Tag: Funding

Digital bank PaySika secures US$349,620 startup capital to begin its operations

Frank

AFRICA – PaySika, a digital bank focusing on Francophone Africa, has received startup capital of 300,000 euros (US$349,620).   The activity marks the neobank’s first fundraising effort since its inception in February 2020.  The company, which was co-founded by Cameroonian Roger Nengwe and his colleague Stezen Bisselou, intends to use this funding to “attract new additional profiles and continue its development by creating more fluid, safe services that fulfill user expectations.”  It hopes to begin operations in the first quarter of 2022, with the help of a consortium of French, British, and Nigerian investors. It will first deploy in…

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B2B startup Talabeyah raises pre-Seed round to scale its operation

Frank

EGYPT – Talabeyah, a Cairo-based startup that provides B2B e-commerce services for food and groceries, has raised a seven-figure pre-Seed round from strategic angel investors.   The startup, which was launched in July 2020 by Karim Nassef, Amr Abbas, Khaled Hussein, and Adel Hodroj, has leveraged its supply chain model and purchase experience by establishing a customer-centric business, due to its founders’ extensive experience in the FMCG industry.   Barakat said the round will help scale the startup’s operations, further build the technology, and leverage the use of AI and machine learning algorithms utilising the collected data…

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Postal Corporation of Kenya secures US$650,000 from Trade Mark East Africa to boost e-commerce

Frank

KENYA – The Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) has secured Kshs. 72 million (US$650,000) from Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA) as it targets to boost its presence in the e-commerce delivery market. Under the deal, PCK says it intends to increase its capacity to process 10,000 packages daily to provide an efficient logistics and distribution platform for e-commerce entrepreneurs and customers. PCK says the funding will help it enhance internal digital capacities and improve collaboration with external, both regional and global actors, in the e-commerce space. “It is a great…

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Tech startup Sanergy secures US$2.5m funding from Japanese investor JICA

Frank

KENYA – Sanergy, a tech-enabled startup and the owner of the Fresh Life toilets franchise, has received US$2.5 million funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This is in an effort to address the city’s growing sanitation needs while also helping farmers across Kenya produce more crops with fertilizer produced as a byproduct. Sanergy plans to expand its reach into additional African and Southeast Asian cities, on the wings of the investment. “We are thrilled to expand Sanergy’s pioneering circular economy model which solves multiple social problems, such as…

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Fintech startup Mono raises US$15m Series A funding to accelerate its expansion plans

Frank

NIGERIA – Mono, a fintech startup, has announced a US$15 million Series A funding round led by Tiger Global to accelerate its continental expansion plans. The round was led by Tiger Global, the VC firm’s third major investment in Africa this year after Flutterwave and FairMoney, and also had participation from new investors Target Global (an investor in neobank Kuda), General Catalyst and SBI Investment. New investors were joined by existing ones, including Entree Capital, Lateral Capital, Golden Palm Investments, Acuity VC and Ingressive Capital, bringing Mono’s total raise to…

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Fintech company Payday raises US$1m pre-seed funding to build new offering

Frank

NIGERIA – Payday, a Pan-African financial technology company, has raised US$1 million in pre-seed funding to build out what they believe will be the “PayPal” for Africa. The round had participation from several investors including LofyInc, Microtraction, Magic Fund, Ventures Platform, Voltron Capital, CcHub Syndicate, Helicarrier Inc, Greencap Equity, Midlothian Angel Network, Emergence Capital and Olugbenga Agboola (GB). Others include Charles Odita, Eke Eleanya, Adegoke Olubusi, Edmund Olotu (Bloc), Prosper Otemuyiwa (Eden), Dimeji Sofowora, Perseus Mlambo (Union54), Abdul Hassan (Mono), Onyekachukwu Somtochukwu Eyisi, and a host of other investors. Ntoudi…

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Digital Africa commits US$150m for next 3 years to support entrepreneurship in Africa

Frank

AFRICA – France President Emmanuel Macron has announced at the New Africa-France Summit a renewed financial commitment of €130 million (US$150.53m) for the next three years and defined Digital Africa’s new ambitions to support entrepreneurship and technological innovation on the continent. In terms of financing, Digital Africa announced the Fuzé project, that focuses on Francophone Africa and aims to support at least 200 tech start-ups as of early 2022 by launching a new small ticket fund taking the form of repayable loans. In terms of skills, Digital Africa joins forces…

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Investment app Ejara raises US$2m to help Francophone Africa region access crypto services

Frank

WEST AFRICA – Ejara, an app for Africa and its diasporas to access various investment, has raised US$2 million to help the Francophone Africa region pioneer the use of crypto and investment services. Ejara is one-year-old company founded by Nelly Chatue-Diop that offers fractional shares, commodities, cryptocurrency, and more. The round was led by CoinShares Ventures and Anthemis Group. Mercy Corps Ventures, Lateral Capital, LoftyInc Capital, and NetX Fund have joined them. A syndicate social fund and two angel investors, Pascal Gauthier of Ledger and Jason Yanowitz of Blockworks also took…

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Fintech startup Chari.ma raises US$5m for its expansion plan

Frank

MOROCCO – Chari.ma, a fintech and e-commerce startup, has raised US$5 million in the largest venture funding round in the country this year and among the biggest-ever seed funding rounds in the North African nation. The funding round was jointly led by Rocket Internet, Global Founders Capital and P1 Ventures with participations from Plug and Play, Y Combinator, Village Capital, MetLife Foundation, Orange Digital Ventures, Air Angels, SPE Capital, Pincus Private Equity and Reflect Ventures. The Chandaria family, Propertyfinder CEO and founder Michael Lahyani, and the management company of an…

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Female led startup Bitmama raises US$350,000 pre-seed funding for its expansion plan

Frank

NIGERIA – Bitmama, a female-led African blockchain startup, has announced a pre-seed raise of US$350,000 to will enable it to grow its operational presence, expand its team as well as penetrate new markets across the continent. The round was led by San Francisco-based VC, Flori Ventures, with participation from Nigeria-based investment fund Emergence Capital, Fedha Capital, and a host of VCs and angel investors. Founded in 2019 by Ruth Iselema, Bitmama provides a secured blockchain infrastructure that allows users across Africa to perform cryptocurrency transactions. The startup currently operates in…

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