Hi and welcome to African VC/ Startup news, a weekly newsletter where I highlight transactions in the African startup ecosystem over the past week (or two). Apologies a public holiday and family emergency resulted in the delayed newsletter over the last 3 weeks.

In addition to sending the weekly newsletter, I maintain a database of deals, investors and portfolio companies in the African startup ecosystem, it is available: here

Insights: Since 21 March 2021, I noticed 28 deals come across my screen, 20 investments, 5 fundraises, 2 acquisitions and 1 exit. Of the 20 investments, South Africa had 8 deals while Nigeria and Egypt had 3 deals each. Fintech was once again the most active sector with 8 investments and 2 in Logistics/ Mobility (see below):

Since 21 March 2021, I noticed the following deals:

Investments (20 deals)

1: Tugende  | $3,6m | Partech; Enza Capital | Series A | Logistics, Mobility

Investee:

Tugende - based in Uganda, they use asset finance, technology, and a customer-centric model to help informal sector entrepreneurs increase their income. They started offering credit to motorcycle taxi owners in Uganda, helping them own instead of rent the motorcycle in 24 months or less.

Investor(s):

Partech - With a current portfolio of almost 180 companies spread across 30 countries in Europe, the US, Africa, and Asia, Partech has been one of the leading international investors helping visionary founders for almost 40 years. With over €1.5B under management, Partech invests from €200K to €50M in B2B and B2C technologies reshaping industries.

Enza Capital - a Kenya based, private investor in early-stage African tech companies solving large and meaningful problems. Enza’s first cheque sizes range from $50k to $1 million.

2: Impulse Biomedical | Undisclosed amount | Futuregrowth  | Seed | Healthtech

Investee:

Impulse Biomedical - an award-winning South African healthtech startup founded by biomedical engineers. They are developing the ZiBiPen which is a reusable adrenaline auto-injector (used in the treatment for Anaphylaxis) significantly reducing the wastage of expired adrenaline injectors, making it much more cost-effective.

Investor(s):

Futuregrowth - a fixed interest investment company that creates opportunities for investors and manages clients'​ assets of around R185 billion across the full range of interest bearing and developmental investments. 

3: Curacel | $450k | Atlantica Ventures; Consonance; Kepple Africa Ventures | Pre-Seed | Fintech, Insuretech

Investee:

Curacel - A Nigerian AI-powered platform that enables insurers to automate claims seamlessly and track fraud, waste and abuse (FWA).

Investor(s):

Atlantica Ventures - an Africa-Focused early-stage investor with offices in Kenya and Nigeria. They provide capital and growth support to early-stage companies and socially responsible startups in Sub-Saharan Africa from Seed through Series B.

Consonance - based in Mauritius and Nigeria, they are an early-stage and growth investment platform that helps entrepreneurs build companies across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Kepple Africa Ventures - a Tokyo, Kenya and Nigeria based early-stage VC fund focusing on Africa.

4: Pricepally | Undisclosed amount | Samurai Incubate; Launch Africa Ventures | Pre-Seed | Agritech, Marketplace

Investee:

Pricepally - a Nigeria based online store that allows customers to shop for items in bulk to earn discounts on food. They connect farmers, manufacturers and wholesalers directly the consumer in an innovative way for everyone to benefit.

Investor(s):

Samurai Incubate Africa - a Japanese investor that supports the growth of companies aiming to solve social problems and inefficiencies in Africa.

Launch Africa Ventures - a Pan-African fund solving the significant funding gap in the Seed to Series A investment landscape in Africa. Targeting B2B and B2B2C early-stage, technology driven startups with strong management teams. 

5: Tanda | Undisclosed amount | Havaic; Zedcrest Capital & Others | Undisclosed round | Fintech, Financial Services

Investee:

Tanda - an independent agent network operator based in Kenya. Since its inception in 2018, Tanda has enabled banks, telcos and a variety of digital service providers to serve their customers through a nationwide network of commission based agents, with distribution costs that are a fraction of traditional channels.

Investor(s):

Havaic - is a Cape Town based investment and advisory firm that specialises in early-stage, high-growth African businesses with proven concepts and global prospects.

Zedcrest Capital - Africa’s foremost new-age financial solutions powerhouse – creating value for all stakeholders through user-friendly technological innovations and sustainable business practices.

DFS Lab - invest in early-stage founders who are building the future of digital commerce in Africa and back their portfolio with the funding, mentorship, and expertise needed to thrive. 

Victor Asemota - founder of SwiftaCorp, a pioneering African software and technology services group with subsidiaries and operations in over 14 African countries. He is also the Co-founder of MFISA a unique African Mobile Financial Services Accelerator that has powered a number of payment platforms around Africa.

6: Appzone | $10m | Cardinal Stone Capital Advisers; V8 Capital; Lateral Capital & Others | Series A | Fintech

Investee:

Appzone - We build innovative technology and start-ups that enable digital financial services in Africa. Our fintech product ecosystem based on proprietary technology consistently delivers the best-fit solutions and most value for money to our growing clientele of financial institutions and end-users in Africa.

Investor(s):

Cardinal Stone Capital Advisers - a generalist Nigerian private equity fund manager that focusses on equity investments with ticket sizes of $5m to $10m in high growth SMEs.

V8 Capital - an African venture capital firm focused on backing bold visionary entrepreneurs to grow and scale leading technology businesses across Africa.

Lateral Capital - a mission-driven venture fund, partnering with visionary entrepreneurs to build essential digital infrastructure for Africa.

Constant Capital - an Africa-focused investment firm for a wide range of assets to maximize risk-adjusted return on investment. Led and predominantly staffed by investment professionals from Africa, with the cultural knowledge and skills to assess and execute successful African opportunities.

Itanna - an impact initiative that invests in disruptive tech-enabled businesses in Africa providing mentorship, facilitated networking and growth capital through its accelerator programme.

7: Sendmarc | Undisclosed amount | Kalon Venture Partners | Undisclosed round | Cyber-security

Investee:

Sendmarc - a South African cyber security startup that provides the set-up, implementation and reporting functionality for a global e-mail protection standard known as DMARC.

Investor(s):

Kalon Venture Partners - invests in and builds a portfolio of high growth technology companies, with innovative business models, geared to existing and emerging institutions and their customers.

8: Troygold | Undisclosed amount | Crossfin Ventures | Undisclosed round | Fintech, Financial Services

Investee:

Troygold - a South African fintech allowing customers to have a gold back debit card. Troygold liberates your purchasing power, putting real gold in your pocket.

Investor(s):

Crossfin Ventures - a South African investor who invests in fintech solutions to enable growth for economies in Africa and beyond. They aim to be Africa’s leading fintech group by 2022 as measured by volume and value of transactions through their platforms.

9: BezoMoney | $200k | Goodsoil VC | Seed | Fintech

Investee:

BezoMoney - a Ghanaian startup that provides a digital savings platform called BezoSusu that helps customers, receive bulk capital through group savings. It allows customers to build a savings and credit history to access formal financial services.

Investor(s):

Goodsoil VC - a UK based venture capital firm that partners with founders to build global, market-defying companies. Focused on funding pre-seed and seed stage companies founded in Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.

10: Numida | $2,3m | MFS Africa; DRK Foundation & Others | Seed | Fintech

Investee:

Numida - Growing African small businesses through access to digital and unsecured working capital.

Investor(s):

MFS Africa - MFS Africa is the best gateway to send money to mobile wallets in Africa. We cover 200 million mobile money recipients across all major networks.

DRK Foundation - The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation is a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early stage, high impact social enterprises.

Equilibria Capital - is an asset management company focused on managing investment funds and separate accounts for private and institutional clients. The firm’s funds and portfolios invest globally across multiple asset classes in both public and private markets.

Segal Family Foundation - At Segal Family Foundation, they believe in a world where development is steered by grassroots leaders and power is shifted into the hands of communities. They work across Sub-Saharan Africa and strive to be partners.

11: Quro Medical | $1,1m | Enza Capital; Mohau Equity Partners | Seed | Healthtech

Investee:

Quro Medical - an innovative digital health company pioneering premium hospital-at-home services in Southern Africa. They combine cutting-edge technologies with a strong personal touch to deliver unique healthcare solutions for their customers.

Investor(s):

Enza Capital - a Kenya based, private investor in early-stage African tech companies solving large and meaningful problems. Enza’s first cheque sizes range from $50k to $1 million.

Mohau Equity Partners

12: Kemitt | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed investors | Undisclosed round | Marketplace

Investee:

Kemitt - a revolutionary platform for furniture designers, offering them the opportunity to sell their unique designs in new markets, risk and hassle-free. Kemitt handles all the manufacturing, overhead, and shipping processes to the customer.

Investors:

Undisclosed

13: Peach Payments | Undisclosed amount | UW Ventures; Launch Africa Ventures | Undisclosed round | Fintech

Investee:

Peach Payments - a South African Fintech that enables businesses to accept payments on their websites and mobile apps. They work with businesses in South Africa, Kenya and Mauritius, and are rapidly expanding our presence to other countries across the continent.

Investor(s):

UW Ventures - a South Africa based multi-stage investor that provides growth and replacement capital across the equity-cycle. Its activities span from high-growth venture to mid-market private equity.

Launch Africa Ventures

14: Paymob | $18,5m | Global Ventures; A15; FMO | Series A | Fintech

Investee:

Paymob - Established in 2015, Paymob, is an infrastructure technology enabler providing a suite of financial technology solutions to empower financial service providers across the Middle East and Africa with the aim of empowering the masses to get access to finance.

Investor(s):

Global Ventures - an international venture capital firm, investing in founders and ideas across emerging markets.

A15 - An entrepreneurial company that creates digital products and technology brands.

FMO - the Dutch development bank, founded in 1970. They support sustainable private sector growth in developing and emerging markets by investing in ambitious entrepreneurs. 

15: KAS Africa | $10m | TRT Investments | Undisclosed round | Manufacturer

Investee:

KAS Africa - Africa’s leading contract manufacturer of personal care, homecare and oral care  products.

Investor(s):

TRT Investments - a US based investments group with over 20 years manufacturing and distribution experience in the SADC region, and a balance sheet in excess of $200m.

16: Adumo | $15m | IFC | Undisclosed round | Fintech

Investee:

Adumo - South Africa’s largest independent payments processor trusted by retailers across Africa.

Investor(s):

IFC -  a member of the World Bank Group, the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries.

17: Kezakoo | $220k | Witamax One | Seed | Edtech

Investee:

Kezakoo - a Casablanca-based edtech startup specialized in tutoring.

Investor(s):

Witamax One - jointly created by the Morocco-based investment firms Southbridge A&I and the AXXAM Family Office.

18: Ampersand | $3,5m | Ecosystem Integrity Fund | Undisclosed round | Logistics / Mobility

Investee:

Ampersand - Africa’s first and leading integrated electric motorcycle and transport energy solution. We offer East Africa's five million taxi motorcyclists a commercial electric motorcycle that is cheaper from day one, provides  better overall user experience and requires minimal customer behaviour change.

Investor(s):

Ecosystem Integrity Fund - an early growth stage investor in companies contributing to environmental sustainability.

19: Revix | $4,1m | Undisclosed investors | Pre-Series A | Blockchain, Cryptocurrency

Investee:

Revix - Cape Town-based cryptocurrency investment platform poised for rapid global growth while showcasing the potential of the cryptocurrency market.

Investor(s):

Undisclosed Investors

20: Takestep | Undisclosed amount | Dr Mohamed Hossam Khedr | Seed | Healthtech

Investee:

Takestep - a specialized platform supporting addiction cases and general psychiatry in the Middle East.

Investor(s):

Dr Mohamed Hossam Khedr - A business, entrepreneurship and investment consultant at Khedr W Business. He is a serial entrepreneur as he founded and sold Fatakat among other companies.

Fundraises (5 deals)

1:  Sawari Ventures | $69m | Misr Insurance Group, Ekuity, National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, Suez Canal Bank

Investor:

Sawari Ventures - a leading venture capital firm based in Cairo. They invest in people turning visionary ideas into market-leading technology companies in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, believing in the transformative power of entrepreneurial thinking.

Capital raised - $69m

Sector / Stage focus - Egyptian startups

2:  Moshesh Partners | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed LPs

Investor:

Moshesh Partners - a majority black-owned and black-managed investment fund manager based in South Africa.

Capital raised - undisclosed; targeting $139,7m (ZAR 2bn)

Sector / Stage focus - focuses on investment into renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure including energy, water, telecoms and transport.

3:  Algebra Ventures | $90m | Undisclosed LPs

Investor:

Algebra Ventures - a leading technology VC firm in Egypt with unique investment experience both locally and internationally.

Capital raised - $90m

Sector / Stage focus - fintech, logistics, healthtech, and agritech in Egypt and the MEA regions

4:  EFG Hermes Education Fund | $15,9m | The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE)

Investor:

EFG Hermes - with a current footprint spanning thirteen countries across four continents, EFG Hermes started in Egypt and has grown over 35 years of success to become a leading financial services corporation with access to emerging and frontier markets.

Capital raised - $15,9m

Fund size - $150m

Sector / Stage focus - Education sector in Egypt

5:  Samurai Incubate | $18,6m | Various LPs incl. Toyota Tsusho Corporation

Investor:

Samurai Incubate Africa - a Japanese investor that supports the growth of companies aiming to solve social problems and inefficiencies in Africa.

Capital raised - $18,6m

Sector / Stage focus - fintech, insurtech, logistics, healthtech, consumer and commerce, energy, agritech, mobility and entertainment

Ticket size - $50k to $800k

Acquisition (2 deals)

1: Selpal | Undisclosed amount | FNB | Fintech, Financial Services

Target:

Selpal - connects merchants (which we call Store Traders) and mobile merchants (which we call Street Sellers) to customers and suppliers.

Investor:

FNB - a South African bank that provides personal, private, business, commercial and corporate banking services to millions of customers.

Price - undisclosed

2: Mangwee Mobile Money | Undisclosed amount | 51% stake | ZeePay | Fintech

Target:

Mangwee Mobile Money - offers a mobile money wallet that serves as a secure savings account for those without access to banks or those who want to avoid high banking fees

Investor:

ZeePay - the fastest growing fintech focusing on digital rails to connect digital assets such as mobile money Wallets, Cards, ATMs, Bank Account and Digital Tokens to International Money Transfer Operators, Payments, Subscriptions, International Airtime and Refugee payments.

Price - undisclosed

Stake - 51%

Exits (1 deal)

1: SM River (pre-seed investor) | Secondary sale at Series A round | Kuda

Investor:

SM River - consortium consisting of Raj Kulasingam, Haresh Aswani, Vishal Agarwal and Alwin Magimay

Portfolio company exited:

Kuda - the Africa-focused challenger bank. SM River acted as lead investor of Kuda’s USD1.6m pre-seed round.

Route of exit:

Via a secondary sale at Kuda’s Series A financing round

That’s it for now, enjoy your Friday!

Daryn

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vcstartupnews.substack.com

Hi and welcome to African VC/ Startup news, a weekly newsletter where I highlight transactions in the African startup ecosystem over the past week (or two). In addition to sending the weekly newsletter, I maintain a database of deals, investors and portfolio companies in the African startup ecosystem, it is available: here

Insights: Since 14 March 2021, I noticed 11 deals come across my screen, 9 investments and 2 fundraises. Of the 9 investments, Nigeria had 3 deals while South Africa and Ghana had 2 each. Fintech was once again the most active sector with 3 investments and 2 in Agritech (see below):

Within the 3 Fintech deals, 2 were in the Nigerian cross-border payments/ remittance sector. Interestingly Nigeria is one of the largest recipients of remittances in the world, receiving $23,8bn in 2019 (see below). Hopefully these startups will reduce the fees paid on these transactions which average 9%.

Since 7 March 2021, I noticed the following deals:

Investments (9 deals)

1: Bankly | $2m | Vault; Plug and Play Ventures; Rising Tide Africa; Chrysalis Capital | Seed | Fintech

Investee: 

Bankly - A Nigerian fintech that is helping to digitize the process of collating and saving money for unbanked individuals. Customers can deposit and withdraw cash with at a Bankly agent any time.

Investor(s):

Vault - a holding company, one of their subsidiaries, VANSO, was sold to Interswitch in 2016.

Plug and Play Ventures - experts in facilitating meaningful introductions, investing in startups, and bringing together key stakeholders into one world-changing network.

Rising Tide Africa - functions as part of a Global movement of The Rising Tide Program for Africa. It constitutes a group of women angel investors harnessing their power, network, passion and capital to positively impact and actively create a New Africa.

Chrysalis Capital - a team of operator investors that that solves problems in emerging markets and for its diaspora. It focusses on early stage tech companies in emerging markets.

Detail: the goal is to use the capital to grow the customer base to 2 million unbanked individuals in the next 3 years.

2: Redbird | $1,5m | Johnson & Johnson Foundation; Newtown Partners | Seed | Healthtech

Investee: 

Redbird - a Ghanaian healthtech that is modernising the way that pharmacies test their patients for chronic and acute conditions.

Investor(s):

Johnson & Johnson Foundation - an impact investment vehicle within the Johnson & Johnson Foundation that deploys investments in healthcare innovations, that addresses health workforce and healthcare challenges in low-income and diverse communities.

Newtown Partners (Imperial Venture Fund) - Newtown Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm that actively invests in emerging, disruptive technology startup businesses. They manage the Imperial Venture Fund that prioritises disruptive, startups in the global supply chain and logistics technology stack.

Detail: the capital will be used to grow the operations in Ghana and to expand to new markets.

3: Cowrie Integrated Systems | $750k | Stellar Development Foundation | Undisclosed round | Fintech

Investee: 

Cowrie Integrated Systems - a Nigeria and UK based fintech that provides cross-border payments solutions allowing users to participate in a global financial market by providing access to currencies not widely traded.

Investor(s):

Stellar Development Foundation - a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world’s financial infrastructure. 

Detail: the capital will be used to expand operations in emerging markets and develop payment corridors between, into, and out of Africa, with an initial focus on Nigeria.

4: Complete Farmer | Undisclosed amount | Ingressive Capital | Undisclosed round | Agritech

Investee: 

Complete Farmer - A Ghana based agritech business that has built the first African digital platform that brings together food growers, food buyers, and food lovers to interact on a single platform.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

Investor(s):

Ingressive Capital - a venture capital fund that invests into small, early-stage or emerging startups that is deemed to have high growth potential or which have demonstrated high growth in terms of annual revenue.

Detail: Complete Farmer will use the funds to expand into other markets.

5: Maia Group | Undisclosed amount | EXEO Capital | Undisclosed round | Retail

Investee: 

Maia Group - the South African holding company of the Wellness Warehouse and other consumer health businesses.

Investor(s):

EXEO Capital (Agri-Vie Fund II) - an alternative investment partner in Africa, sought after for its business building capabilities and its ethos of partnership and impact, delivering enviable returns. The Agri-Vie Fund II is a private equity fund that specialises in food and agribusiness in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Detail: The growth strategy of the business will be accelerated with the additional capital.

6: Afriex | $1,2m | Launch Africa; Y Combinator; SoftBank Opportunity Fund & others | Seed | Fintech

Investee: 

Afriex - a Nigerian fintech, mobile peer-to-peer payments app that makes sending money to Africa simple.  

Investor(s):

Launch Africa - a Pan-African fund solving the significant funding gap in the Seed to Series A investment landscape in Africa. Targeting B2B and B2B2C early-stage, technology driven startups with strong management teams. 

Y Combinator - a US-based accelerator that invests in startups twice a year. In each round the company invests $125k in exchange for a 7% stake in the business. The program lasts for three months and helps founders to refine their investor pitches.

SoftBank Opportunity Fund - a $100 million venture fund dedicated to supporting and building a community of outstanding Black, Latinx and Native American founders.

Future Africa - a platform connecting mission-driven innovators and investors looking to turn Africa's most difficult challenges into global business opportunities.

Brightstone VC - an early-growth stage venture capital firm who partners with bold entrepreneurs creating innovative & disruptive companies in the technology and life science sectors.

Precursor Ventures - a seed stage venture capital firm investing in long-term relationships with founders.

A$AP Capital; Ivernet Holdings; Processus Capital; Uncommon Ventures

Detail: the new investment will be used to grow the team and expand into other markets.

7: Capitol Foods Limited | $1m | Cordaid Investment Management; Triodos Investment Management | Loan | Food & Agriculture

Investee: 

Capitol Foods Limited - a company based in Sierra Leone that processes locally sourced fruit into beverage products, Sierra Juice.

Investor(s):

Cordaid Investment Management - A debt investor in fragile markets since 1998, who invests in decent job creation, sustainable economic development and building resilient communities. CIM offers patient capital to small and medium enterprises.

Triodos Investment Management (Triodos-Hivos Fund) - a globally recognised leader in impact investing. They have expertise across Energy & Climate, Inclusive Finance, Sustainable Food & Agriculture, and Impact Equities & Bonds.

Detail: The loan will help Capitol Foods source more than 5,000 tons of fruit annually, impacting around 10,000 farmers and support working capital requirements.

8: Consumption Information Real Time | Undisclosed amount | E-Squared | Seed | IoT; AI

Investee: 

Consumption Information Real Time - a South African firm that helps clients discover the value of information by harnessing Internet of Things (“IoT”) technology to provide clients with business-critical information that helps them improve their operational efficiencies, reduce costs, maximise productivity, and increase profits.

Investor(s):

E-Squared - an impact fund that enables Social Entrepreneurs to build and scale high-impact organisations while creating jobs, eliminating poverty and contributing to South Africa’s transformation.

Detail: the capital will be used to scale the operations.

9: Farmhut | $100k | Hult Prize Foundation | Seed | Marketplace, Agritech

Investee: 

Farmhut - a Zimbabwean agritech marketplace that links farmers with market demand. It is an online platform aiming to disrupt the food supply system by allowing farmers to sell their products before they finish harvesting.

Investor(s):

Hult Prize Foundation - the worldwide leader in impact education who has trained more than two-million alumni across 121 countries, transforming how they envision their own possibilities as impact leaders.

Detail: the capital will be invested to ensure that they have more inclusive systems that allow smallholder farmers to access markets with ease.

Fundraises (2 deals)

1: Bamboo Capital Partners (BUILD Fund S.A.) | $2,36m | Government of Luxembourg via UNCDF | Blended Finance

Investor:

Bamboo Capital Partners (BUILD Fund S.A.) - a blended finance fund launched by impact investors Bamboo Capital Partners in partnership with UNCDF. The fund focusses on Least Developed Countries and is designed to attract concessional, semi-commercial and select commercial growth finance to SMEs, financial service providers, and local infrastructure projects.

Capital raised - $2,36m (EUR2m)

Sector / Stage focus - Least Developed Countries: SMEs, financial service providers, and local infrastructure projects.

2: Cardinal Stone Capital Advisers (Growth Fund) | $64m | Commercial & DFI investors | General private equity

Investor:

Cardinal Stone Capital Advisers (Growth Fund) - a generalist Nigerian private equity fund manager that focusses on equity investments with ticket sizes of $5m to $10m in high growth SMEs.

Capital raised - $64m

Sector / Stage focus - Private equity: high growth SMEs in industrials, agribusiness, consumer goods and services, education, healthcare and financial services.

Cheque size - $5m to $10m

That’s it for this week! Have a great 1!

Daryn

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vcstartupnews.substack.com

Hi and welcome to African VC/ Startup news, a weekly newsletter where I highlight transactions in the African startup ecosystem over the past week (or two). Since 7 March 2021, I noticed 17 deals come across my screen, 11 investments, 2 fundraises (and 3 bank lending deals) and 1 acquisition. Of the 11 investments, Nigeria had 4 while Egypt and Ghana had 2 deals each. Fintech was the most active sector with 4 investments and 2 in logistics/ mobility .

In addition to sending the weekly newsletter, I maintain a database of deals, investors and portfolio companies in the African startup ecosystem, it is available: here

Since 7 March 2021, I noticed the following deals:

Investments (11 deals)

1: Boost Ghana  | $120k | Catalyst Fund  | Undisclosed round | Retail management system

Investee: 

Boost Ghana - provides digital solutions to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana to drive efficiency in the distribution of fast moving consumer goods.

Investor(s):

Catalyst Fund - Managed by BFA Global, Catalyst Fund is an accelerator for inclusive fintech startups.

Detail: The capital was provided as part of the Catalyst Fund Inclusive Digital Commerce accelerator, along with an expert-led venture support.

2: KudiGo | $120k | Catalyst Fund  | Undisclosed round | Retail management system

Investee: 

KudiGo - a Ghana based consumer retail software firm, offering data oriented solutions for African SMEs. They are positioned as an integrator and aggregator of essential technology tools for the consumer retail industry.

Investor(s): 

Catalyst Fund - Managed by BFA Global, Catalyst Fund is an accelerator for inclusive fintech startups.

Detail: The capital was provided as part of the Catalyst Fund Inclusive Digital Commerce accelerator, along with an expert-led venture support.

3: Kuda | $25m | Valar Ventures, Target Global | Series A | Fintech

Investee: 

Kuda - a Nigerian full service digital-only bank with a banking license. Kuda is designed for your smartphone, free of ridiculous charges and great at helping you budget, spend smartly and save more.

Investor(s): 

Valar Ventures - cofounded by Peter Thiel, it is a fund that invests in high-margin, fast-growing technology companies that are pursuing huge market opportunities.

Target Global - an international investment firm headquartered in Berlin, with €1bn+ in capital commitments and co-investments.

Detail: The capital will be used to expand the company’s geographical presence and services, while increasing customer acquisition. A new easy-to-use lending option will soon be trialled with select customers.

4: Kabakoo Academies | Undisclosed amount | Zoom EdInnovation Award | Grant | Edtech

Investee: 

Kabakoo Academies - a Mali based mission-driven organization building the first pan-African learning platform for digital and decentralized manufacturing skills.

Investor(s): 

Zoom EdInnovation Award - supporting ideas that improve student engagement in online learning. The boldest and brightest ideas that support underserved students will be selected to receive Zoom technology, support, and funding.

Detail: The grant was made to support the work, which addresses the education challenges of today.

5: Nomanini | $1.5m | Goodwell Investments, FMO, Standard Bank | Undisclosed round | Fintech

Investee: 

Nomanini - a South African fintech platform for the informal retail ecosystem, they connect merchants, distributors and global service providers, while integrating payments, working capital, and data analytics.

Investor(s): 

Goodwell Investments - a pioneering investment firm focused on financial inclusion, fintech and inclusive growth in sectors providing basic goods & services and income generation opportunities to the underserved.

FMO - the Dutch development bank, founded in 1970. They support sustainable private sector growth in developing and emerging markets by investing in ambitious entrepreneurs. 

Standard Bank - a 155 year old South African bank, active across 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. They nurture some of the most skilled, innovative and creative minds in the industry.

Detail: the capital will be used to improve their pan-African expansion.

6: ArifPay | $3.5m | Undisclosed investors | Undisclosed round | Fintech

Investee: 

ArifPay - an Ethiopian universal mobile Point of Sales (mPOS) designed for use by merchants, banks, and consumers in Ethiopia, so that anyone can use it to transfer money, make invoices, or pay taxes. It connects consumers, merchants, and banks across Ethiopia. 

Investor(s): 

Undisclosed

Detail: the capital will be used to help the company launch its services by the end of May 2021.

7: zVendo | Undisclosed amount (6 figure) | EFG EV Fintech | Seed | e-commerce

Investee: 

zVendo - an Egyptian e-commerce platform where one can build an online store and display one’s brand, using ready-to-use templates, to achieve an easy and flexible experience.

Investor(s): 

EFG EV Fintech - aspiring to be Egypt’s most powerful fintech-focused startup accelerator. They invest in promising fintech startups that has potential to grow domestically and expand beyond the Egyptian market.

Detail: with the investment the company aims to become the first local e-commerce hub in Egypt.

8: Plentywaka | $120k | Techstars | Undisclosed round | Logistics/ Mobility

Investee: 

Plentywaka - a Nigerian app that is changing the way people get around. Our app allows commuters to book and pay for fast and convenient trips in real-time.

Investor(s): 

Techstars - the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed. Founded in 2006, Techstars began with three simple ideas—entrepreneurs create the future, collaboration drives innovation, and great ideas can come from anywhere.

Detail: with the investment they will be expanding to other countries, starting with a city in Canada on or before the fourth quarter of 2021.

9: NowPay | Undisclosed amount | Global Ventures | Pre-Series A | Fintech

Investee: 

NowPay - an Egyptian fintech that focuses on improving the financial-wellness of corporate employees. They enable employees to get paid at any point in time during the month.

Investor(s): 

Global Ventures - an international venture capital firm, investing in founders and ideas across emerging markets. They back global-minded founders that are leading growth-stage companies and using technology to transform emerging markets.

Beco Capital - they help small companies make giant leaps. They give companies the two ingredients most needed in early stage development: growth capital and hands-on operational mentorship, enabling founders to fulfil their true potential.  

Endure Capital - an early stage investment fund headed by entrepreneurs. They seek startup teams with great ideas and relentless execution to build companies that achieve hyper-growth.

Foundation Ventures - an early-growth stage venture capital fund that backs daring founders building industry-defining companies. They unlock growth for portfolio companies by providing access to the largest network of distribution channels across Egypt.

Abderahman ElSewedy - angel investor.

Detail: with the capital, the startup is eyeing expansion into other markets in the region.

10: Termii | $1.4m | Future Africa, Kepple Africa Ventures (leads) | Seed | Communications, Platform as a service

Investee: 

Termii - a Nigerian startup that allows businesses to engage with their customers anywhere. They allow users to connect with and verify their underlying customers seamlessly across channels like SMS, voice, email and WhatsApp.

Investor(s): 

Future Africa - a platform connecting mission-driven innovators and investors looking to turn Africa's most difficult challenges into global business opportunities.

Kepple Africa Ventures - Early stage VC fund focusing on Africa, creating new industries from Africa.

Acuity Ventures - Using data and analytics to unlock Africa's potential, they partner with visionary entrepreneurs, using insights from data to illuminate market trends and guide strategic growth.

Aidi Ventures - they support founders with a proven track record of building successful technology-driven ventures across Africa.

Kairos Angels - on a mission to transform the world by partnering with visionary entrepreneurs to build scalable and sustainable businesses. We want to invest behind unreasonable founders who are obsessed with changing the world for the better.

Nama Ventures - Nama Ventures is a pre-seed / seed stage venture capital fund focused on fuelling innovation in the MENA region, particularly in Saudi Arabia. 

Assembly Capital, Rally Cap Ventures, Remapped Ventures

Detail: the investment will be used for expansion and launch more messaging offerings across Africa.

11: Kwik Delivery | $1.7m | Undisclosed | pre-Series A | Logistics/ Mobility

Investee: 

Kwik Delivery - a Nigerian on-demand, last-mile delivery platform that connects businesses to independent delivery riders, known as Kwiksters.

Investor(s):

Undisclosed

Detail: the investment will enable faster growth and to enter new markets.

Fundraises (5 deals)

1: SunFunder / Solar Energy Transformation (SET) Fund | $70m | Various investors (incl. Swedfund) | Renewables

Investor:

SunFunder SET Fund - a mission-driven solar finance business based in Nairobi unlocking debt capital for solar energy in emerging markets.

Capital raised: $70m

Sector / Stage focus: Renewables.

Portfolio / fund size: $70m

Cheque size: undisclosed - 9-year blended finance vehicle.

2:  Moshe Capital | $23.5m | FNB Commercial / RMB Ventures | Private equity 

Investor:

Moshe Capital - a 100% black women-owned South African advisory and investment company.

Capital raised: $23.5m (ZAR350m)

Sector / Stage focus: well-established companies with enterprise values of at least ZAR200m, EBITDA of at least ZAR25m, based in South Africa with international growth potential.

Cheque size: undisclosed.

3: Equity Group Holdings | 3 tranches of Debt funding (c.$320m) | Various investors | SME Lending & Female SME Lending

Investor:

Equity Group Holdings - a Pan-African financial services holding company listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Uganda Securities Exchange, and Rwanda Stock Exchange.

3.1: $75m | African Guarantee Fund | Lending to women owned and managed SMEs in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and DRC.

3.2: $148,75m (EUR125m) | European Investment Bank | Lending to SMEs in high-growth market sectors which serve manufacturing or distribution activities and develop eco-systems around industrial activities.

3.3: $100m | DEG, CDC Group, FMO | Lending to SMEs to bolster their resilience and growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Acquisitions (1 deal)

1: Yuppiechef | $32.15m | Mr Price | e-commerce

Target:

Yuppiechef - a South African online retailer, founded in 2006 selling 32 kitchen products online, from a lounge in Cape Town.

Investor:

Mr Price - a South African based fashion-value retailer that is cash-based and omni-channel. They target a wide range of customers in the mid to upper LSM categories.

Price: $32.15m (ZAR470m)

That’s it for this week! Have a great 1!

Daryn

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vcstartupnews.substack.com

Hi and welcome to African VC/ Startup news, a weekly newsletter where I highlight transactions in the African startup ecosystem over the past week (or two). Since 4 March 2021, I noticed 8 deals come across my screen, 7 investments and 1 fundraise. Of the 7 investments, South Africa had 3 and Egypt and Nigeria had 2 deals each. Fintech was the most active sector with 3 investments.

In addition to sending the weekly newsletter, I maintain a database of deals, investors and portfolio companies in the African startup ecosystem, it is available: here

The UpStartVC Podcast released a new episode on Thursday, we spoke to Simon Ellis from SmartWage. You can find our episodes here: Substack, Apple Podcast and Spotify, Please leave us a review!

Check out our research note on SmartWage:

Since 4 March 2021, I noticed the following deals:

Investments (7 deals)

1: FlexClub | $5m | Seed round | Kindred Ventures; CRE VC; Endeavor | e-Commerce; Marketplace

Investee: 

FlexClub – a South African car subscription marketplace offering flexible ways to get a car online. The company partners with car rental companies and automotive groups to building the future of automotive retail in markets like South Africa and Mexico.  

Investor(s): 

Kindred Ventures (lead) - a seed-stage venture capital fund based in San Francisco, California.

CRE Venture Capital - a New York based venture capital firm that invests in technology enabled startup companies in Africa.

Endeavor - US based non-profit organization that supports high-impact entrepreneurs around the world.

Detail: South African e-commerce startup FlexClub has secured $5m in seed round funding. Funds raised will be used for scaling the company’s business.

2: Dayra | $3m | Pre-Seed round | Various investors | Fintech

Investee: 

Dayra – an Egyptian data-driven fintech company providing financial services to unbanked gig-workers and micro-businesses via API integration. The company offers financial services to unbanked individuals.

Investor(s):

Tanmiya Capital Ventures (lead): an Egyptian SME private equity manager investing in small and medium enterprises with investment tickets of $2-7million.

EFG EV Fintech: a fintech focused startup accelerator that is a partnership between Egyptian financial services company EFG Hermes and Egypt Ventures.

Y Combinator: a US-based accelerator that invests in startups twice a year. In each round the company invests $125k in exchange for a 7% stake in the business. The program lasts for three months and helps founders to refine their investor pitches.

Detail: Egyptian fintech startup Dayra has raised $3m in a pre-seed round. This is ahead of the startup being selected for the Winter 2021 cohort of Y Combinator. The funds are to be used to double the company’s team and create new features for its product.

3: Quench | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | Imvelo Ventures | Logistics; Mobility

Investee: 

Quench – a South African startup that provides an on-demand delivery app for delivery services to locals. The company offers groceries, alcohol, and other essential items.

Investor(s):

Imvelo Ventures - a South African venture capital and growth firm funded by Capitec Bank.

Detail: South African mobility tech startup Quench has raised an undisclosed amount in an undisclosed round of funding from Imvelo Ventures. The company aims to expand its delivery offering across industries and its delivery footprint.

4: Flutterwave | $170m | Series C round | Various investors | Fintech

Investee: 

Flutterwave – a payment service fintech that provides technology, infrastructure, and services to global merchants and payment service providers to enable them to build secure, seamless payment solutions for their customers.

Investor(s): 

Avenir Growth Capital (lead) – a New York based future-focused growth equity firm backing category-defining technology and technology-enabled companies.

Tiger Global Management LLC (lead) - US based investment firm focused primarily on the global internet, technology, telecom, media consumer, and industrial sectors, with a ten-year investment horizon and a strategy to target growth-oriented private companies.

DST Global - a leading internet investment firm making minority investments in the most significant and fast growing internet companies globally.

Early Capital Berrywood - A from-scratch venture firm openly exploring capital distribution and value creation.

Green Visor Capital - an investment firm focused exclusively on seeding and developing early stage Fintech companies.

Greycroft Capital - a venture capital firm that focuses on technology start-ups and investments in the Internet and mobile markets.

Insight Ventures; Salesforce Ventures; 9yards Capital; Worldpay / FIS; PayPal

Detail: Flutterwave, the prominent African fintech startup, has received Series C funding from a consortium of investors led by Avenir Growth Capital and Tiger Global Management totalling $170m. Funds will be used for customer acquisition in international markets and for the development of new products.

5: Adumo | $15m | Undisclosed round | IFC - Financial Institutions Growth Fund | Fintech

Investee: 

Adumo – South Africa’s largest independent payments processor, offering a range of smart payment solutions to large multinational and independent retailers as well as entrepreneurs and informal traders. Its group companies include Sureswipe, iKhokha, Humble, Innervation Pan African Payment Solutions and Innervation Rewards.

Investor(s):

IFC - Financial Institutions Growth Fund – a $500m fund managed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) that invests in financial institutions across global emerging markets.

Detail: IFC has invested $15m in preference share funding in Adumo. The startup aims to use the funds to expand its payment solutions offering across the African continent to service SMEs.

6: Koinz | $4.8m | Seed round | Various investors led by Justin Mateen | Food-tech

Investee: 

Koinz – an Egyptian food ordering platform, that helps increase restaurants' customer satisfaction as well as keeping them engaged and connected to the brands. The platform provides detailed analytics on customer engagement.

Investor(s): various led by 

Justin Mateen – an American internet entrepreneur who is the Founder and former CMO of Tinder.

4DX Ventures - an early stage venture firm focused on Africa that partners with world class entrepreneurs leveraging technology to build transformative businesses.

Detail: Egyptian food ordering and aggregator platform Koinz has raised a Seed round of $4.8m from various investors led by startup investor Justin Mateen. The funds will be used to grow the Koinz team and the reach of the company across the Middle East.

7: Havenhill Synergy Limited | $4.6m | Debt Funding | Chapell Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NDIF) | Renewables

Investee: 

Havenhill Synergy – a utility company that uses solar energy to generate clean, safe, cost-effective and sustainable electricity in rural and urban Nigeria.

Investor(s): 

NDIF – Nigeria's largest and Africa's first-ever listed infrastructure fund, providing long-term financing for infrastructure projects in Nigeria.

Detail: Nigerian cleantech Havenhill Synergy has raised debt funding of $4.6m from the Nigerian Infrastructure Debt Fund, which funds will be used to build 22 solar mini-grids in rural Nigeria.

Fundraises (1 deal)

1: Savannah Fund II | $25m | Various investors (incl. IFC) | Seed / Series A funding

Investor: Savannah Fund – a Kenyan based early-stage venture capital fund focused on women entrepreneurs and disruptive companies in high-growth sectors.

Capital raised: $25m

Sector / Stage focus: fintech, ed-tech, logistics, e-commerce, SaaS, e-health, agtech; Seed to Series A funding.

Portfolio / fund size: $25m

Cheque size: undisclosed

That’s it for this week! Have a great 1!

Daryn

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vcstartupnews.substack.com

Hi and welcome to African VC/ Startup news, a weekly newsletter where I highlight transactions in the African startup ecosystem over the past week (or two). Since 25 February 2021, I noticed 12 deals come across my screen, 11 investments and 1 fundraise. Regionally, South Africa and Kenya dominated with 4 and 3 investments respectively. By sector, Edtech and Fintech had the most deals, with 3 deals each.

In addition to sending the weekly newsletter, I maintain a database of deals, investors and portfolio companies in the African startup ecosystem, it is available: here

I also produce a podcast with Kamo Motaung called The UpStartVC Podcast. It is available on Substack, Apple Podcast and Spotify, check it out and leave us a review!

Since 25 February 2021 I noticed the following deals:

Investments (11 deals)

1: Inoxico | $650k | Undisclosed round | Vumela Fund | Fintech

Investee: 

Inoxico – a South African Information Bureau that provides credit analytics and solutions for corporates.  

Investor(s): 

Vumela Fund - a South African SME investment fund established in 2009 by FNB Business Banking and Edge Growth. The fund’s objective is to create an innovative model to invest in sustainable, independent businesses and earn both an economic and impact returns.

Detail: South African fintech company Inoxico has raised an undisclosed round of funding of $650k (ZAR10m) from the Vumela Fund (managed by Edge Growth). The funds will be used to implement the company’s growth strategy.   

2: HitChat | $255k | Series A | Undisclosed investors | Entertainment

Investee: 

HitChat – a Swedish-South African entertainment company that focuses on providing entertainment for townships within the T-pop concept. The company finds, trains and launches world-class acts consisting of young talents from townships. They also produce songs and music videos that they release both in the local market and globally.

Investor(s): Undisclosed

Detail: South African talent discovery platform HitChat has raised a Series A round of funding of $255k from an undisclosed group of investors. The funds will be used to launch a new talent scouted by HitChat (a new girl group) that will empower individuals from disadvantaged communities.

3: WeThinkCode | $600k | Undisclosed round | E-Squared Investments | Edtech

Investee: 

WeThinkCode – a South African edtech startup that provides tuition-free tech training. The company is dedicated to meet the increasing demand for software engineering skills and drive the continent’s digital economy.

Investor(s):

E-Squared Investments - an impact fund that enables Social Entrepreneurs to build and scale high-impact organisations while creating jobs, eliminating poverty and contributing to South Africa’s transformation.

Detail: South African social entrepreneur WeThinkCode has raised $600k in an undisclosed round of funding. The funds will be used to open a new campus in KwaZulu Natal, the third biggest metropole in South Africa.

4: ImaliPay | Undisclosed amount | Pre-Seed | Various investors | Fintech

Investee: 

ImaliPay – a Kenyan financial health platform offering financial products to freelancers and blue collar gig-workers in partnership with gig-platforms.

Investor(s): 

TEN13 – an Australian syndicated investment platform that gives Sophisticated Investors access to early stage technology startups and visionary founders.

FINCA Ventures - an impact investing initiative that leverages a global microfinance network to catalyze market-based solutions to end poverty.

Optimizer Foundation - an early stage impact investor dedicated to impact orientated early-stage companies who create positive social impact in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Mercy Corps Ventures - a venture capital firm that partners with pioneering social entrepreneurs who harness novel business models to fuel social change. The firm is the investment arm of Mercy Corps, a global team of humanitarians.

Change Com - an Oslo-based investment and advisory company with a mission to enable talented individuals and teams to set up profitable businesses and achieve sustainable economic growth and prosperity

Other angels from Norway, Nigeria, UK and Kenya

Detail: Kenyan AI and big data fintech company ImaliPay has received an undisclosed amount in pre-seed funding from a group of investors led by TEN13. The company will use the funds to expand its offering and grow its presence in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.

5: Powered By People | $1.5m | Seed | Various Angel Investors | e-commerce

Investee: 

Powered By People – a mobile-first, distributed manufacturing system based in Kenya. The startup offers online tools, financing solutions, and a B2B marketplace to small and mid-sized enterprises in the creative manufacturing and handmade sector.

Investor(s): 

Matthew Kalish – Entrepreneur with a passion for sports, technology and analytics, currently the President of DraftKings, N.A. DraftKings has become one of the world’s leading daily fantasy sports, sports-betting and iGaming platforms.

TBD Angels - a group of like-minded angel investors who thrive on sharing advice, guidance, and capital with talented entrepreneurs. TBD Angels provide critical advice and connections to jumpstart the companies it invests in.

Detail: Kenyan e-commerce platform Powered By People has raised $1.5m seed round funding from a group of angel investors led by Matthew Kalish. The funds will be used to expand access to the platform to more artisans for B2B retail market connections.

6: Crowdyvest | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | Various investors led by Tope Omotolani | Fintech

Investee: 

Crowdyvest – a Nigerian crowd funding platform and impact-driven cooperative society that creates financial solutions for a community of individuals and organizations.

Investor(s): various led by 

Temitope Omotolani – a successful serial entrepreneur and the Co-founder and Managing Director of Crowdyvest.

Detail: Nigerian crowdfunding platform Crowdyvest has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in an undisclosed round from a group of investors led by serial entrepreneur Temitope Omotolani. The funds will be used to buy-out the existing shareholders (EMFATO Holdings which also owns the Farmcrowdy platform that Omotolani founded) and become independent.

7: Mubawab | $10m | Undisclosed round | Emerging Markets Property Group | Proptech

Investee: 

Mubawab – a Morocco based real estate digital platform that allows sellers and landlords to advertise their properties in Morocco and Tunisia. The platform covers six countries in the Maghreb region.

Investor(s): 

Emerging Markets Property Group – a UAE based real-estate focused firm that owns and operates bespoke property verticals in emerging markets, primarily in the Middle East and South Asia.

Detail: Moroccan based Mubawab, a real-estate digital classifieds portal has secured $10m funding in an undisclosed round from the Emerging Markets Property Group. The capital will be used to accelerate the company’s growth in the Maghreb region.

8: Nuru | $1.2m | Undisclosed round | Proparco | Clean Energy

Investee: 

Nuru – a renewable energy company that specializes in the fields of storage micro-grids and solar energy. The company is dedicated to enhancing connectivity in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nuru deployed Congo's first solar-based mini-grid in 2017 and is currently constructing a 1.3MW solar hybrid site in Goma, the largest off-grid mini-grid in sub-Saharan Africa.

Investor(s): 

Proparco – a subsidiary of the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement (AFD)) devoted to private sector funding with a focus on key development areas, such as renewable energy-based infrastructure, agribusiness, financial sector, health and education.

Detail: Proparco has invested $1.2m in an undisclosed round of funding in Nuru, the renewable energy company based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The funds will be used to complete the largest off-grind mini-grid in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is estimated to provide electricity to 330 000 people and prevent the emission of 500 000 tons of CO2 over the next 20 years.

9: Moja Ride | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | Toyota Tsusho | Mobility

Investee: 

Moja Ride – a Mobility-as-a-Service platform transforming mobility in emerging markets. The company provides a reservation and cashless payment system spanning multiple transport services, centred on the city of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, currently including over 1,200 taxis and buses.

Investor(s): 

Toyota Tsusho/ Mobility 54 – a corporate venture subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho (Japanese automobile corporation) that is committed to solving social challenges in Africa with innovative mobility technologies and services. The firm makes early and transformational investments in companies that have innovative mobility technologies and services.

Detail: Ivory Coast based mobility tech startup Moja Ride has raised an undisclosed sum in an undisclosed round from Japan based Mobility 54 Fund. The use of the funds has not been disclosed.

10: Les Écoles Idéales | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | INMA Holdings | Education

Investee: 

Les Écoles Idéales – an owner and operator of private schools and colleges in Tunisia.

Investor(s): 

INMA Holding – an investment vehicle dedicated to investing in Tunisian SMEs to develop their businesses and strengthen their balance sheets.

Detail: Tunisian education group Les Écoles Idéales has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in an undisclosed round from private equity group INMA Holding. The funds will be used to build a new secondary school for 600 students.

11: Kidato | $125k | Seed | Y Combinator | Ed-tech

Investee: 

Kidato – a Kenyan ed-tech startup that provides high-quality, affordable online schooling to the growing middle-class in Africa. The company’s classes have student-teacher ratios of 5:1 and teach the same international curriculum as other private schools.

Investor(s): 

Y Combinator – a US-based accelerator that invests in startups twice a year. In each round the company invests $125k in exchange for a 7% stake in the business. The program lasts for three months and helps founders to refine their investor pitches.

Detail: Kenyan ed-tech startup Kidato has been accepted into US accelerator Y Combinator’s program for the Winter 2021 season, and has received $125k in funding.

Fundraises (1 deal)

1: HAVAIC / Universum Core African Fund | Undisclosed amount (second close) | Undisclosed investors | Post-Seed / Pre-Series B funding

Investor: HAVAIC – a South African investment and advisory firm that specialises in early-stage, high-growth African businesses with proven concepts and global prospects.

Capital raised: undisclosed amount from undisclosed investors.

Sector / Stage focus: Technology startups; post-seed / pre-Series B funding.

Portfolio / fund size: target $20m.

Cheque size: undisclosed.

That’s it for this week! Have a great 1!

Daryn

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vcstartupnews.substack.com

Hi and welcome to African VC/ Startup news, a weekly newsletter where I highlight transactions in the African startup ecosystem over the past week (or two). Since 19 February 2021, I noticed 8 deals come across my screen.

In addition to sending the weekly newsletter, I maintain a database of deals, investors and portfolio companies in the African startup ecosystem, it is available: here. Please note that for the next few weeks I will not be updating the database as it is going through an upgrade!

Recently, I started a podcast with Kamo Motaung called The UpStartVC Podcast. It is available on Substack, Apple Podcast and Spotify, check it out and leave us a review!

Since 19 February 2021 I noticed the following deals:

Investments (7 deals)

1: Deya | Undisclosed amount (>$50k) | Pre-Seed | Undisclosed Angel Investors | Fintech

Investee: 

Deya – an Angolan, tech startup that is the first Angolan crowdfunding platform that also aims to increase access to financing for social impact causes and entrepreneurs.  

Investor(s): 

Undisclosed Angolan Angel Investors

Detail: Angolan tech-startup Deya has received pre-seed funding of over $50k from a group of Angolan angel investors. The funds will be utilised to make improvements on the company’s digital platform, to scale up the business model and generally boost income and revenue.   

2: Raise | $25k | Undisclosed round | Microtraction | Fintech

Investee: 

Raise – a Kenyan fintech platform that provides end-to-end fundraising and equity management facilitation where startups can manage electronic cap tables, automate financing contracts like SAFEs and share private deal rooms.

Investor(s): 

Microtraction – a Nigerian investment platform that provides seed capital to technology entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of their venture.

Detail: Kenyan fintech firm Raise has received $25k from Microtraction for its capital raising platform. The funds will be used to build out Raise’s platform and scale the business.

3: Stitch | $4m | Seed | Various investors | Fintech

Investee: 

Stitch – a South African fintech startup that provides full Application Programming Interface (API) access to financial accounts. Stitch allows users to share their transaction history and balances, confirm their identities, and initiate payments.

Investor(s):

Firstminute Capital: a $225m seed fund backed by 81 unicorn founders investing across Europe and the US. Founded in 2017 by Brent Hoberman and Spencer Crawley.

The Raba Partnership: an investment partnership focused on partnering with entrepreneurs in emerging technology ecosystems.

CRE Venture Capital: partners with visionary entrepreneurs building category-defining tech companies in Africa.

Village Global: an early stage venture capital firm backed by some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs.

Norrsken VC: a non-profit foundation that invests in both for-profit businesses and non-profit organizations, whatever we believe makes most sense to have a positive impact on society.

Various angel investors

Detail: Stitch Money, a South African fintech startup with API infrastructure technology, has raised $4m in seed funding. The funds will be used for new hires, consolidation of growth in South Africa and the launch of its product in West and East Africa.

4: Diool | $3.5m | Undisclosed round | Lundin Group | Fintech

Investee: 

Diool – a company based in Cameroon which provides payments fintech that helps small merchants sell consumer goods, collect payments from their customers and pay their suppliers easily. Through usage, they gain access to other financial services such as savings, credit and insurance products.

Investor(s): 

Lundin Group – an investment group led by the Lundin Family and focused on mining and the resources sector.

Detail: Cameroonian payments fintech startup Diool has raised $3.5m in an undisclosed financing round, from the Lundin Group. The funds are to assist Diool expand in its local markets.

5: BancX | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | Imvelo Ventures | Fintech

Investee: 

BancX – a South African fintech company that offers cloud based banking facilities for digital banking and other financial services (e.g. using API’s available in a single, integrated, cloud-native, transactional, saving and lending core).

Investor(s): 

Imvelo Ventures – a South African venture capital and growth firm funded by Capitec Bank.

Detail: South African cloud based banking platform BancX has received an undisclosed amount of funding in an undisclosed round from Imvelo Ventures, the Capitec led venture capital firm. The funds will be used for product and service expansion.

6: Termii | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | Future Africa | Communication Platform as a Service

Investee: 

Termii – a Nigerian telecoms business that provides an online platform that helps teams secure repeat customers by sending personalized emails and SMS through multiple channels.

Investor(s): 

Future Africa – an early stage investment fund with an aim to grant as much as $50,000 to 20 startups yearly. Future Africa also aims to be a training ground for African founders and their startups.

Detail: Nigerian telecoms start-up Termii has received an undisclosed amount in an early funding stage from Future Africa. The use of the funds has not been explicitly detailed.

7: TymeBank | $110m | Undisclosed round | Apis Growth Fund II; JG Summit Holdings | Fintech

Investee: 

TymeBank – a fully black-owned and controlled investment company based in South Africa. It is an exclusively digital retail bank that aims to provide every South African accessible and affordable banking so that they can take part in, grow and benefit from the country’s economy.

Investor(s): 

Apis Growth Fund II – a $550m private equity investment fund that makes equity investments of between $30m and $50m into financial services and financial technology companies across growth markets in Africa, South Asia and South East Asia.

JG Summit Holdings - one of the largest and most diversified Filipino conglomerates, engaged primarily in businesses that serve a growing middle class with rising disposable incomes in the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and Australasia.

Detail: South African digital bank TymeBank has raised ~$110m in funding from two major global investors - Apis Growth Fund II and JG Summit Holdings - which funds will be used to bolster the bank’s digital growth.

Fundraises (1 deal)

1: Hlayisani Capital | $23m | Standard Bank; Family offices | SME Funding

Investor: Hlayisani Capital – a South African private equity investment firm focusing on the SME ecosystems.

Capital raised: $23m (ZAR 350m) from Standard Bank and Family offices.

Sector / Stage focus: South African SMEs; mid-market, high growth businesses, agriculture, education, IT, medical and manufacturing.

Portfolio / fund size: $13m currently invested.

Cheque size: undisclosed

No database screenshot this week due to the database upgrade.

Enjoy your Monday!

Daryn

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vcstartupnews.substack.com

Hi and welcome to African VC/ Startup news, a weekly newsletter where I highlight transactions in the African startup ecosystem over the past week (or two). Since 12 February 2021, I noticed 9 deals come across my screen.

In addition to sending the weekly newsletter, I maintain a database of deals, investors and portfolio companies in the African startup ecosystem, it is available: here

Recently, I started a podcast with Kamo Motaung called The UpStartVC Podcast. It is available on Substack, Apple Podcast and Spotify, check it out and leave us a review!

Since 9 February 2021 I noticed the following deals:

Investments (7 deals)

1: Amitruck | Undisclosed amount | Pre-Seed | Dynamo Ventures; Plug and Play Ventures | Logistics

Investee: 

Amitruck – a Kenyan logistics start-up company that matches cargo owners with trucking logistics professionals through a digital competitive bidding process. Amitruck’s solution cuts out expensive middlemen whilst increasing security as all drivers and vehicles are vetted and goods in transit insured.

Investor(s): 

Dynamo Ventures – a US-based venture capital firm that invests in supply chain and mobility, focused on pre-seed and seed-stage opportunities.

Plug and Play Ventures - a seed and early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in emerging growth companies.

Detail: Kenyan logistics start-up Amitrucks has raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding. The funds are to be used to expand the company’s reach across East Africa.  

2: VeggieVictory | Undisclosed amount | Pre-Seed | Sustainable Food Ventures and others | Food & Beverages

Investee: 

VeggieVictory – a Nigerian food technology company that develops healthy meat-alternatives that are affordable and are produced in Lagos.

Investor(s): 

Sustainable Food Ventures – a US based venture capital firm that supports early stage founders developing sustainable food products in the global retail market. The company backs founders building leading food companies that are plant-based, cell-based or recombinant.

Capital V - a specialized private venture partner primarily providing Angel, Seed, and Series A funding. The company invests in solutions that facilitate sustained behavioural change and eliminates the consumption of animal products.

Kale United - a Swedish investment holding company investing in solutions that facilitate sustained behavioural change and eliminates the consumption of animal products.

Thrive Worldwide - a venture capital firm that invests in food techs, cryptocurrency, decentralized finance solutions, clean energy, and health therapies.

Detail: Nigeria’s first plant-based startup VeggieVictory has raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding. The funds are to be used for product development for meat alternative solutions.  

3: gnuGrid | $50k | Seed | Undisclosed US investors | Renewables

Investee: 

gnuGrid – a Ugandan clean-tech social-enterprise that aims to foster energy inclusion in the country’s off-grid population. The company does this through the use of data to de-risk investment in off-grid and on-grid renewables for financial institutions. They provide the technology platform called SolarSentra, a consolidated product that combines pay-as-you-go technology, linkage to credit bureau ratings and CRM platforms.

Investor(s): 

Undisclosed

Detail: Energy tech Ugandan company gnuGrid has received $50k seed round funding and will use these funds to expand its customer base and connect off-grid solar companies with Uganda’s Credit Reference Bureau.

4: SunCulture | $11m | Debt | Various | Renewables

Investee: 

SunCulture – a company based in Nairobi, Kenya which sells the AgroSolar Irrigation Kit, an entirely solar-powered drip irrigation system. The kit combines solar water pumping technology with high-efficiency drip irrigation and includes everything a farmer needs to grow more while spending less, in a sustainable and energy-efficient way.

Investor(s): 

SunFunder – a solar energy finance business with a mission to provide financing for solar assets in emerging economies, including inventory, working capital, construction, and structured finance loans.

Nordic Development Fund - NDF is the joint development finance institution of the Nordic countries - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden - that finances projects in cooperation with other development institutions. The fund provides capital for climate change interventions in low-income countries.

Triodos Investment Management - an investment manager that focuses on investments in various areas, including renewable energy, microfinance, and real estate.

Alpha Mundi - a commercial entity based in Switzerland and exclusively dedicated to Impact Investing. The fund provides debt and equity financing to scalable social ventures in strategic sustainable human development sectors such as microfinance, affordable education, fair trade agriculture and renewable energy.

Lion’s Head Global Partners - an Investment Bank operating across frontier and emerging markets globally with two principal subsidiaries: LHGP Asset Management, which carries out Investment Management activities, and Lion’s Head Global Partners, which focuses on financial advisory and capital raising.

Detail: Kenyan based renewable energy firm SunCulture has received an $11m syndicated loan. The funds will be used for expansion on the African continent.

5: Energy Vision | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | Metier Sustainable Capital Fund | Renewable Energy

Investee: 

Energy Vision – Gabon based telecom-focused Energy Service Company (ESCO), led by a team of experienced telecom and telecom infrastructure professionals, focused on emerging markets, mainly Africa.

Investor(s): 

Metier Sustainable Capital Fund II – a private equity fund investing in clean energy generating assets and resource efficiency projects and businesses across Africa. The fund is managed by Metier Private Equity.

Detail: Energy service company Energy Vision has received an undisclosed amount of funding from the Metier Sustainable Capital Fund II, which it will use to increase its portfolio of installed non-carbon based power generation.

6: Connected Analytics | Undisclosed amount | Pre-Series A | Various | Retail-tech

Investee: 

Connected Analytics – a Nigerian company that created ThankUCash, a multi-merchant rewards platform that works both offline and online. The scheme engages and rewards customers of ThankUCash partner retailers and creates growth opportunities for businesses under the ThankUCash brand.

Investor(s): 

Betatron Venture Group – a Hong King based network of Investors, Entrepreneurs, Startups, Mentors, and Alumnus; focused on empowering founders. Through our platform, we provide funding, hands-on support, and unprecedented network access to drive business outcomes

Global Accelerex - a financial technology company focused on delivering digital payment solutions and services to customers across various industries in developing economies of the sub-Saharan African region.

Predictive VC - a US based venture capital firm that builds and invests in bold products harnessing data science for outsized impact. The firm develops and partners with impactful software platforms to accelerate value creation.

Detail: Nigeria’s Connected Analytics has raised a seven digit Pre-Series A funding round lead by Hong-Kong based Betatron Ventures Group. The funding will be used for hiring a quality team and improving the company’s technology.

7: Si-Ware Systems | $9m | Undisclosed round | Sawari Ventures; Egypt Ventures | Deeptech

Investee: 

Si-Ware Solutions – an independent fabless semiconductor company, based in Egypt, that is fostering silicon innovation with a wide spectrum of product design and development solutions, custom ASIC development and supply, as well as standard products.

Investor(s): 

Sawari Ventures – An international venture capital firm, that invests in people turning visionary ideas into market-leading companies in the MENA region.

Egypt Ventures - an investment firm focused on empowering the entrepreneurial ecosystem by investing in accelerators and co-investing in high-growth enterprises, with the mandate of catalysing investments in startups and high-growth potential businesses.

Detail: Egyptian electronics startup Si-Wares has raised $9m in an undisclosed funding round with a group of investors led by Sawari Ventures. The use of the funds has not been disclosed.

Fund raises (2 deals)

1: Uncovered Fund Inc. | $15m | African tech start-up investments

Investor: Uncovered Fund Inc. – a Japanese venture capital firm looking to create new industries on the African continent by investing in innovative start-ups and supporting business growth.

Capital raised: $15m (expected to close in June 2021)

Sector / Stage focus: African seed and early stage investments in the retail, fintech, e-health, logistics, MaaS, agri-tech, and smart city spaces.

Portfolio / fund size: targeting $15m

Cheque size: $50k to $500k

2: Capria Ventures | Undisclosed amount | Small Foundation | Hybrid Debt Facility

Investor: Capria Ventures – a leading global impact investment firm that works with local fund managers in emerging markets across Africa, Asia and Latin America, to accelerate the flow of global and local capital to high-growth businesses.

Capital raised: undisclosed

Sector / Stage focus: African focused investments into or along-side local partner investment managers.

Portfolio / fund size: undisclosed

Cheque size: undisclosed

Screenshot of database since 9 February 2021:

Have a great week!

Daryn

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vcstartupnews.substack.com

Hi and welcome to African VC/ Startup news, a weekly newsletter where I highlight transactions in the African startup ecosystem over the past week (or two). Since 1 February 2021, I noticed 11 deals come across my screen.

In addition to sending the weekly newsletter, I maintain a database of deals, investors and portfolio companies in the African startup ecosystem, it is available: here

Recently, I started a podcast with Kamo Motaung called The UpStartVC Podcast. It is available on Substack, Apple Podcast and Spotify, check it out and leave us a review!

Since 2 February 2021 I noticed the following deals:

Investments (9 deals)

1: SPARK Schools | Undisclosed amount | Series C | Creadev and others | Education

Investee: 

SPARK Schools – a South African network of affordable private schools implementing blended learning model for primary school students, utilising traditional classroom teaching and individualised technology instruction in their Learning Lab.

Investor(s): 

Creadev - an evergreen investment company operating worldwide, supporting companies able to scale-up and become global best players in their sector (~$1.9bn invested).

Imaginable Futures - global philanthropic investment firm investing in the education space.

FinnFund - a Finnish development financier that invests in responsible and profitable businesses in developing countries.

Detail: South African private school brand Sparks Schools has raised Series C round funding of an undisclosed amount from various investors lead by Creadev, Imaginable Futures and FinnFund. The funds will be used to increase the school portfolio of primary and secondary schools to more than 35 000 scholars across the continent in the next decade.  

2: Sakneen | $1.1m | Seed | Algebra Ventures and others | Proptech

Investee: 

Sakneen – An Egyptian proptech company that offers users an online portal for browsing different options in order to buy or sell homes.

Investor(s): 

Algebra Ventures – a $50-million Cairo-based venture capital fund that invests in early-stage technology companies in Egypt and the MENA region. 

Sarwa Capital -a provider of finance solutions, including auto credit, insurance and consumer finance. The company is the largest player in Egypt’s nascent debt capital markets, helping structure, arrange and underwriting debt transactions for companies that need to access debt capital markets.

Hem+Spire - a US based real estate private equity firm.

Foundation Ventures - an early-stage venture capital fund focused on Egypt and the MENA region

Detail: Egyptian prop-tech company Sakneen has raised $1.1m in seed funding from various investors. The company will use the capital for new hires, product and platform development.  

3: Mortgage Market | $687k | Series A | IDF Capital | Fintech

Investee: 

Mortgage Market – a South African independent mortgage broker that operates a digital platform for easy application of home loans.

Investor(s): 

IDF Capital – a South African fund management and advisory services firm.

Detail: The South African digital home loan application platform Mortgage Market has raised $687k in Series A funding from IDF Capital. The funds will be utilised for brand expansion and marketing.  

4: Xend Finance | $500k | Undisclosed round | NGC Ventures and Hashkey | Fintech

Investee: 

Xend Finance – a Nigerian decentralised finance platform that allows credit unions and cooperatives to disintermediate major investment and savings institutions by gaining direct access to global money markets.

Investor(s): 

NGC Ventures – a Venture Capital firm based in Singapore and focused on investments in blockchain technology.

Hashkey - a leader in digital asset management and blockchain solutions, based in Hong Kong and providing a complete ecosystem across the entire digital asset landscape, ranging from capital, to custody, to technologies, trading, and exchange.

Detail: Decentralised finance Nigerian digital platform Xend Finance has topped up a previous round of funding ($1.5m) with an investment of $500k from NGC Ventures and Haskey. The funds were raised as part of the launch of the platform.

5: Stars From All Nations | $250k | Pre-Seed | King Solomon’s Capital | Edtech, Education

Investee: 

Stars From All Nations – a Nigerian education company that prepares graduates for work readiness through a career accelerator program called “Ready for Work”.

Investor(s): 

King Solomon’s Capital – Ghana based funder.

Detail: The career acceleration education company from Nigeria, Stars From All Nations, has raised $250k in Pre-seed funding from Ghanaian funder King Solomon’s Capital. The funds will be utilised to scale the company’s operations and develop further the ReadyforWork platform.

6: DilenyTech | $160k | Grant | IT Industry Development Agency | Healthtech

Investee: 

DilenyTech – Egyptian healthtech start-up that develops AI and medical imaging solutions to improve the quality of healthcare. DilenyTech provides a set of online and offline solutions for breast workflow that were built for breast health professionals to improve and complement their diagnostic decisions and enhance screening and diagnostic workflow.

Investor(s): 

Information Technology Industry Development Agency – Egyptian business partner primarily concerned with building the capacities of the local IT companies, attracting and servicing multi-national IT companies, and growing a qualified, sustainable, and deployable talent pool.

Detail: Health-tech company from Egypt DilenyTech has raised $160k in grant funding from ITIDA which it will use on product development for its AI enabled platform and breast cancer detection technology.

7: Synatic | Undisclosed amount | Seed | Umkhathi Wethu Ventures | Software, Analytics

Investee: 

Synatic – a South African modern data automation platform that combines iPaaS, ESB, ETL and API Management into a simple yet powerful tool.

Investor(s): 

Umkhathi Wethu Ventures – a South African multi-stage investor that provides growth and replacement capital across the equity-cycle, with activities that span from high-growth venture to mid-market private equity.

Detail: South African data automation start-up has raised an undisclosed sum of seed funding from Umkhathi Wethu Ventures, which funds will be used for the company’s expansion into the US market.

8: Charis UAS | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | XM2 Pursuit | Aviation

Investee: 

Charis UAS – the first licensed drone company in Rwanda specializing in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) consulting, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and building system integration, pilot and safety training, and maintenance of UAVs.

Investor(s): 

XM2 Pursuit – the world's leading global aerial cinematography and custom remote solutions provider for film, TV and VFX.

Detail: Charis UAS, the Rwandan drone start-up has raised an undisclosed amount in an undisclosed financing round from UK based XM2 Pursuit in order to expand its market across the African continent.

9: Skudu | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | AgVentures | Agtech

Investee: 

Skudu – a South African online marketplace for agricultural inputs and produce in Africa. Skudu’s innovative platform shortens the agricultural value chain and increases user choice by connecting buyers and sellers directly. The Skudu platform also helps farmers and their advisors to improve their input planning and accuracy.

Investor(s):

AgVentures – a South African agtech investor actively pursuing agrifood technologies to alter the status quo while addressing customer needs. AgVentures is supported by its anchor investor, Acorn Agri & Food, a leading South African agrifood business.

Detail: An undisclosed amount of funding was invested in an undisclosed funding round. The capital will be likely be used to expand the products available on their platform to include other inputs besides fertilisers and ameliorants. 

Fund raises (2 deals)

1: Knife Capital | $10m | Knife Fund III | Mineworkers Investment Company

Investor: Knife Capital – a South African venture capital and growth equity investment firm that currently manages Section 12J Venture Capital Funds: KNF Ventures I and II as well as select family office investments.

Capital raised: $10m from Mineworkers Investment Company.

Sector / Stage focus: African Series B expansion fund with the aim to invest behind the aggressive expansion of African innovation-driven companies and fill a critical follow-on funding gap. 

Portfolio / fund size: targeting $50m.

Cheque size: undisclosed.

2: Bamboo Capital Partners | $12m | BLOC Smart Africa Fund | Ivory Coast and Luxembourg Governments

Investor: Bamboo Capital Partners – an impact investing platform which provides innovative financing solutions to catalyse lasting impact and bridge the gap between seed and growth-stage funding through a full suite of finance options – from debt to equity.

Capital raised: $12m from the Ivory Coast and Luxembourg Governments.

Sector / Stage focus: the fund will focus on high-growth potential startups (technology bias) to scale up across the continent and is part of the Smart Africa Alliance, a pan-African initiative to accelerate sustainable socioeconomic development by investing in underserved African communities. 

Portfolio / fund size: targeting $120m.

Cheque size: undisclosed.

Screenshot of the deals since 1 February 2021:

Have a great week!

Daryn

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vcstartupnews.substack.com

Hi and welcome to African VC/ Startup news, a weekly newsletter where I highlight transactions in the African startup ecosystem over the past week (or two). Since 28 January 2021, I noticed 9 deals come across my screen.

In addition to sending the weekly newsletter, I maintain a database of deals, investors and portfolio companies in the African startup ecosystem, it is available: here

Recently, I started a podcast with Kamo Motaung called The UpStartVC Podcast. It is available on Substack, Apple Podcast and Spotify, check it out and leave us a review!

Since 28 January 2021 I noticed the following deals:

Investments (7 deals)

1: Teraco Data Environments | $167m | Debt funding | ABSA Bank and others | Communications & IT, Infrastructure

Investee: 

Teraco Data Environments – Teraco provides carrier and cloud neutral colocation data centres, and with over 14 500 cross-connects, is Africa’s most interconnected data centre hub and is the first provider of highly resilient, vendor-neutral data environments in sub-Saharan Africa.

Investor: 

ABSA – A South African Banking institution.

Detail: Teraco Data Environment has secured $167m in debt funding from ABSA for the construction of a new 38-megawatt hyperscale data centre in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, South Africa. This part of Teraco’s investment into the regions digital infrastructure. 

2: Isqan | Undisclosed amount | Seed round | Mohamed Gaballah | Proptech

Investee: 

Isqan – An Egyptian real estate listing platform for users looking to rent or buy properties in Egypt, with 50 Egyptian real estate companies and > 1 000 property listings. 

Investor: 

Mohamed Gaballah – CEO of Egygab Developments, an Egyptian property development company.

Detail: Isqan has secured seed funding of an undisclosed six-digit US dollar amount from Mohamed Gaballah, which the company will use to hire talent and invest in marketing and product development.

3: Tayary | Undisclosed amount | Pre-seed round | Various | Food & Beverages, Logistics, Platform

Investee:

Tayary – an Egyptian online platform that facilitates order delivery through  both B2B and B2C models. The company has developed an inhouse order tracking system, and deliveries include food order, B2B deliveries, grocery and pharmacy deliveries. 

Investors: 

AUC Angels - the first university based company in the Middle East that builds educational products for developing angel investors; leads angel investments; has a startups'​ investment-readiness program; and builds an angel investor network across the Middle East.

Alex Angels – a platform and network of angel investors from business and technology leaders for the benefit of local entrepreneurs and the wellbeing of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The group of angels invests in promising, early-stage companies with strong management teams, in and outside of Alexandria- Egypt.

Cairo Angels – a formal network of business angels looking to invest equity in local Egyptian startups.

Detail: Tayary has raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from a consortium of angel investors from Egypt (AUC Angels, Alex Angels and Cairo Angels) which it will use to expand its geographic reach, grow its team and invest in marketing of its products for client growth.

4: Popote Pay | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | GreenHouse Capital | Fintech

Investee: 

Popote – a Kenya based, online and mobile app that uses mobile money to enable businesses to make and manage their payments with total control, mobility and up-to date record keeping.

Investor: 

GreenHouse Capital – a fintech investment company based in Nigeria, currently invested in 19 companies across 7 African countries and a total investment portfolio value of $4m. 

Detail: Popote Pay from Kenya has received an undisclosed amount in funding from GreenHouse Capital. The capital will be used to expand Popote’s offering into the Nigerian market. 

5: Elmenus | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | David Buttress | Food & Beverages, Logistics, Platform

Investee: 

Elmenus – an Egyptian food discovery and ordering digital platform. 

Investor:

David Buttress – A venture capitalist with an entrepreneurial and investment background having joined Just Eat in 2006 to launch its UK business and led Just Eat UK from a startup to becoming Europe’s largest technology IPO.

Detail: Elmenus has received an undisclosed sum in an undisclosed round from investor and veteran food-tech professional David Buttress. The capital will be used over the next 18 months to increase the reach of the platform by hiring 4 000 new drivers (for deliveries), scaling the platform offerings and enriching the dish discovery experience for customers. 

6: hearX | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | Futuregrowth | HealthTech

Investee: 

hearX – an early-stage South African-based HealthTech company that offers the world's first clinical smartphone hearing test solutions for hearing loss prevention, detection, diagnosis and management. Their products are used in over 68 countries across the world.

Investor:

Futuregrowth - a fixed interest investment company that creates opportunities for investors and manages clients'​ assets of around R185 billion across the full range of interest bearing and developmental investments. 

Detail: hearX, the South African based med-tech company that creates solutions targeted at hearing loss (including developing a bespoke hearing aid device) has received an undisclosed investment from Futuregrowth Investments. The use of the funds has not been disclosed, although the company’s product is set to be launched in the US. 

7: Sanergy | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | Various | Recycling

Investee: 

Sanergy – Nairobi based waste management company that aims to provide affordable and accessible waste management solutions. 

Investors:

AXA Investment Managers – a global asset management company investing across all asset classes including alternative investments (AUM >$900bn).

ManiKapital – a Tokyo based investment management firm (no further public information).

Kepple Africa Ventures – a Tokyo based Early stage VC fund focusing on Africa.

Detail: Sanergy, a Kenyan based waste management company received funding of an undisclosed amount from a group of investors lead by AXA Investment Managers.  

Fundraises (2 deals)

1: Phatisa / Phatisa Food Fund 2 | $82m | Various LPs and DFIs

Investor: Phatisa / Phatisa Food Fund 2 – a private equity fund that aims to make equity investments in food and agriculture related companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Capital raised: $82m from five global DFIs: CDC Group ($30m), Norfund ($20m), FinnFund ($15m), FinDev Canada ($10m) and BIO ($7m).

Sector/ stage focus: African food value chain, considering investments in mechanisation, inputs, poultry and meat production, food processing and manufacturing, logistics, aggregation and distribution across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Portfolio size: $143m.

Cheque size: Undisclosed.

2: FRAGG Investment Management  / Grooming Endowment Trust Fund | $15m | Grooming Endowment Trust

Investor: FRAGG Investment Management  / Grooming Endowment Trust Fund – FRAGG is a dynamic impact investor and fund manager, working with financial intermediaries and via direct investments in opportunities that align with their values.

Capital raised: $15m from Grooming Endowment Trust.

Sector/ stage focus: address the lack of financial services to SMEs in Nigeria. By providing financial resources and technical assistance to multi-sector SMEs with clearly defined business model, social and environmental goals.

Portfolio size: targeting $50m.

Cheque size: Undisclosed.

Screenshot of deals since 28 January 2021:

Have a great week!

Daryn

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vcstartupnews.substack.com

Hi and welcome to African VC/ Startup news, a weekly newsletter where I highlight transactions in the African startup ecosystem over the past week (or two). Since 14 January 2021, I noticed 15 deals come across my screen.

In addition to sending the weekly newsletter, I maintain a database of deals, investors and portfolio companies in the African startup ecosystem, it is available: here

Recently, I started a podcast with Kamo Motaung called The UpStartVC Podcast. It is available on Substack, Apple Podcast and Spotify, check it out and leave us a review!

Since 14 January 2021 I’ve noticed the following deals:

Investments (11 deals)

1: Miro Forestry Company | $12m | Undisclosed round | FinDev Canada | Agriculture

Investee: 

Miro Forestry Company – a sustainable forestry and timber business with plantations in Ghana and Sierra Leone, West Africa. The company was founded, and began planting, in late 2010. It now has 9,800 hectares of standing forest established through its own planting activities.   

Investors: 

FinDev Canada – a Canadian Development Finance Institution (DFI) that offers financial solutions to businesses in developing countries, with the potential to develop markets, empower women and mitigate climate change.

Detail: $12m raised in an Undisclosed funding round. The financing will enable the firm to expand its forest plantations and industrial wood processing operations, which in turn will promote job creation and local community development.

2: Boreal Light | $7.5m | Undisclosed round | GreenTec Capital Partners | Renewables, Water

Investee: 

Boreal Light – a German company that designs and manufactures affordable solar water desalination systems for off-grid communities around the globe.   

Investors: 

GreenTec Capital Partners – a long-term investor with headquarters in Germany that invests in African start-ups and SMEs with a focus on combining social and environmental impact with financial success.

Detail: $7.5m raised in an Undisclosed funding round. The funding will be used for their “scaleup” phase. They have already established a network of retail WaterKiosks in Kenya, delivered projects in Yemen, Somaliland, and Uganda and established a presence in South Africa.

3: Pula | $6m | Series A | TLcom Capital, Women’s World Banking | Fintech, Agtech

Investee: 

Pula – radically restructures insurance, using technology and parametric insurance to insure the previously unbanked, uninsured, untapped market of 1.5 billion smallholders worldwide. They offer products in African countries such as Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique.

Investors: 

TLcom Capital – currently investing from its Tide Africa Fund, which invests in early to growth stage companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. They support entrepreneurs who are building fast-growth tech-enabled businesses solving complex challenges on the continent, investing between $500k and $10m.

Women's World Banking – designs and invests in the financial solutions, institutions and policy environments in emerging markets to create greater economic stability and prosperity for women, their families, and their communities.

Detail: $6m raised in a Series A funding round. The funding will be used to scale up operations in the company’s existing 13 markets across Africa. 

4: Cowrywise | $3m | Pre-Series A | Quona Capital | Fintech

Investee: 

Cowrywise – a Nigeria based fintech company digitizing the investment management industry in Africa and democratizing access to savings and investment products.

Investors: 

Quona Capital – a venture capital firm that invests in growth-stage financial technology companies in emerging markets. 

Tsadik Foundation – a family philanthropy inspired by the ideal of social justice, supporting organizations that provide direct benefits to disadvantaged communities worldwide.

Sahil Lavingia – the creator of Gumroad and a US based angel investor.

Detail: $3m raised in a Pre-Series A funding round. The capital will be used to grow its product offering and investment management infrastructure.

5: Ecookim | $970k | Loan | ABC Fund | Agriculture

Investee: 

Ecookim – is the union of several leading cooperatives in the coffee-cocoa sector in the Ivory Coast. Ecookim’s members have a total cocoa production capacity of over 62,000 tons.

Investors: 

Agri-Business Capital (ABC Fund) – a blended-finance impact fund which provides catalytic financing to underserved yet profitable segments of agribusiness value chains in developing countries.

Detail: $970k (EUR800k) loan to Ecookim. The loan allows funding to be provided to smallholder farmers at an earlier stage and at lower rates than local banks.

6: AgroCenta | $790k | Pre-Series A | Shell Foundation, FCDO, AV Ventures, Rabo Foundation | Agtech, Platform

Investee: 

AgroCenta – a Ghana based online platform that connects stakeholders in the staple-food value-chain from smallholder farmers, partners, logistics suppliers, off-loaders to buyers under one umbrella for effective trading.

Investors: 

Shell Foundation – a UK-registered charity, founded by Shell in 2000, that creates and scales business solutions to enhance access to energy and affordable transport.

UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) – leads the UK’s work to end extreme poverty, tackling global challenges including poverty and disease, mass migration, insecurity and conflict.

AV Ventures – an impact investing subsidiary of ACDI/VOCA, dedicated to providing innovative, catalytic financing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in West Africa and Central Asia.

Rabo Foundation – an impact investment fund, founded by Rabobank in 1974, investing in self-sufficiency of farmer organizations in 22 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Detail: $790k raised in a Pre-Series A funding round. The capital will be used to develop smallholder farmer inclusion programmes and procure crops at transparent and fair market prices to service offtake contracts.

7: Odiggo | $600k | Seed | Essa Al-Saleh | Automotive, E-Commerce

Investee: 

Odiggo – an Egyptian startup in the automotive industry that provides an online platform linking customers with already established car parts and accessories vendors.

Investors: 

Essa Al-Saleh – an angel investor currently the chairman Volta Trucks.

Detail: $600k raised in a Seed funding round. The funding will be used to expand into new cities in Egypt and the region, and improve ease of access for users.

8: Cooked | $100k | Pre-Seed | Antler | Food & Beverages, E-Commerce

Investee: 

Cooked – a Kenyan startup that delivers fresh ingredients with easy to follow recipes, straight to your door, making it simple to cook a healthy, tasty meal at home.

Investors: 

Antler – a global early-stage venture capital firm that invests in technology companies of tomorrow.

Detail: $100k raised in a Pre-Seed funding round from the Antler 6-month startup generator program in Nairobi.

9: Uncover | $100k | Pre-Seed | Antler | Beauty

Investee: 

Uncover – a Kenyan startup that helps you “uncover your most nourished, beautiful skin” sharing skincare must-haves.

Investors: 

Antler

Detail: $100k raised in a Pre-Seed funding round from the Antler 6-month startup generator program in Nairobi.

10: Innovex | Undisclosed amount | Seed | GAIA Impact Fund | Energy, Renewables

Investee: 

Innovex – a Uganda-based startup enabling pay-as-you-go and remote monitoring for solar companies.

Investors: 

GAIA Impact Fund – a French impact fund dedicated to energy access, investing in startups and SMEs operating in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia. 

Detail: Undisclosed amount invested in a Seed funding round. The capital will be used to scale their Remot product to 100 solar distributors across Africa.

11: Ovex | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | Alameda Research | Cryptocurrency

Investee: 

Ovex – a South African digital asset exchange and OTC trading desk, that brings liquidity to African cryptocurrency markets.

Investors: 

Alameda Research – developer of FTX, the 5th largest crypto derivatives exchange in the world by trading volume.

Detail: Undisclosed amount invested in an Undisclosed funding round. The investment appears to be a strategic transaction for Alameda Research.

Fundraises (4 deals)

1: Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) | $50m | OPEC Fund for International Development 

Investor: Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) – established in 2007 as an investment-grade multilateral finance institution with an equity capital base of US$1 billion to be the catalyst for private sector-led infrastructure investment across Africa. 

Capital raised: $50m loan from the OPEC Fund for International Development.

Sector/ stage focus: Infrastructure.

Cheque size: Undisclosed.

2: Cordaid Investment Management | $14.75m | DFC 

Investor: Cordaid Investment Management (CIM) – A debt investor in fragile markets for job creation, sustainable economic development and building resilient communities. CIM offers patient capital to small and medium enterprises with potential to grow but lacking access to finance.

Capital raised: $14.75m loan guarantee from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

Sector/ stage focus: lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in West Africa.

Portfolio size: targeting to lend $37m to 50 SMEs and 8 microfinance institutions.

Cheque size: Undisclosed.

3: JUA Kickstarter Fund | $1m | Simba Global Startups

Investor: JUA Kickstarter Fund – an African initiative with a Pan-African focus. Its intention is to help Africa achieve her potential – by helping entrepreneurs who need assistance to realise their dreams.

Capital raised: $1m from Simba Global Startups.

Sector/ stage focus: Entrepreneurs from across Africa or those who operate in Africa.

Portfolio size: $2m

Cheque size: between $50k and $250k.

4: Knife Capital / KNF Ventures II | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed LPs

Investor: Knife Capital – an independent growth equity investment firm focusing on innovation-driven ventures with proven traction.

Capital raised: Undisclosed.

Sector/ stage focus: Growth equity for innovative startups.

Cheque size: Undisclosed.

Screenshot of deals since 14 January 2021:

Have a great week!

Daryn

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vcstartupnews.substack.com