and insurance solutions. Pivo, founded in July 2021 by Ijeoma Akwiwu and Nkiru Amadi-Emina and launched in public beta in September, is aimed at any business involved in the import, export,…
Yoco, a South African payments company, has acquired Nona Digital, a Cape Town-based fintech and Web3 software development agency, to accelerate its roadmap by bringing in a team of highly specialized fintech product and technology professionals. Yoco creates tools and services to assist small businesses in accepting card payments in-store and online, obtaining loans, and…
Spleet, a Nigerian real estate technology startup, has raised US$625,000 in pre-seed funding to help it launch a new product that provides tenants with affordable loans to help them pay their rent. Spleet, founded in 2018 by Tola Adesanmi in response to the need to find rentals in Lagos with flexible payment options rather than…
Moove, one of the fastest-growing mobility fintechs, has raised $105 million in a new Series A2 funding round led by previous investors Speedinvest, Left Lane Capital, and the latest ventures, as well as new participants AfricInvest, MUFG Innovation Partners, Latitude, and Kreos Capital. The company said in a statement to Technext that the funds will…
Following the completion of all Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) requirements and the receipt of a US$2.2 million pre-seed funding round, Egyptian fintech and next-generation banking startup Nexta is set to begin operations. Nexta, founded in 2021 by Ibrahim Farag and Ahmed Hisham, is a digital bank that aims to improve Egyptians’ daily lives by…
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Fintech Conference has announced the grand prize winner of its 2022 Fintech Startup Pitch Competition as Kenyan startup Money254. Money254 is a financial services comparison platform that will be launched in April 2021, making it easier for users to find, compare, and apply for financial products that meet both…
Chefaa, an Egyptian e-health startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding to help it expand its network, launch a new product, and enter new markets. Chefaa, founded in 2017 by Rasha Rady and Doaa Aref, is an e-pharmacy platform that offers a complete healthcare experience. The startup provides users with compliant, ethical, and patient-centric…
The Westerwelle Foundation and Obuntu Hub have joined forces to build Arusha’s largest startup hub, with the ambitious goal of boosting Tanzanian entrepreneurship and the economy as a whole. The Westerwelle Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Germany with the mission of empowering entrepreneurs in emerging markets. It already has hubs in Kigali and…
Tendo, a Ghanaian startup that allows anyone to sell online with no upfront inventory, has launched in Nigeria with the support of industry heavyweights such as Catalyst Fund, Google, and Y Combinator. Tendo, which debuted last year, has created a mobile app that connects dropshippers with local wholesalers. Sellers on the platform can use social…
Vula Mobile, a South African medical referral app and online platform that hosts a network of health professionals, has partnered with leading pharmaceutical firm Novartis to improve eye care services in Sub-Saharan Africa. Primary health care workers can connect with specialists via the Vula Mobile digital platform, allowing for faster assessment of eye conditions and…
Kouncel, an Egyptian legal ed-tech startup, has raised US$1.2 million in pre-seed funding to help it grow. The fundraising round was attended by Zaldi Capital, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Academy for Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), and the Egyptian entrepreneurship development initiative Tanmia wa Tatweer. The funds will be used to expand the…
Microsoft intends to provide $500 million in potential funding to African startups with the help of venture capitalists in order to help them grow quickly. The Africa Transformation Office will launch a series of new initiatives over the next five years with the goal of assisting 10,000 African businesses in reaching their full potential. With…
Until now, the African startup ecosystem has been dominated by Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt (‘the Big 4’), countries that continue to receive the majority of venture capital and other forms of investment. However, the situation appears to be gradually changing as notable startups emerge from other countries on the continent and investors look…
Stitch, a South African API finance business, announced in January that it would conduct a “startup showcase” to allow early-stage fintech from across the continent to share their solutions with local and global investors and receive support, according to Disrupt Africa. The event was part of a Stitch-hosted meetup for global fintech investors interested in…
Susu, a global health-tech business dedicated to making healthcare accessible and affordable to all Africans, has raised €2 million in a pre-seed round. Angel investors, grant financing from BPI France, the French government’s public investment bank, and debt were used to raise the funds. Bola Bardet, Laurent Leconte (Chief Technology Officer), and Sandrine Egron (Chief…
Circle, founded in 2020 by Nancy Kamal and Essam Maged and sponsored by 500 Global, makes it easy for real estate developers and property owners to interact with tenants. Milango, on the other hand, was founded by Amr Mostafa in 2021 and provides business clients with a suite of community management solutions to help them…
Wicrypt, a Nigerian blockchain-based Wi-Fi sharing startup, plans to be active in five African countries this year after securing funding late last year. Wicrypt, which was founded in 2018, is a decentralized mobile internet sharing and monetisation network that allows anyone to be compensated for sharing their Wi-Fi. Users install the Wicrypt app on their…
Boxconn, a Ghanaian logistics startup, has already launched operations in Nigeria and Botswana and plans further expansion after facilitating thousands of deliveries. Boxconn, a logistics software platform that allows businesses and individuals to deliver on-demand, was founded in January 2021 by a team formed during the MEST Africa program in Accra. It provides a white-label…
Viva Translate, a technology startup, announced $4 million in funding and the release of a new AI context-aware translation software. Viva Translate is an artificial intelligence software that translates emails and other written communications between Spanish and English in real time. The software works as a Chrome browser extension to provide automatic and instant translation….
Volta Trucks, a Swedish electric vehicle startup that believes it can build better urban delivery vehicles and other trucks that are safer and have a lower carbon footprint than their gas-guzzling, more clumsy, existing counterparts, has closed a large round of funding to help it get through the final mile of development before its Volta…
According to a press report published by Forbes Middle East, OPay has received widespread support in Egypt. The Nigeria-based fintech firm is unquestionably one of Africa’s fintech unicorns and one of the continent’s most valuable startups. Since its initial launch in Egypt at the beginning of 2021, it has also been regarded as one of…
Clickatell, a Cape Town-based and California-based fintech firm, CPaaS innovator, and creator of the Chat Commerce platform, announced yesterday that it had raised $91 million in its latest Series C round of funding. Arrowroot Capital led this round, with Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, Endeavor Global, and Harvest also participating. According to a press release, Clickatell…
Bizzyn, a Tanzanian startup, has launched a full-featured business and financial management suite of products designed to scale as businesses grow. Bizzyn, which was founded in 2019 by Emmanuel Kimaro and Abbasi Mussa, officially began operations in November of last year. The startup has created a financial and marketing platform for SMEs that monitors finance,…