Author: Weddy Thuranira

Doxx launches the first fully integrated digital platform in the MENA region, connecting medical professionals and institutional healthcare providers including pharmacies, labs, scans, and insurance companies, to support the patient’s medical journey, increase accuracy, as well as improve the quality of service while reducing healthcare costs for the patient. The startup raised $1.5 million in a seed round, and plans to expand to close the loop on patients’ requirements while becoming the preferred app for doctors and patients. Doxx is a patient-centric application that focuses on empowering patients to take control of their medical records, lead healthier lifestyles, and find…

Google for Startups has announced that it has opened applications for the second cohort of the Black Founders Fund for Africa. Google has increased its commitment to qualified businesses by providing an additional $1 million in investment. Google for Startups is committing $4 million to 60 eligible black-founded startups in Africa for this cohort. The Black Founders Fund Africa is open to startups that meet the eligibility criteria in Botswana, Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. While these thirteen countries are the prime focus due to their active tech and startup…

Instabug, the leading mobile monitoring, crash, and bug reporting solution for mobile teams, has raised $46 million in Series B funding led by global software investor Insight Partners and including existing investor Accel as well as new investors Forgepoint Capital and Endeavor. Instabug reached over 2.7 billion mobile devices in 2021, processed 110 billion mobile sessions and 4.2 billion issues, and drove a significant increase in year-over-year bookings, adding enterprise leaders like DoorDash, Verizon, IHG, ABInveb, Porsche, Qualtrics, Gojek, and others to its customer base. Instabug’s widely adopted bug, crash reporting, and performance monitoring solutions are essential for mobile developers…

CarePoint, a tech-driven healthcare startup, has raised a $10 million bridge round to help it expand across Africa and make healthcare more accessible to the public. The startup recently entered Egypt, its fourth market in Africa, after Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana.It is currently focusing on North and East Africa to continue its mergers and acquisitions-fueled expansion. TRB Advisors led the current fundraising round, bringing CarePoint’s total capital to $30 million. It comes on the heels of a $18 million Series A financing announced in mid-November of last year. Delle, Breyer Capital, Beyond Capital Ventures (BVC), M3, Inc, Asia Pacific Land/…

The Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund (CASF), a micro venture capital fund focused on early-stage startups in the Middle East and Africa, is delighted to announce its investment in FlexPay, a fintech startup. FlexPay is an online and offline payment platform that allows African retailers to offer their consumers interest-free targeted savings. Merchants use FlexPay to allow their consumers to pick how and when they pay for high-value goods and services. Shoppers can stretch the cost over time (pay in installments), increasing their spending power and flexibility. Merchants can use FlexPay as an online checkout alternative or provide offline in-store flexibility.…

Six African tech startups have been named among the 100 most disruptive Technology Pioneers of 2022 by the World Economic Forum (WEF), companies that are disrupting industries ranging from healthcare to retail and beyond. The WEF Technology Pioneers are early to growth-stage businesses from around the world that are transforming business and society via new technologies and innovation. This year’s cohort, which can be viewed here, includes six from Africa, three of which are from Kenya. They are: Access Afya (Kenya) Access Afya is a standard clinic in a box that provides chronic care, family planning, lab testing, child vaccines and…

Twiga Foods, a Kenyan B2B E-Commerce startup, has launched a new subsidiary focusing on modern and commercial farming. Twiga Fresh will scale up the efficient production of local horticultural staples such as onions, tomatoes, and watermelons, making it one of Africa’s largest single horticulture farms focused solely on the home market. Twiga is investing $10 million in Twiga Fresh, which will be funded in the longterm through debt in partnership with Development Financial Institutions and will focus on primary agriculture and food security. Twiga Foods said it would continue to engage with small holder farmers to address the challenge of…

Nigerian fintech startup Bridgecard has raised $440,000 in pre-seed funding to help it grow its user base and platform in Nigeria. ABV funds led the pre-seed funding round, which included Ingressive Capital, Voltron Capital, Venture Platform, Velocity Digital, and Berrywood Capita. Johnson Yaya, Kennedy and Duke from Kippa, and Miracle Anyanwu are among the other angel investors in this round. The funds will be used by the startup to increase the number of bank accounts that can be linked to the platform. Bridgecard will also expand to enable crypto wallets in approved countries, expand product distribution, and more effectively manage online…

Global nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity has opened applications for the ShelterTech sub-Saharan Africa accelerator program, and is now inviting startups with scalable solutions to today’s affordable housing challenges to apply. ShelterTech is the world’s leading platform for affordable housing innovation, supporting and growing cutting-edge products and services that can improve housing conditions for low-income families across sectors, industries, and geographies. Since its first accelerator program in 2017, the platform has helped over 70 startups all over the world. Several ShelterTech alumni have gone on to become household names in Africa’s startup scene, including Kenyan startup Gjenge Makers, whose founder and CEO…

TopUp Mama, a Kenyan firm that delivers African eateries with supplies, banking services, and business management tools, has secured a US$1.7 million early funding round to help it grow. TopUp Mama plans to use the funds to expand its business, improve its technology, and increase its restaurant sales management capabilities. Next Billion Ventures, Future Africa, Jedar Capital, HoaQ Fund, First Check Africa, and DFS Lab are among the investors, led by Ventures Platform and JAM Fund. The investors were drawn in by the traction it has generated over time. Since raising its pre-seed round 10 months ago, the company has…

Teegara.com, an Egypt-based e-commerce startup focused on household and FMCG products, has secured an undisclosed bridge round from a number of nations, led by Alexandria Angel Network. “Teegara obtained a bridge round of financing from Alex Angels with the participation of investors from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan. This round will be utilized in its expansion plan of the company by adding more verticals to its platform and hiring more sales and operations forces in addition to enhancing its technical capabilities. The company is preparing for its “Seed round” of financing during the second half of 2022 with VCs from…

Identitypass, a Lagos-based digital security platform, has secured seed funding of US$2.8 million to expand its biometric identity verification service across Africa. Marc Ventures Capital led the investment, with participation from Y Combinator, Soma Capital, True Capital Fund, and Sherwani Capital LP, among others. The funds will be used to expand the company’s current facilities, launch new verticals in compliance, security, and data collecting, and hire more people to join its 14-person team. Identitypass compares fingerprints and faces, performs ID checks, and graphs identities. It aims to fulfill the growing demands for know your customer (KYC) across Africa, as internet…

Jumia has launched its first Environmental Social Governance Report, which outlines its ESG strategy and provides an overview of the company’s current sustainability efforts. The report is based on Jumia’s non-financial statistics for 2021 and includes disclosures in accordance with the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board’s (SASB) materiality topics for e-commerce entities as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). While recognising the importance of standard ESG focus areas, Jumia says it draws attention to the unique role that e-commerce plays in advancing more equal opportunities in Africa. As such the company has made its mission, “Leveraging technology…

Mylerz, an Egyptian last-mile delivery and fulfillment innovation company, has raised $9.6 million from Lorax Capital Partners to scale and expand its operations in Egypt and North Africa. Fawry, Egypt’s leading payment company, will enable Mylerz in improving its cash collection services for its merchants, as part of the round. Mylerz, which started operations in 2019, already has a fleet of over 350 eco friendly vehicles and 21 local fulfillment hubs strategically located around Egypt. Within two years of its founding, the company had delivered two million packages. Mylerz’s proprietary logistics management technology allows it to deliver e-commerce products to city…

Kaltani, a Nigerian clean-tech plastic waste recycling company, has secured seed funding of $4 million to expand its recycling operations across the country. Engineer Obi Charles Nnanna founded Kaltani in Nigeria to address Africa’s growing plastic waste challenge by promoting the circular economy and recycling best practices. The startup employs 100 people across its collection points, recycling factory, and offices, who are in charge of collecting bottles and other plastic garbage and transporting it to its collection points for aggregation and processing before being delivered to its recycling facility. Plastics are subsequently processed at the factory into hot washed PET…

The second cohort of the Migration Entrepreneurship Prize, a programme for socially driven startups with a mission to improve the inclusion of migrants in the Middle East and Africa, is now accepting applications. The initiative, which is a partnership between Seedstars and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs’ (FDFA) Peace and Human Rights Division, aims to strengthen and support areas prone to strong migration movements, such as the Middle East and Africa, by addressing the root causes of irregular migration and strengthening migrants’ socio-economic rights. The second cohort of the Migration Entrepreneurship Prize, a programme for socially driven startups with a…

Following the selection of the winners of the Startupper of the Year Challenge by a local jury of experts, the winners of the 2022 edition were awarded at an official award ceremony held on May 10th, 2022 at the TotalEnergies Marketing Egypt Academy in Cairo. The three winners of the Startupper of the Year Challenge in Egypt are: Alshaimaa Omar for the Award of Best Startup under 3 years old with EGAAD: an Agribusiness start-up specialized in producing high quality liquid organic fertilizer through recycling the organic waste via bioprocess, their product is customized for various soils. Sherif Zikry for…

Airtel Tanzania has partnered with WorldRemit to allow Airtel Money clients in the country to send and receive money from abroad directly into their Airtel Money wallets. Airtel Money clients can now send and receive money from over 50 countries across the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, Canada, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium. During the announcement in Dar es Salaam, Airtel Tanzania Director of Airtel Money Services Isack Nchuda stated that the partnership with WorldRemit will increase access to money transfer for Tanzanians in both urban and rural areas. ”Our work with WorldRemit…

Sendy, a Nairobi-based logistics company, has been named one of the World Economic Forum’s “Technology Pioneers” for 2022. The World Economic Forum has named the 100 most promising Technology Pioneers of 2022, companies that are tackling concerns such as sustainability and climate change, as well as healthcare and other topics. These are early-stage to growth-stage businesses from around the world that are using new technology and innovation to make a substantial effect on business and society. “We’re excited to welcome Sendy to our 2022 cohort of Technology Pioneers,” says Saemoon Yoon, Community Lead, Technology Pioneers, World Economic Forum. “Sendy and…

Glovo, an on-demand delivery platform, is expanding its partnerships in Kenya to help small businesses. The startup has developed a Kibanda Bubble where users can sign up for free and begin placing orders on the platform. Glovo App users can order their favorite local food from any neighborhood in Nairobi and have it delivered for free thanks to the large number of Kibandas connected into the app. Priscilla Muhiu, General Manager Kenya, Glovo says “As Glovo we are aiming to be a catalyst for SMEs around the country through these partnerships with Kibanda owners as we bridge the gap where…

Paymob, an Egyptian fintech that allows retailers to accept digital payments both online and in-store, has secured $50 million in Series B funding. The new capital will be used to grow the company’s product line, strengthen its position in the Egyptian market, and expand into other countries in the Middle East and Africa. PayPal Ventures, the global corporate venture arm of PayPal, New-York-based venture capital Kora Capital, and London-based Clay Point led the round. Helios Digital Ventures, British International Investment (formerly the CDC Group), and Nclude, the startup fund launched by Global Ventures and three Egyptian banks, are among the…

Uber has opted arbitration to solve a dispute with Kenyan drivers about commuter fare reductions. In an application, the ride-hailing company requested Kenya’s Supreme Court to allow it to resolve disputes with drivers through channels agreed upon in contracts, saying it was “improper” for its partners to seek legal redress without first going through the established dispute-resolution methods. This was in reaction to a lawsuit filed by a group of drivers and a local taxi company against Uber in 2016, after the ride-hailing company dropped fares by nearly half to increase competition for Bolt, its major rival in Kenya. The…

Chidi Akubuiro, a former Coca-Cola HBC and Hayat Kimya Nigeria executive, has been named Managing Director for West Africa by TradeDepot, an African B2B eCommerce and embedded financing platform. Akubuiro will continue to expand TradeDepot’s services in Nigeria and Ghana, as well as drive growth across English-speaking West Africa. Akubuiro comes into the role with extensive experience in the FMCG sector, having spent over a decade leading and delivering commercial success for some of the most in-demand consumer goods brands on the continent. Before joining TradeDepot as Commercial Director in July 2020, Akubuiro had previous roles at FMCG manufacturer Hayat…

Infinix Mobile’s HOT 12 smartphone has been launched in the country. During this year’s Tech Week, the company formally launched the device in Kenya at the University of Nairobi, an event where students may showcase their innovative ideas through projects and exhibitions they are working on. The event, which began in 2018, is now hosted by 20 universities around the country, with this year’s event taking place at the University of Nairobi. The winners received cash prizes of up to Ksh 50,000 from Infinix as well as brand new Hot 12 Play Series phones, which were officially launched at the…

AAIC Investment Pte. Ltd. (AAIC Investment), a Japanese investment firm based in Singapore, is pleased to announce the First Closing of Africa Innovation & Healthcare Fund VCC –AHF2, its second fund focused on investing in African start-ups, in March 2022. AHF 2 will begin investing and will continue to take subscriptions until it reaches its goal of USD 150 million. Asahi Intecc Co., Ltd, Eisai Inc., Ohara Pharmaceuticals (*), and other prominent Japanese trading companies were among the first investors in the AHF2. According to research from Partech, 2021 saw African start-ups raising a total of USD 5.24 billion in…

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is now accepting applications for the first round of its Idea Lab incubator, a new programme that expands the scope of the ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW) hardware accelerator platform. ASME, a not-for-profit professional organization founded in 1880, facilitates collaboration, knowledge sharing, and skill development across all engineering disciplines while promoting the importance of engineers in society. Individuals and teams who have identified a pressing social and/or environmental concern that they believe could be addressed through hardware-led innovation are welcome to apply to Idea Lab. Applicants can submit an engineering problem statement or a proposed…

Kwaba, a Nigerian fintech startup that helps low and middle-income earners split their annual rent into reasonable monthly installments, has secured pre-seed funding to help it expand across Nigeria and Africa. “Kwaba is helping to bridge the gap between property and finance. We understand the economic reality of Nigerian renters and have built our product to reflect this. We aim to improve the financial well-being of renters as we grow. For us, this new investment comes at a time when we are looking to strategically reposition and expand our services,” said Molukwu. After securing investment from Ingressive Capital in 2020,…

Draper Startup House (DSH) has established its first location in Southern Africa in Lusaka, Zambia through a partnership with BongoHive, the country’s first technology and innovation hub. Draper Startup House (DSH) is a global network of spaces related to services, education, and investment that was founded in Singapore in 2018 by Vikram Bharati as Tribe Theory, a dormitory concept for digital nomads. With over 35,000 community members in 60 countries who tap into its education, technology services, investment, and community resources, DSH is a unit of the Draper Venture Network founded by Timothy Cook Draper, the US venture capital investor. …

The FT x Cardano Blockchain Challenge is looking for companies who are working on Cardano or are interested in using the Cardano blockchain platform and community, and will provide selected companies with access to a bootcamp and accelerator program. The FT x Cardano Blockchain Challenge is a collaboration between Cardano’s Project Catalyst, a community and group of experiments focused on self-governance to grow the Cardano blockchain; Seedstars, a Switzerland-based organization with the mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship; and the Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business news organizations. The purpose is to…

A $30 million fund has been launched by Rali cap, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on emerging markets fintech. The firm, which was previously known as Rally Cap Ventures, reached its first close of $20 million (its initial target) last month before raising the fund size, indicating strong LP appetite. The two-year-old VC fund makes pre-seed and seed investments in B2B and API-first fintechs across Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. It plans to close the second round by the end of June. According to Hayden Simmons, the general partner who founded Rali cap in 2020, the firm was…