Tag: Seed round

Agri-tech startup Vendease closes US$3.2m seed round to expand its operations

Editor

NIGERIA – Vendease, an agri-tech startup that lets restaurants and other food businesses buy supplies directly from manufacturers and farms, has secured a US$3.2 million seed round to expand operations and build out its technology. The funding round was led by Global Founders Capital with participation from Y Combinator, Hustle Fund, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Soma Cap. Other local investors and early backers such as Paga CEO, Tayo Oviosu, Remita CEO, John Obaro, and Magic Fund also took part. Founded in January 2020 by Tunde Kara, Olumide Fayankin, Gatumi Aliyu…

Read More

Tech startup Elmawkaa raises Seed round to expand its suppliers base

Editor

EGYPT – Cairo-based construction tech startup Elmawkaa has raised a six-figure Seed round headed by Flat6labs and joined by a group of Oqal investors from Saudi Arabia.   Elmawkaa plans to use the funds to onboard 2,000 suppliers and complete 4,000 transactions worth US$2 million in gross merchandise value.  “We are not a listing or ordinary marketplace, we are digitalising and innovating the process of buying building materials through a bidding process and our matching algorithms,” Ebrahem Anwar, the co-founder and CEO of Elmawkaa said.     “Which we built with our hands that deliver accurate and competitive quotations based on our experience in engineering,…

Read More

E-commerce startup Sendbox raises US$1.8m to digitize deliveries for SMEs in Africa

Editor

NIGERIA – Sendbox, a Nigeria-based e-commerce fulfilment platform for merchants in Africa, has announced the completion of a US$1.8 million seed round from investors including 4DX Ventures, Enza Capital, FJLabs and Golden Palm Investments. With participation from Flexport and YC Combinator as part of its 2021 winter cohort, Sendbox’s total investment raised has now reached US$2 million following a pre-seed round from Microtraction and 4DX Ventures in 2018. The e-commerce fulfilment platform for merchants in Africa says the new funding will be used to expand the company’s operations in other…

Read More

Nigerian Digital Bank Sparkle closes US$3.1m Seed Round

Editor

NIGERIA – Sparkle, a mobile-first digital bank that provides financial, lifestyle and business support services to Nigerians across the globe, has raised an oversubscribed seed round of US$3.1 million from an all-Nigerian group of investors including Leadway Assurance, Trium Networks and a number of Nigerian High Networth Individuals. This funding round follows a previous friends and family pre-Seed round totaling US$2 million, bringing Sparkle’s total funding to US$5.1 million. The new investment will be used to scale the platform’s talent teams across engineering, financial risk and marketing departments and investing…

Read More

Nigeria’s Eden Life closes US$1.4m Seed Funding Round

Editor

NIGERIA – Africa’s first home services app for scheduling food, laundry and cleaning services, has completed a US$1.4 million Seed round, led by UK-based LocalGlobe, along with participation from Samurai Incubate, Future Africa, Village Global, Rising Tide Africa and Enza Capital. The funding round brings Eden Life’s total investment to date to US$2 million following pre-seed backing from all of Andela’s original co-founders, and additional accelerator support over the last 18 months. The new capital raised will be deployed to build out Eden Life’s in-house technology and develop its own…

Read More

Insurance company Amenli secures US$2.3m seed round to grow its company

Editor

EGYPT – Amenli, an Egypt-based startup backed by Y Combinator and the first Egyptian online insurance firm to be issued an insurance license, has raised US$2.3 million in a seed round to provide insurance services to Egyptians. The new money will be used to grow the company’s personnel, scale quickly, and attract more clients in a market that is predicted to develop at a CAGR of 7% per year over the next five years. Amenli was formed in 2020 by Adham Nauman and Shady El Tohfa to solve Egypt’s $2…

Read More

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

Editor

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…

Read More

Startup gnuGrid raises US$612,500 seed round, switches into fintech space

Editor

UGANDA – Ugandan startup gnuGrid has increased the size of its seed funding round to US$612,500 as it pivots its product offering to move into the fintech space. Launched in 2019 by David Opio and James Dailey, gnuGrid built Solar Sentra, which aimed to streamline and automate the highly fragmented solar industry in Uganda and beyond by using AI-optimised sensors to monitor solar systems and collect data on power usage which is used by solar companies to tailor service delivery.  gnuGrid bundled this hardware with digital payments, predictive analytics, customer profiling and…

Read More

Healthech startup Sotech raises US$1m pre-Seed funding round to grow its market

Editor

EGYPT – Sotech, a healthech and IoT solutions startup, has successfully raised US$1 million in its latest pre-Seed funding round led by Innlife investments and key corporate investor Al Raya Kuwaiti. The Egypt-based firm intends to use the freshly raised capital to extend its operations to 500 locations and grow its market beyond Egypt, including Mecca and Madina. Founded in 2020 by a group of Tech, Marketing, and Healthcare enthusiasts during the pandemic, the Egypt-based startup specialises in smart IoT, trackable OOH advertising, and data gathering. By providing fully integrated…

Read More

Payments company pawaPay secures US$9m seed round to scale its operational presence

Editor

AFRICA – African payments company pawaPay, has secured a US$9 million Seed round that was co-led by MSA and UK-based investment fund 88mph, with participation from Vunani Capital, Kepple Ventures and Zagadat Capital. The capital will be deployed to scale pawaPay’s operational presence, find more talent to join the team, and expand into new markets on the continent. Founded in 2020, pawaPay is focused on the mobile money infrastructure provided by telecommunications companies (telco) in Africa. Each telco in each country provides its own unique mobile money product, which makes…

Read More