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African web3 startup Nestcoin has laid off some employees as FTX’s demise impacted its business. This information was shared by the startup’s CEO, Yele Bademosi, who, in a tweet, said FTX’s fall from grace affected his one-year-old startup, which held assets (cash and stablecoins) in the now-defunct crypto exchange to manage operational expenses.

African web3 startup Nestcoin declares it held its assets in FTX, lays off employees

New York-based venture platform Modus has launched Modus Africa, a venture capital fund for AI and blockchain startups across sub-Saharan Africa, TechCrunch has learned. The fund is expected to reach its first close in the first quarter of next year.

Modus expands to sub-Saharan Africa with the launch of its AI and blockchain-focused $75M fund

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has today launched a $225 million venture capital platform to back early-stage startups in Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, and Pakistan.
The IFC, a member of the World Bank, will make equity and “equity-like” investments in tech startups to “grow them into scalable ventures that can attract mainstream equity and debt financing.”

IFC launches $225M platform to back early-stage startups in Africa, Asia, Middle East

African customers, startups and FTX's employees lost millions in the crypto platform’s collapse this month.

FTX processed billions monthly in Africa before going bust

Leta, a Kenyan B2B supply chain and logistics SaaS provider launched last year to optimize fleet management, is looking for growth opportunities in West Africa, even as it scales operations in its existing five markets.
Leta’s proprietary route and load optimization technology is designed to boost efficiency in the delivery of goods to customers, and reduces the number of vehicles needed for distribution, leading to cost savings and increased competitiveness.

Leta, a Kenyan supply chain and logistics SaaS provider, raises $3M to scale in Africa

Ramani, a Tanzanian startup focused on consumer-packaged goods (CPG) supply chains, plans to introduce new financial services as it expands its operations in the East African country after raising $32 million in Series A debt-equity funding.

Tanzania’s YC alum Ramani raises $32M to digitize CPG supply chains, lend resellers

Last February, Djamo announced that it got accepted into Y Combinator, the first from Ivory Coast. Months later, the two-year-old fintech has raised $14 million in funding from the famed accelerator, as well as from three lead investors — Enza Capital, Oikocredit and Partech Africa — and other participating investors, including Janngo Capital, P1 Ventures, Axian and Launch Africa.

Consumer finance app Djamo eyes Francophone Africa expansion, backed by new $14M round

Ejara, a Cameroonian fintech offering an investment app that allows users to buy crypto and save through decentralized wallets, has raised $8 million in Series A investment. 
London-based venture capital firm Anthemis co-led the growth round alongside crypto-focused fund Dragonfly Capital. Anthemis is a follow-on investor in Ejara, having also led the fintech’s $2 million seed round announced last October. 

Cameroonian crypto and savings platform Ejara raises $8M, led by Anthemis and Dragonfly

Kenya’s first fully electric taxi service, NopeaRide, is exiting the market after its parent company EkoRent OY failed to raise additional funding to keep it afloat.
NopeaRide said EkoRent Africa, the local subsidiary of the Finnish company, has filed for insolvency in Kenya, bringing to an end the operations of the all-electric vehicle taxi player, which sought to drive a shift to environmentally-friendly transport options, while stepping-up competition for early market entrants Uber and Bolt.

NopeaRide, Kenya’s first EV taxi service, shuts down

Badili, a Kenya-based smartphone re-commerce startup, has raised $2.1 million pre-seed funding to scale its operations within Africa; one of the fastest-growing mobile phone market in the world.
The Venture Catalysts, V&R Africa, Grenfell holdings, and SOSV, participated in the round, as did family offices and angel investors from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and India.

Smartphone re-commerce startup Badili raises $2.1M pre-seed funding

Africa’s beauty and personal care market is growing accelerated by its growing young and fashion conscious population, increasing spending power, and urbanization. The market’s potential has in recent years attracted major brands, with Fenty Beauty by Rihanna and LVMH being the latest entrants.

Kenya’s Uncover raises $1M to expand skincare product enterprise across Africa

After four years operating primarily as a logistics marketplace, Egypt’s Voo has rebranded to SideUp and transformed its strategy to offer a complete spectrum of e-commerce support services, including payment gateways, API integration for shipping, warehousing, fulfillment, and advisory.

Egypt’s SideUp raises $1.2M to grow its e-commerce support platform

OneOrder, Egypt’s supply chain solutions provider for restaurants, has raised $3 million seed funding led by Nclude with participation from A15, and Delivery Hero Ventures. The latest funding brings the total funding raised by the startup to $10.5

With $3M new funding, Egyptian startup OneOrder sets out on growth drive

Chipper Cash, an African cross-border payments company valued at $2.2 billion last year, has laid off a portion of its workforce.
Yesterday, a few affected and non-affected employees took to LinkedIn to reveal the news. TechCrunch has learned from sources that over 50 employees were affected across multiple departments; the engineering team took the biggest hit, with around 60% of those laid off coming from the department, according to people familiar with the matter.

Chipper Cash lays off about 12.5% of staff

African fintech Chipper Cash saw its valuation slashed from $2 billion to $1.25 billion before FTX’s bankruptcy, according to documents shared by the Financial Times on Alameda’s venture capital portfolio.

FTX marked down Chipper Cash’s $2B valuation to $1.25B

Zeraki, a Kenyan edtech that has built digital learning and school data analytics platforms, has raised $1.8 million seed funding in a round led by Acumen Fund, for product catalog growth and regional expansion.
Save the Children Impact Investment Fund, Verdant Frontiers Fintech, Logos Ventures participated in the round, as did the Nairobi Business Angels Network (NaiBAN), and Melvyn Lubega, co-founder of Go1, an Australia-based edtech Unicorn.

Zeraki, a Kenyan edtech providing digital solutions for school admin, raises $1.8M

A lawsuit against Facebook’s parent company Meta was filed earlier today in Kenya’s High Court over its alleged role in fueling violence and hate in eastern and southern Africa.
The case claims that Meta has failed to employ enough safety measures on Facebook, which has in turn fueled conflict that has led to deaths, including of 500,000 Ethiopians during the recently ended Tigray war.

Meta sued by Ethiopians and Kenyan rights group for fueling Tigray War

Suplyd, a procurement platform for hotels, restaurants and catering (HoReCa) businesses in Egypt, has raised $1.6 million pre-seed funding from Endure Capital, Seedstars, Camel Ventures, Falak Startups, Outlierz, Plus Ventures, Fort, Alex Angels, and a number of other strategic and angel investors.

Egypt’s Suplyd raises $1.6M to digitize restaurants supply chain

Sun King, a provider of off-grid solar energy products in Africa and Asia, has secured a $70 million equity investment led by LeapFrog Investments. It’s an extension of the $260 million Series D round the solar company announced this April, which was led by BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic and M&G Investments’ Catalyst and Arch Emerging Markets Partners. Thus, Sun King has closed its Series D round at $330 million and as a result, raised over $550 million in debt and equity since its inception.

Sun King, a provider of solar energy products in Africa and Asia, expands Series D to $330M

The African tech scene was met with fanfare in 2021: Venture capital investments in the region totaled between $4 billion and $5 billion and produced five unicorns. In my piece detailing this progress, I predicted there would be more unicorns in 2022. Those predictions proved to be way off the mark by year’s end.

Why Africa had no unicorns last year despite record fundraising haul

Africa is seen as the next trade frontier, following the coming into force of The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which created the single largest unrestricted trade region in the world. However, while trade liberalization is meant to spur intra-regional commerce, its take-off is dependent on key infrastructure investments to ensure supply chain efficiency. More progress is linked to how quickly market information circulates to key stakeholders, including traders, regulators and financiers.

Kenya’s Xetova Exploring Market Data Gaps in Africa to Boost Trade Insight Access

South African startup Flow wants to change how real estate agencies,  developers and agents interact with their end customers. With its APIs, Flow connects to the websites of estate agencies and property developers and automates advertising for them on social media channels like Instagram and Facebook. The proptech marketing platform is announcing that it has raised $4.5 million in pre-Series A funding.

South Africa’s Flow gets funding to automate social media advertising for real estate agencies

Barely a year after Tanzania capped the commissions that e-hailing firms like Uber and Bolt charge their partners at 15%, the authority in charge has backtracked on the order, taking away drivers’ prospects of increased earnings.

Uber, Bolt drivers hope for increased earnings foiled as Tanzania reinstates 25% commission

In 2016, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states signed the Value Added Tax (VAT) agreement paving way for the introduction of the general levy on consumption across the region. The United Arabs Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia became the first member states to adopt the treaty in 2018, and its implementation meant that for the first time businesses in these territories were required to file VAT returns periodically.

Dubai-based accounting and financial compliance startup, Wafeq, raises $3M

Baillie Gifford, the Edinburgh-based asset management firm long known to have a penchant for pre-IPO tech companies, has reduced its shares in African e-commerce giant Jumia, per the latest 13G/A filing released by the asset manager.

Jumia’s investors rethink their stakes — for better and worse

Earlier this month, we reported that investors’ sentiments surrounding venture capital activity going into this were more reserved than upbeat. Investors believe the market correction, which caught up with the continent in the second half of 2022, will spiral into this year. But before that, there was shared optimism that African startups would raise more VC funding last year than in 2021 when the continent, for the first time, passed the $4-5 billion threshold.

How African startups raised venture capital in 2022

The BioNTech-subsidiary has placed the Tunisian tech ecosystem and, more broadly, Africa's AI industry on the map.

InstaDeep’s acquisition is a classic case of an African startup gone global

Google’s new policy requiring digital lenders in Kenya to submit proof of license to operate in the East African country takes effect today. The policy aims to clamp down on rogue loan apps, which are pervasive in the country.

Google to ban unlicensed loan apps in Kenya as new rules take effect

Egyptian fintech and e-commerce ecosystem MNT-Halan has raised up to $400 million in equity and debt financing from local and global investors as it continues to serve underbanked and unbanked customers in the North African country.

Egyptian financial services provider MNT-Halan valued at $1B in $400M funding

In most African countries, access to credit remains limited for many small businesses, with the reasons ranging from the inability to pay collateral and lack of credit history to unfavorable lending criteria and high-interest rates. 

South African digital lender Lulalend to launch banking product off the back of $35M Series B

SunFi, the Nigerian clean tech startup that connects people and businesses who want solar energy access to payment plans that match their needs, has raised $2.325 million in seed funding.

SunFi aims to be the fastest way for Nigerians to find, finance and manage solar

More drama is afoot for Facebook’s parent company Meta on the African continent. A Kenyan court today rejected Meta’s request to be removed as party in a lawsuit filed last year against it and Sama, its main subcontractor for content moderation in Africa. Together, the two are being accused of exploitation and union busting.

Meta fails in bid to be removed as a party from an exploitation lawsuit against it and moderation partner Sama in Kenya

The uptake of customer relationship management (CRM) tools has grown immensely over the last few years such that the market size is expected to experience a 12.5% compound annual growth rate, and to be worth $145.79 billion in the next six years. This growth is largely attributable to the uptick of online merchants using CRM tools to boost sales, increase profits and beat mounting competition from other providers.

Gameball raises $3.5M to scale its CRM platform for consumer brands

A few years ago, Richard Schrems was working as a human resources consultant in Riyadh, and at one point sought to implement a tech-solution for his clients to help them better their huge teams, but couldn’t find a localized solution.

Palm.hr raises $5M, embarks on MENA growth

Without proper government-led public health initiatives, healthcare expenditures, including insurance and pharmaceutical drugs, can burden individuals and households. In recent years, private institutions have played a massive part in the considerable uptake of medical insurance and medicines and also in lowering the costs of getting them across Egypt, the largest producer of pharmaceuticals across the MENA region whose pharma market is set to reach $6 billion in value this year. The Global Ventures–backed Yodawy is one such private player, and the pharmacy benefits manager has raised a $16 million Series B round.

Egyptian health tech Yodawy raises $16M, backed by Delivery Hero Ventures

Fashion items are among the most — if not the most — sought after on many e-commerce platforms. In Africa, for instance, fashion has held the top spot in Jumia for the largest category of items sold over the years. This means there’s no shortage of demand for fashion items across the continent, and the supply is picking up steam even in the high-end categories.

Jendaya raises funding to scale its Africa-focused luxury e-commerce platform

The public transport sector in Kenya is largely traditional and a majority of operators, especially those in road travel, still require their clients to physically book tickets at their offices even when making advance travel plans. Others do not have provisions for seat reservation.

BuuPass raises $1.3M to scale mobility sector digitization in Africa

Qotto, a solar kits provider with operations in Burkina Faso and Benin, has raised $8 million in a Series A equity-debt round led by the IBL group, a billion-dollar conglomerate headquartered in Mauritius with business interests in a number of sectors including energy, financial services, logistics, distribution and engineering.

Cleantech Qotto embarks on growth plan backed by $8M funding

Terraa, a Moroccan B2B  tech-enabled food distribution platform, has raised $1.5 million pre-seed funding in a round led by FoodLabs, a European early-stage VC investor and venture studio for food, sustainability and health. Other participants in the round were UM6P Ventures, Outlierz Ventures, Musha Ventures, and Africa-centric DFS Lab.

Morocco’s foodtech Terraa raises $1.5M led by FoodLabs

After working in Africa’s microfinance space for seven years, including at Botswana’s Letshego, Brian Dempsey took a break in 2020 to build Power Financial Wellness, operating out of Kenya.

Kenya’s fintech Power set to scale after $3M seed round

Prince Boakye Boampong, the founder and CEO of Dash, which provides an alternative payment network with connected wallets allowing interaction between mobile money and bank accounts in Africa, has allegedly been temporarily suspended pending an investigation into financial impropriety, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.

Dash CEO placed on ‘indefinite administrative leave’ as the Insight-backed startup carries out financial audit

Naked Insurance, a South African insurtech company that helps consumers to insure their cars, homes and valuables, has raised $17 million in Series B funding led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

IFC leads $17M investment in South African insurtech Naked

Africa’s largest innovation hub Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), is launching a $15 million accelerator program, dubbed The Edtech Fellowship Program, to back and support 72 startups across Nigeria and Kenya over the next three years, TechCrunch has learned.

Co-Creation Hub’s edtech accelerator puts $15M towards African startups

Less than a year after launch, Kenyan B2B construction tech startup Jumba has secured clients in major regions of the East African country, a tell-tale of the growth it has experienced over the last 10 months.

Jumba, a Kenyan startup simplifying sourcing of construction supplies, raises $4.5M

African cross-border payments platform Chipper Cash conducted a second round of layoffs last Friday just ten weeks after it cut approximately 12.5% of its workforce (affecting its engineering team the most).

Chipper Cash executes second round of layoffs less than three months after axing 12.5% of staff

The HR payroll market across the world is expected to record a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.2% reaching a $14.31 billion valuation by the close of this decade, buoyed by the increased demand for payroll and other HR solutions.

YC-backed HR-payroll provider Workpay raises $2.7M to scale in Africa

Planet42, a South Africa-based car subscription company that buys used cars from dealerships and rents to customers via a subscription model, has raised $100 million in equity and debt from a wide range of investors.

South African car subscription service Planet42 raises $100M equity, debt

Envisionit Deep AI is now on the path to growth backed by a $1.65 million investment from New GX Ventures SA, a joint venture between New GX Capital, RMB Ventures and GIIG Africa. This was after the startup emerged the Southern Africa regional winner at the African Startup Awards.

South Africa’s Envisionit Deep AI gets $1.65M to expand access to medical imaging

Africa’s largest e-commerce site Jumia has amended its terms and conditions after the regional watchdog, the COMESA (Common Markets for Eastern and Southern Africa) Competition Commission, compelled the marketplace to review clauses and disclaimers it found misleading or false.

African watchdog forces Jumia to review its terms in push to protect consumers

Several competition watchdogs in Africa plan to collectively interrogate the market conduct of global digital firms, putting big techs like Google and Meta, which have faced investigations and remedial action in other jurisdictions, on alert.

Big Tech on notice as regulators in Africa group to investigate their market conduct

Last month, Flutterwave, Africa’s largest startup by private valuation, was involved in a hack that resulted in over ₦2.9 billion (~$4.2 million) missing from its accounts, according to local tech publication Techpoint Africa.

Alleged security breach leaves millions of dollars missing from Flutterwave accounts

Alerzo, a Nigerian B2B e-commerce platform that digitizes commerce and payments processes between FMCG suppliers and informal retailers, has laid off 15% of its full-time workforce, the company confirmed to TechCrunch.

Nigerian B2B e-commerce startup Alerzo cuts 15% of full-time staff in second round of layoffs

The competition regulator in Kenya is probing the conduct of online food and groceries delivery platforms to inform its suggestions on regulatory and policy options, to bolster healthy competition, and enforcement of consumer protection.

Online food delivery platforms in Kenya under probe

Africa’s most valuable unicorn Flutterwave is still not off the hook in Kenya. About $3 million of its money that was confiscated in the second government seizure over money laundering and fraud claims remains frozen, in two banks, and 19 mobile money accounts (M-pesa paybill numbers), as the matter is before Kenya’s high court.

Flutterwave’s troubles in Kenya yet to end as second case proceeds

Naspers, Africa’s most valuable tech company by market capitalization, has winded down the operations of its R1.4 billion (≈$100 million) South Africa-focused venture capital fund Naspers Foundry, according to local news outlet BusinessDay.

Naspers shuts down Foundry, its $100M fund focused on South African startups

Flat6Labs is amongst the most active VCs in Africa, having invested in over a hundred startups to date, across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. And now, after 11 years, the Egypt-based seed-stage accelerator is setting out on a foray into East and West Africa through a $95 million Africa Seed Fund investment vehicle that will mark its first venture outside MENA.

MENA VC Flat6Labs’ new fund to back startups in East, West Africa

Nigerian credit-led digital banking platform FairMoney has acquired PayForce (sub-brand of YC-backed CrowdForce), a merchant payment services that serves small businesses, as the digital lender looks to broaden its financial services proposition to merchants.

Nigerian credit-led fintech FairMoney acquires PayForce in retail-merchant banking play

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last week sent ripples in startup ecosystems around the world, and it is emerging that millions of dollars held by African startups and venture capital funds at the bank were at stake, until the U.S. Federal Reserve acted to save the day.

SVB collapse forces African startups to rethink their banking options

Embedded finance solutions in less developed markers are becoming more prominent as platforms look to provide various financial solutions to the unbanked and underserved. Banking infrastructure providers are mainly responsible for the proliferation of such solutions. They allow businesses such as mobile operators, e-commerce platforms, and logistics companies to embed and enable banking products for their customers.

Credable, a digital banking infra startup that wants to build Unit for emerging markets, gets funding

Social media giant Meta and its Kenya-based content moderation partners, Sama and Majorel, are facing a new lawsuit in Kenya. In a petition filed today, 43 content moderators allege “unlawful termination” by Sama, whose contract with Meta comes to an end this month after shutting down its content review arm in January. They are also contesting alleged discrimination by Meta’s new content moderation partner, Majorel, who they claim has blacklisted all of Sama’s previous employees.

Meta faces third lawsuit in Kenya as moderators claim illegal sacking, blacklisting

In emerging markets like Africa, offline channels dominate retail sales, which are often driven by informal trade and cash transactions. This makes sourcing data on markets, consumer behavior and products a herculean task. Yet, local and international brands require data about market size and value, consumer profiles and their purchasing power, and penetration of their competitors’ products to establish their presence or expand into such markets.

Rwazi to scale its market intelligence platform backed by $4 million seed funding

Google has taken down hundreds of loan apps from the Play Store in Kenya since its new policy, which requires digital lenders in the East African country to submit proof of license, went into effect in January.

Google removes hundreds of Kenya-focused loan apps from Play Store

Fez Delivery, a Lagos-based last-mile logistics startup with hubs across Nigeria, has raised $1 million led by pan-African investor Ventures Platform with participation from Voltron Capital, Acasia Ventures and other angel investors. 

Techstars-backed Fez Delivery gets funding to scale its last-mile logistics platform

Payday, a neobank issuing global (USD, EUR & GBP) accounts to Africans, has raised $3 million, money the platform intends to use to fuel its “future of work” initiative through borderless payment alternatives in major currencies.

Payday wants to power the future of work for Africa with $3M seed led by Moniepoint Inc

Last July, TechCrunch reported that customers of several fintech apps couldn’t access the virtual dollar card services that these platforms provided. In addition, customers couldn’t create new cards, fund existing ones, or make online and in-store payments and purchases with them.

After chargeback fraud debacle, Union54 CEO says fintech in Africa ‘isn’t child’s play’

Impact investor Goodwell Investments and Oxfam Novib, a Dutch foundation and Oxfam International affiliate, have set up Pepea, a €20 million ($21.7 million) fund, to provide financing to early-stage startups in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. The fund, created with the backing of Oxfam Novib Impact Investments, will provide venture debt with a focus on mezzanine finance, which is a debt that can be turned into equity.

Oxfam Novib and Goodwell target East African startups with €20M Pepea fund

The U.S International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has made equity investment to the tune of $25 million in a new fund by Pan-African venture capital firm Novastar Ventures, to back founders building agriculture and climate solutions.

DFC invests $25M in Novastar’s Africa People + Planet Fund

Africa contributes less than 3% of the world’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions but the continent will be one of the most impacted by the adverse effects of climate change. Some explanations for Africa’s vulnerability include poor diffusion of technologies and information relevant to supporting adaptation, usually provided by clean or climate tech companies.

Equator secures $40M in commitments for fund targeting climate tech startups in Africa

Verto, a London-based B2B cross-border foreign exchange (FX) and payments enabler for startups and small businesses, said it has acquired a quarter of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) customers from Africa and the MENA region.

Verto claims a quarter of SVB customers operating in Africa are opening accounts on its platform

Last month, pan-African venture capital firm Verod-Kepple Africa Partners reached the second close of its first fund (Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures), targeting African startups at $43 million. Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV) achieved its first close last March (at $20 million) and aims to attain its final close by the end of the year at $100 million; if reached, VKAV will join an exiguous number of Africa-focused funds with $100 million or more in total capital allotment.

Backed by Japanese investors, Verod-Kepple’s fund will invest in Series A and B startups across Africa

Meta’s main content review partners in Africa have been restrained from offering moderation services to the social media giant, and it is unclear who is currently reviewing its platforms in sub-Saharan Africa. Moderators sift through social media posts on Meta’s platforms to remove content that perpetrates and perpetuates hate, misinformation and violence.

Meta’s content review in Africa in limbo as moderation partners decry court restrictions

After selling their hospitality tech startup, Teranga, in 2018, Senegalese brothers Moustapha and Alioune Ndoye ventured into the trucking business as they pondered their next move. However, it soon became clear to them that fleet management is a major challenge, and one that largely influences the level of profits to be made by truck-owners.

Senegal’s logistics tech startup Chargel raises $2.5M seed funding

A Kenyan court has ruled that Meta can be sued in the East African country over alleged unlawful sacking and blacklisting of content moderators, and dismissed the social media giant’s application that sought to have the case thrown out.

Meta can be sued in Kenya over alleged unlawful layoffs and blacklisting of moderators, court rules

Nigerian payment service provider Nomba has raised $30 million in a pre-Series B investment to support the delivery of bespoke payment solutions for African businesses. The round, which values the company at $150 million+ according to YCombinator data on its most valuable companies, was led by San Francisco-based Base 10 Partners. 

African payment service provider Nomba raises $30M, backed by Base10 Partners and Shopify

Yesterday, Fingo, a YC-backed Kenyan fintech, launched its neobank, which it developed in collaboration with Pan-African financial institution Ecobank Kenya. The Ecobank subsidiary unveiled the neobank, the first of its kind in the East African country, according to the pair, in an event with the country’s president, William Ruto, in attendance. 

Kenya’s Fingo partners with Ecobank, launches neobank on the back of $4M investment

Kenya is proposing new taxes targeting the digital economy in a bid to grow domestic revenues and narrow its fiscal deficit in response to the ongoing cash crunch. The East African country plans to charge a 3% tax on the transfer or exchange value of digital assets, while content creators will pay 15% on online earnings up from 5% withholding income tax. If the proposals in the finance bill are ratified, the taxes will take effect in the coming budget year, which begins July 1.

Crypto, influencers targeted in Kenya’s new tax bid

Kenya is proposing a special tax regime on startups’ Employee Share Ownership Plans (ESOPs), as it aligns to its plan to spur innovation.

Kenya plans special startups’ employee-equity tax regime

Meta’s content moderation partner in Africa Sama was earlier today compelled by a Kenyan court to pay April salaries to a section of moderators it had left out. The direction comes days after moderators picketed at Sama headquarters in Kenya demanding April pay.

Meta content review partner Sama told by court to pay moderators

Figorr (previously Gricd) runs IoT-powered solutions that provide businesses, especially those in healthcare and agriculture, with key data such as location, humidity, and temperature of highly-perishable products, helping entrepreneurs to cut the losses that emerge from lack of such visibility. Figorr’s devices, which are placed/stuck in cold storage setups, come at no cost, but users subscribe to access the collected data.

Cold-chain startup Figorr raises $1.5M, backs the roll out of data-driven perishables insurance

M-KOPA, the asset financing platform that offers underbanked African customers access to “productive assets” and the ability to pay for them via digital micropayments, has secured more than $250 million in new funding. 

M-KOPA snaps up $250M+ debt, equity for its asset financing platform

Egyptian fintech Axis has launched its digital payments platform to the North African market after securing a license from the apex bank, Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), for its open-loop mobile wallet, axisPay, which offers a digital banking alternative for small businesses and their employees. 

Tiger Global-backed Axis launches digital payments platform for Egyptian SMEs months after its $8.25M seed

Jia, a blockchain-based fintech providing loans to micro and small businesses in emerging markets, has raised $4.3 million seed funding, and an additional $1 million commitment for on-chain liquidity, in a round led by early-stage backer TCG Crypto, with participation from a number of funds including BlockTower, Hashed Emergent, Saison Capital, and Global Coin Research.

Jia, a blockchain-based lender of small businesses in emerging markets, raises $4.3 million seed

Amini, a Nairobi-based climate tech startup focused on solving Africa’s environmental data gap through artificial intelligence and satellite technology, has raised $2 million in a pre-seed funding round.

Pale Blue Dot backs Amini, an African climate tech startup solving environmental data scarcity

Sabi, a Lagos-based B2B e-commerce startup providing digital commerce infrastructure to Africa’s informal economy, has raised $38 million in Series B funding at a valuation of $300 million, according to two people familiar with the matter, signaling revived investor interest in a B2B e-commerce market going through some reckoning.

African B2B e-commerce startup Sabi tops $300M valuation in new funding

The E3 Low Carbon Economy Fund for Africa (E3LCEF), a fund by early-stage VC E3 Capital (formerly Energy Access Ventures), and emerging markets-focused investment bank Lion’s Head Global Partners, has hit the first close at $48.1 million.

E3 Capital and Lion’s Head climate fund hits first close at $48M to back African startups

South African digital banking platform TymeBank has raised $77.8 million in a pre-Series C round led by African-focused growth stage fund Norrsken22 and Swiss global impact investment firm Blue Earth Capital. TymeBank expects to close its Series C round later this year, it said in a statement.

South African challenger bank TymeBank raises $77.8M from Norrsken22 and Blue Earth Capital

The Brazilian fintech EBANX plans to serve nearly a dozen African markets in less than two years

EBANX: We will be operating in 11 African countries by the end of the year

Q1 2023 marks the first quarter Jumia’s new management implemented its strategy after riding out the blueprint of previous management in Q4 2022. The result? Jumia saw its losses decrease significantly: adjusted EBITDA loss dropped 51% year-over-year to $27 million, on track to meet the company’s end-of-year target of $100-120 million in adjusted losses. Similarly, operating loss was down 54% from Q1 2022 to $30.9 million per the company’s just-released financials.

Jumia reaches lowest losses in four years under new management

The YC-backed Kenyan B2B e-commerce startup has had to slow down its growth plans, and downsize amid cash crunch but Mbaabu remains optimistic

MarketForce forced to tighten its belt as tough times hit

A Kenyan court has ruled that Meta is the primary employer of content moderators suing the social media giant and its content review partner in Africa, Sama, for unlawful dismissal. The 184 moderators, in the suit filed in March this year, also alleged that Meta’s new content review partner on the continent, Majorel, had blacklisted them on instruction by Meta.

Meta found liable as court blocks firing of moderators

Helium Health, the African startup that provides software-as-a-service tools, financing and insights for healthcare providers and public health organizations, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. 

Helium Health gets $30M, backed by AXA IM Alts and 23andMe’s Anne Wojcicki

Haul247, a Nigerian end-to-end logistics platform connecting businesses to haulage and warehousing assets, has raised a $3 million seed round. Gender-lens investing fund Alitheia Capital, through its Umunthu Fund in partnership with Goodwell, provided the equity capital, with Investment One contributing $1 million in debt financing.

Nigeria’s Haul247 raises funding to scale its logistics platform

Nigerian communications platform-as-a-service startup Termii has raised $3.65 million in new financing, bringing its total funding to date to slightly more than $5 million. According to CEO Gbolade Emmanuel, in a chat with TechCrunch, the funds are not needed for operational activities but rather to power the company’s expansion initiatives: developing and promoting existing and new products in new markets with a priority to Francophone African countries (starting with the Ivory Coast), and not North Africa as earlier planned.

Nigeria’s Termii to launch mobile app and scale customer engagement business with new funding

Kenyan automotive marketplace Peach Cars is announcing its $5 million seed round led by Japan-based The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC) and other angel investors, including Shintaro Yamada (founder and CEO of Mercari), Peter Kenevan (VP, Head of Japan at PayPal), and Hiroaki Ohta (general partner at Japan’s Waseda University Ventures).

Peach Cars, a Kenyan used-car marketplace, raises $5M in seed investment

Eze, a B2B marketplace that connects global electronic wholesalers allowing them to trade devices in large quantities with real-time market data, has raised $3.7 million in an oversubscribed seed round. 

YC-backed Eze raises new capital for its secondhand electronics marketplace

Yellow, an asset financier for solar energy and digital devices in Africa has raised $14 million series B funding in a round led by Convergence Partners with participation from the Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund, managed by Triple Jump, in addition to follow-on investment from Platform Investment Partners.

PayGo solar startup Yellow raises $14 million to scale in Africa

Seedstars Capital and Swiss philanthropic foundation Fondation Botnar have launched Seedstars Youth Wellbeing Ventures, a $20 million investment mandate targeting early-stage startups in Africa that are focused on improving the wellbeing of people below 30 years in low-and-middle-income countries.

Seedstars, Fondation Botnar launch new fund to back African startups focused on youth wellbeing

The amount of plastic waste produced globally is on track to triple to over 1,000 million tonnes by 2060. The OECD report predicts that developed countries will continue to produce the most plastic waste per person, although emerging regions like Africa and Asia are expected to experience the fastest growth owing to rapid population growth, and urbanization.