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,…
Launched as Kazi in 2017, when the market was still in its infancy, Kenyan startup Ziada returned after a hiatus in 2021, and saw rapid adoption of its platform, which helps informal sector service providers access more work opportunities. Annabel Angwenyi and Patrick Ngugi have been business partners for over a decade, but their two…
Freterium, a Moroccan startup, has received $4 million in seed funding to help it grow and serve more businesses in Africa and the Middle East. Partech led the round, which also included Y Combinator (Freterium was a part of the S21 cohort), Flexport, CDG Invest, Swiss Founders Fund, Outlierz Ventures, and business angels from the…
Wasla, an Egyptian ecommerce startup, has received a $9 million investment from Contact Financial Holding, the country’s largest non-bank financial services provider. Contact will invest up to $9 million in Wasla’s product rollout and regional expansion, with the goal of realizing the startup’s vision of enabling e-commerce, payments, and credit for a broad audience in…
Earnipay, a Nigerian fintech firm that provides flexible and on-demand salary access to income earners, has raised US$4 million in seed funding to expand its product. The seed round is led by Canaan Ventures, with participation from XYZ Ventures, Village Global, Musha Ventures, Ventures Platform, Voltron Capital, and Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade. Nonso Onwuzulike founded…
Zindi, a professional network of data scientists based in South Africa, has raised a US$1 million seed funding round to help it build on its impressive early growth. Zindi, founded in 2018 by Celina Lee, Megan Yates, and Ekow Duker with the belief that data science should be accessible to all, hosts a community of…
Meeula, a Nigerian startup, has launched a smart lead-generating business card to assist corporate professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners in more effectively networking. Meeula, which was founded in May 2021, allows users to exchange contacts at events, conferences, meetings, or meetups with a single tap. “Instead of ordering paper cards over and over again, professionals…
The Createch Accelerator focuses on businesses that employ innovation or technology to improve value chains in Africa’s creative industries or to address market problems in these value chains. The program’s goal is to provide knowledge, networks, and assistance to companies operating at the interface of technology and creativity, allowing them to accelerate their route…
LoftyInc Capital Management is a venture capital business with the goal of “creating an ecosystem of Africans investing in Africans solving African problems.” The business announced the first closing of its US$10 million LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund 3 (LAF3) in September, as it ramped up its participation in the African startup area. This followed after…
According to Partech’s report on venture capital funding in Africa, 37 African tech startups raised a total of $767 million in 43 debt rounds last year, indicating the rise of the debt funding class and increasing global lender confidence in African tech. According to the report, “Africa’s tech ecosystem has set its sights on another…
Digital Africa, a French government-supported organization that helps African tech startups, has announced that it will provide 70 million euros ($79 million) in seed and Series A funding by 2025. In a press conference, the initiative’s executive director, Stephan Eloise-Gras, stated that Digital Africa aims to fund 200 African startups with seed funding ranging from…
MoneyHash, an Egyptian fintech startup that uses a universal API and a unified checkout experience to help businesses consolidate and grow their payments and financial tech stack, has announced a US$3 million pre-seed funding round as it exits beta and prepares to launch across the Middle East and Africa, has announced a US$3 million pre-seed…
Ndovu, a Kenyan wealth-tech startup, has begun operations after securing a pre-seed funding round in October, with the goal of providing users with easy access to global financial markets. Ndovu, which was founded in 2020 by Radhika Bhachu, Ro Nyangeri, and Gianpaolo De Biase and is available on iOS and Android, allows users to invest…