Business

A collection of 361 posts

AFEX

AFEX, a Nigerian leading commodities market player seeks to raise $175m in ABCP to boost Nigeria’s agro sector

AFEX, a Nigerian leading commodities market player and the first private sector commodities exchange, announced on Monday the reopening of its $240m Asset-Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP) which will help in stabilizing the country’s agriculture sector by offering low-cost financing to Agro-processors to bridge the funding gap between lenders and

Africa

Nigerian Mobility startup, Moove closes $10 million round led by NPK Capital to expand across Africa

The mobility fintech company Moove has secured a $10 million financing deal from NBK Capital Partners Mezzanine Fund II. This makes the sixth investment from the Fund advised by NBK Capital Partners and the first investment in Africa. Moove is a mobility fintech that is Uber’s exclusive fleet partner

Brimore

Brimore raises $25 million in IFC led series A round to expand across Africa

Brimore, a Cairo-based social commerce platform connecting suppliers to community sellers, has closed a Series A round led by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and early-stage investment venture capital firm, Endure Capital, with participation from Fawry, Flourish, Endeavor Catalyst Fund and the startup’s existing investors including

Business

Tanzanian remittance platform NALA, raises $10 M in a new fundraising round

Tanzanian fintech, NALA, has raised $10 million in a fundraising round. NALA is a cross-border payment company that recently pivoted its services from local to international money transfers. Investors in this funding round include Amplo, Accel, and Bessemer Partners, with local investors like DFS Lab. Also partaking are angel investors

Africa

Growing demand for cloud services prompts Oracle to set up data center in Africa

U.S giant computer technology corporation, Oracle, has opened a data center in Johannesburg, South Africa. This center is the company’s first infrastructural project in Africa, aimed at providing local cloud services across the continent. Oracle joins other corporations like Amazon and Microsoft, in the setting up of facilities

Alpha Intelligence Capital

Tunisian and London-based enterprise AI startup, InstaDeep raises $100M in series B round

InstaDeep, an enterprise AI startup that specializes in creating decision-making systems for solving real-world problems has raised $100 million in Series B financing led by Alpha Intelligence Capital and CDIB. BioNTech,Chimera Abu Dhabi, Deutsche Bahn’s DB Digital Ventures,Google, G42 and Synergie participated in the round. InstaDeep was

Andreessen Horowitz

SA Mobile Games Publisher, Carry1st raises $20M in series A extension round

Carry1st, a South African mobile gaming publisher has announced a $20 million Series A extension round led by Silicon Valley-based VC firm, Andreessen Horowitz. This investment marks a16z’s first investment into an African-headquartered company (the firm has previously invested in Branch and Zipline, companies with some of its operations

Business

Egyptian unicorn, Fawry, announces plan to raise $50 million, explores US listing

Egyptian fintech giant, Fawry, has announced Thursday its plan to raise EGP 800 million (~$50.9 million) in growth capital through a rights issue to existing shareholders. In a statement, the company said the proceeds will be used to finance its growth in financial services for both consumers and merchants.

Business

Finclusion closes $20M Pre-Series A funding to build out credit-led neobank offering across Africa

Finclusion Group, a fintech that uses AI algorithms to provide financial services to African customers via an array of credit-centric products, has raised $20 million in debt and equity pre-Series A financing. Investors in the round include Andela and Flutterwave co-founder Iyinoluwa Aboyeji (who invested via his VC firm Future

500 Global

ThankUCash Raises $5.3 Million Seed Fund for Expansion 

ThankUCash, a leading multi-merchant rewards platform based in Nigeria has raised $5.3 million in seed funding. The seed round was co-led by 500 Global and Unicorn Growth Capital with participation from Expert Dojo, Predictive VC, SaaS growth Ventures, Betatron Hong kong, Accelerex Holding, Andrew Dell (former CEO of HSBC)

Business

How African Entrepreneurs can Leverage TEF's Grant for Growth

Recently, African Tech-Startups have taken the center stage particularly in the area of access to funding. In 2021, African tech companies did unimaginable numbers by surpassing every prediction by experts as tech companies raised over $4 billion (more than they got in 2019 and 2020 combined) From minting five unicorns

Business

SA based SweepSouth, acquires Egyptian home services startup, Filkhedma

SweepSouth, an online home services platform backed by Naspers, has announced the acquisition of Filkhedma, an Egyptian home services startup. Launched in 2014, SweepSouth is an online platform providing on-demand home cleaning services, operating across various South African cities. Filkhedma is Egypt’s home services marketplace operating across three cities

Business

South African Fintech Firm, Crossfin, Acquired For $94.3m

South African Fintech startup Crossfin has been acquired by Ethos’ Mid-Market Fund I (EMMF I) and Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital (ARC) in a deal worth $94.3m. The EMMF I and ARC consortium deal will provide the Crossfin with much-needed exposure in Fintech, and according to a statement

Business

SA fintech startup, Paycode, secures funding from Investment One Financial Services Limited

South African fintech startup, Paycode, has secured an undisclosed investment from one of Nigeria’s leading financial services providers, Investment One Financial Services Limited (Investment One). This deal was made through its Venture Capital subsidiary, Investment One Vencap Limited. In a statement, Paycode said this latest investment will be used

Business

Karooooo Acquires South African Logistics Startup, Picup, for $4.8m

Zak Calisto, CEO, and Founder of Karooooo and Cartrack has acquired Cape Town-based on-demand logistics startup Picup Technologies for $4.8m. Picup Technologies was purchased for 70.1% by Karooooo with an option to increase its shareholding to 83.5%. Picup is a logistic startup founded in South Africa in

Business

Nigerian gaming company signs mega deal with Dutch LambWeston

Nigerian fantasy sports company Fantastic.ng, has sealed a multimillion naira promotional partnership deal with Dutch conglomerate LambWeston, owners of the Poundo Potato brand in Nigeria. Fantastic.ng was launched in late 2019, as a free-to-play mobile platform offering games such as predict and win, fantasy football and sports trivia.

Business

Nigeria’s Autochek acquires Cheki Kenya and Uganda from ROAM Africa

Nigerian automotive tech startup Autochek has announced the acquisition of Cheki Kenya and Uganda from Ringier One Africa Media (ROAM) for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will enable Autochek’s expansion into East Africa Note that Autocheck had also acquired both Nigeria and Ghana businesses from Cheki in 2020. Cheki

Business

Uber Acquires Trucking Firm for $2.25-Billion

Uber Technologies has announced plans to acquire Transplace, a logistics company currently valued at $2.25-billion and owned by TPG Capital. Transplace was created in 2000, with contributions from some of the largest trucking companies in the world before it was acquired in 2017 by TPG Capital. According to the

Business

Vodafone Ghana Teams up with Invest in Africa to Provide Digital Skills of Ghanaian SMEs

Invest In Africa (IIA) has announced a partnership with Vodafone Ghana to help local businesses improve their digital skills. Invest In Africa was founded in 2012, the organization currently operates in five African countries (Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Zambia, and Mauritania), assisting startups through training and improved access to finance. The

Business

Kenya’s MarketForce acquires Digiduka to Scale its Service

Kenyan startup MarketForce has announced the acquisition of Digiduka to accelerate its services across Africa. MarketForce was launched in 2018, the startup enables an end-to-end retail distribution to allow consumer brands to optimize how they deliver essential goods and services to retailers and consumers by bridging the information gap in

Business

Telkom partners with EasyEquities to Provide Financial Services

South Africa’s telecommunications provider Telkom has declared its interest in digital financing after securing 10,000 Digital Wallet subscribers since launching a pilot program in December 2020. Telkom has now announced a partnership with MTN’s Mobile Money (MoMo) platform, allowing subscribers to send and receive money via their

Business

Nigeria’s GIG Logistics launches in UK, Eyes more Cross-border Deliveries

Nigerian logistics giant, GIG Logistics (GIGL), recently announced its expansion to Colchester, Essex, in the UK. With the company already operating in Nigeria, Houston, Texas, and Ghana, the expansion into Essex will come as an enhancement in service delivery and profit margin for the company. According to Ariyo Oluboye, Director,

Artificial Intelligence

Sparkle launches feature to empower SMEs

Sparkle, a Nigerian Fintech company has launched its Sparkle Business– a platform to help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) access products and services necessary for the digital enhancement of their businesses. Since SMEs form the highest employers of labor in Nigeria, they must be afforded all necessary opportunities needed for

Artificial Intelligence

Payflex Launches Buy Now Pay Later Feature in South Africa

Shop Now, Pay Later solutions are a proven way to increase sales for merchants, and with Fintech startups offering digitalized measures for modern commerce, there is no telling on how much commercial activities will increase in Africa. Johannesburg-based Fintech startup Payflex has launched the buy now pay later for local

Business

Savyt Set to Provide Investors Up To 15% on Savings & Investment

The average interest on the normal savings account in Nigeria has been stable at 4.06% per annum for the most part of 2020. In August 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) instructed deposit money banks in Nigeria not to pay less than 1.25% in interest on savings