Having established its presence in the eCommerce space in Kenya, Kenyan eCommerce startup, Copia Global, has announced its expansion into Uganda. Copia Global was founded by Tracey Turner. The startup’s unique platform uses agents to carry out commercial activities. Customers intending to make purchases visit an agent with a

South African haircare startup Brown and Ayo have announced it raised $276k in funding from female-focused VC firm Enygma Ventures. Brown and Ayo were founded in 2019 by Acanda Jaswa, as a hair brand focused on inspiring natural hairstyles and trends for black women in South Africa. The startup has

Six months after its previous publication, US seed-stage accelerator Y Combinator (YC) released its YC Top Companies list which contains startups valued at over $150m or more, featuring 163 companies, with 6 of them being public and 157 private companies. The publication also revealed that private companies valued at over

Nigerian micro-lending Fintech startup, Fairmoney has announced it raised $42m in a Series B funding round led by  US hedge fund and investment firm Tiger Global. Existing investors that participated in the round include – partners of DST, Flourish Ventures, Newfund, and Speedinvest. With an active presence in Nigeria and India,

Nigerian Fintech startup PayHippo has announced it raised $1m in a pre-seed funding round to help scale its business. Ventures Platform, Future Africa, Launch Africa, Sherpa Ventures, Hustle Fund and Mercy Corps Ventures all participated in the round. PayHippo was co-founded by the trio of Chioma Okotcha who’s the

Egyptian e-Commerce automotive spare parts startup Odiggo has announced its expansion to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) having clocked up to one million users over the course of last year. Odiggo was created in 2018 by Ahmed Omar but launched its service in 2019, the startup links customers with vendors

Yalla Xash has announced it raised a $675k investment from Maroc Numeric Fund II as it bids to expand across Africa. Founded by Emir Lallouche and Cedric Tamavond in the year 2017, Yalla Xash is a Fintech startup that focuses on money transfers between North America and Africa. The startup

Malagasy Edtech startup Sayna has announced it secured an undisclosed round of funding to help it expand access and launch new products. The funding was secured from I&P Acceleration Technologies, a program dedicated to African digital startups led by Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), and Miarakap, an

Nigeria’s Wealth management startup, Cowrywise has secured an asset management license from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The license gives the startup the right to manage funds and investment portfolios on behalf of retail investors, allowing it to develop and operate any product that pools investor funds. Cowrywise

Egypt-based creator economy platform Minly has announced it closed a $3.6m seed round to accelerate its growth process. The round which is described as oversubscribed was co-led by 4DX Ventures, B&Y Venture Partners, and Global Ventures, including other unnamed regional funds and angel investors like Scooter Braun,

Villgro Africa, a venture capitalist firm supporting early-stage social entrepreneurs in Africa, has disbursed funding to four health-focused startups amounting to a total of $170k. Villgro Africa expanded to Africa in 2017 with a launch in Kenya, the firm only expanded across the continent in 2020 in a bid to

Kenyan Edtech startup Ed Partners has announced it raised $1.9m in funding. The round was secured by global social impact investors Acumen, I&P, Zephyr, and other existing investors. Ed partners were founded in 2018 by the duo of Lydia Koros and David FitzHerbert with the aim of

Johannesburg based visitor management startup WizzPass has been acquired by US digital workplace solutions firm FM:Systems. WizzPass was founded in 2015, the startup focuses on improving the often manual and insecure processes and systems involved with traditional facility visitor management. Its visitor management system revolutionizes the experience, security, convenience

Kenya’s Safaricom has announced that its M-Pesa Super app will be released today. The release of the super app follows the prior announcement by the telecoms firm to obtain an insurance license is on track and the recent debut of its video-streaming app Baze. The M-Pesa Super app was

Nairobi-based Agritech startup Apollo Agriculture has announced it raised $1m in debt funding from the Agri-Business Capital Fund (ABC Fund). Apollo Agriculture uses its digital approach to help small-scale farmers access the resources they need to maximize their profitability. The platform helps commercial farmers access financial and farming aids including

Cape Town-based Fintech startup Finch Technologies has made a large investment to become the majority stakeholder in South Africa’s premier business financing marketplace, FundingHub. This investment round follows an initial investment in FundingHub in 2019. FundingHub connects South African SMEs with 33 banks and other lenders that can help

The Bank of Uganda (BOU) has announced creating a Regulatory Sandbox Framework that allows Fintech startups to test their innovative financial products in a safe environment. Prof. Tumusiime-Mutebile, Governor of The BOU, said that the program aims to develop and test their financial innovations in this framework. He further explained

Nigerian tech shipping platform helping Nigerian merchants ship locally and internationally Topship, has announced it raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round by angel investors from both the United States and Nigeria. Topship allows merchants to select from a wide range of shipping options (express, basic, and cargo) based