Author: Weddy Thuranira

Kandua, an online marketplace for home services, connects home service professionals to customers, tools and digital financial services in South Africa with the hopes of empowering them and making their lives better. Like the US-based marketplace Task Rabbit, Kandua hopes of ending the risk associated with hiring small, independent contractors who do home renovations, maintenance and repairs in South Africa and helps bring transparency in two-communication, invoicing and payments. Founded in 2015 by Arjun Khoosal, Sayo Folawiyo, Kandua in March received undisclosed funding from Global’s Catalyst Fund to drive growth in South Africa and increase its product portfolio. With the…

BiB has launched Africa’s first audio library app hosting exclusive content from the African continent. At first Arlene Mulder and Juanita Kotze co-founded the BiB app as a concept. South African entrepreneur Arlene Mulder utilized her time and space during the Covid 19 Pandemic to bring Bib to life. Pivoting to home recording technologies, BiB carried on with plans to facilitate the production of African storytelling by acclaimed voice artists made available on App store and Google play by the end of year 2020. Few months after developing the app, BiB announced a new partnership with Africa’s biggest publisher, Naspers-owned…

Lami, a Kenyan insurtech startup aims to digitize the entire insurance value chain in a bid to expand  its customer base by providing clients with affordable and accessible insurance products. Lami’s preprotery technology lowers insurance distribution costs, reduces insurance premiums and helps reach a wider population in Kenya. Founded by Jihan Abass, Lami delivers insurance services that are fully digitized through distribution channels in the right context, targeting new age distribution channels like online platforms, digital logistics companies, banking apps, etc. New digital younger customers are the target for Lami as they are well conversant with the current digital channels.…

Link Health Technology has secured R5-million investment funding from Cogitatio Technologies. The biomedical engineering duo Daniel Rimbault and Abrie Coertze founded the startup in 2017.The creation of the healthtech startup was influenced by Abrie’s battle with cancer which made him experience challenges in the healthcare system. As Abrie was recovering, he worked on some of the core design concepts of the system hoping that he would bring the Link Health Technology platform to reality. This made him go back to specialize in Biomedical engineering at UCT. This is where the two founders met and continued with the same motive of…

Founders Factory Africa, a Johannesburg based venture development and investment company has announced a partnership with Small Foundation, a Dublin-based philanthropic organization that will see it select 18 agritech startups for an acceleration and incubation program. Small Foundation is making an undisclosed investment in FFA that will enable the agritech startups from across sub-Saharan Africa with their ideas and ventures to address challenges across the entire agricultural value chain. The partnership is meant to support agritech startups that can innovate and improve the delivery of a range of services to smallholder farmers and micro, small and medium sized enterprises in…

Payflex ,a fintech startup based in Johannesburg has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Australian-listed multinational Zip Co Limited, a buy now pay later player with a market cap of over R55 billion. Zip Co Limited has invested and offering its support to Payflex with a belief that the local fintech innovation is going to suit the market opportunity in South Africa. Normally, high interest charges are incurred when consumers use the traditional installment payment method. Consumers are also charged with penalties when they make overtime payments. In order to eradicate all these problems, Payflex offers a platform which…

Overwood Capital, a Nigerian tech-enabled startup aims to provide a safe, high yield investment platform for regular people in Nigeria and open up the opportunity for everyone to grow their money regardless of the amount of money at their disposal. Majority of the people worldwide often face difficulties when it comes to finding the right investment plan. This is because of the numerous problems afflicting the investor’s world of today. Among the problems that investors face include: too much debt, insufficient economic growth to service that debt, too much functionally insolvent banks, etc. Founded in 2020 by Dr. Tayo Oyedeji,…

Babymigo, a Nigerian startup that provides parenting knowledge and parenting questions and answers for parents who are trying to conceive, pregnant mothers and parents with babies from 0-6 years, is preventing approximately 830 women young mothers who die from pregnancy and childbirth related complications on a daily basis. According to Adeloye Olanrewaju, the founder of Babymigo, he was inspired to launch the Babymigo platform after engaging in extensive work with pregnant mothers during his professional training years. Adeloye also watched his sister in law during her pregnancy and this was his major push to innovate a solution for safe motherhood…

U.S International Development Finance Corporation has announced a rolling Call for Applications from private equity, growth capital, infrastructure and venture capital fund managers seeking DFC investment for funds targeting climate mitigation, adaptation and solutions. The Call for Applications is one of the new climate and climate-focused investment initiatives DFC is working on in support of President Biden’s Executive Order on tackling the Climate Crisis at the United States of America and Abroad. DFC’s investment will enable developing countries reduce emissions, build up renewable energy usage, safeguard ecosystems as well enhance resistance. Climate change negatively affects health and productivity, food production…

Quro Medical, a South African digital healthcare startup has secured $1.1 million in seed funding. The funding round is aimed at enabling the startup scale its operations across South Africa and the entire continent eventually. In 2018, Dr. Vuyane Mhlomi and Zikho Pali founded Quro Medical. During childhood, Mhlomi grew up with parents who had chronic health issues. They spent a lot of time waiting to see doctors and specialists. Vuyane left his hometown of Khayelitsha, a peri-urban community in the fringes of Cape Town, to study medicine at the University of Oxford .When Vuyane returned he started Quro medical…

Graduate Farmer, an online farming resource platform founded in 2015 is making it possible for young men and women to venture into agriculture, a sector that has been left to the older generation. The online platform focuses on empowering the youth with information and financial tools to guide them from being job seekers to creators through agribusiness. Normally, starting an agribusiness venture is not that easy even with enough capital at hand. Graduate Farmer purposes to inspire, empower and provide working solutions for the youth .These are the young men and women who would want to start and grow profitable…

Peach Payments, a fintech startup based in South Africa has secured a funding from Allan Gray and private equity Umkhathi Wethu Ventures (UW Ventures) alongside other existing investors.The funding received will be used for expansion into the rest of Africa and also accelerate product development as well as expanding its operational and engineering teams. The new investment round received by Peach payments indicates that the investors have great confidence in the core business model and hypothesis created. In 2020,the Peach Payments team had set solid growth targets and have managed to outperform those expectations. This has proven that Peach Payments…

Kemit, an Egypt-based e-commerce platform, has secured a six-figure seed funding from a group of Saudi Angel investors . Kemitt’s online platform, which launched in 2017, provides customers access to over 15,000 SKUs, as well as on-demand manufacturing and 7-12 day delivery services to their doorstep, saving them time by fully digitizing the shopping experience and utilizing the best technology available, while also providing all payment and financing options. The funds will be used to finance Kemitt’s expansion and operational growth plans, as well as the company’s technology and expansion into new markets in the region, starting with Saudi Arabia.…

UNICEF has launched the 2021 cohort of the UNICEF Startup Lab, a co-creation space and accelerator that focuses on engaging young startups in the development of innovative, open source, market-driven products and solutions that help address complex problems impacting the well-being of children and young people especially the most vulnerable groups. More than two hundred young startups had sent applications for the position. However, only twenty two promising social impact startups were selected to participate in a six month business and product development program. The UNICEF Startup Lab, founded by UNICEF Ghana Country and supported by Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of…

South Africa’s Kombo King, has announced the launch of its innovative and patented deep fryer technology to retailers after securing funding from the Vumela Fund, established by FNB Business and Edge Growth. The several health and safety benefits of the Kombo King products as well as the fact that they’re designed and manufactured locally, were the key factors that drove the investment decision made by Vumela and Edge Growth. Founders Ari Jacobson and KK Combi founded Kombo King in 2015.The founders grew up in the townships of South Africa and understood the need and gap in the market for fast,…

BezoMoney,a fintech startup based in Accra has secured $200k in a seed funding round led by Goodsoil VC, a venture capital based in London. The funding will be used to acquire a Payment and Financial Technology Service Providers (PFTSP) license in Ghana. It will also be used to build and set up new products including BezoCredit, an interest-free credit product and BezoInvest, an investment product. BezoInvest will be a platform that users can invest their savings. This funding will also serve to grow BezoMoney user base and expand its team and scale and across the country. Born out of the…

MEST, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, has admitted 14 startups for the first 2021 cohort of its MEST Express accelerator. Covering a wide range of industries from eCommerce and entertainment, to logistics and virtual reality, the companies will benefit from free training, tailored mentorship and have the opportunity to receive up to $10,000 in equity-free grant funding. Taking over the course of 20-weeks, MEST Express aims to explore business models and product pivots, improving risk and crises resilience, and becoming investment-ready. Graduating startups will be poised for exponential business growth enabling them to mitigate risks, scale and onboard new…

FarmDrive has created a platform that creditworthy smallholder farmers can gain access to credits which can enable them purchase farm inputs that increase farm yields. In 2014, Rita Kimani and Peris Bosire founded FarmDrive. Peris and Rita both grew up witnessing how their families and the community faced challenges in agriculture. The farmers would work day to day toiling in the farms. However there would be little or no harvest. Majority of these farmers had no sufficient funds to enable them buy fertilizers, inputs, etc that led to increased yields. The two founders became friends during the first day as…

Aza is an established provider of currency trading solutions. The aim is to accelerate global access to frontier market with use of innovative infrastructure. Elizabeth Rossiello founded AZA in 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya. The startup has expanded to more than 10 countries across Africa and Europe. Rossiello has worked as a rating analyst for microfinance institutions across sub-Saharan Africa .She has done consulting for Grameen Foundation, Gates Foundation and the Acumen Fund. She has worked with regulators and policy-makers on legislation for financial innovations. Elizabeth co-chairs the World Economic Forum’s Council on Block chain .In addition to this she holds…

South Africa’s Troygold, which enables gold owners to digitize their physical gold and use it for daily transactions via a mobile app and gold-backed MasterCard, has secured funding from Crossfin Ventures, the angel investment arm of Crossfin Technology Holdings. With the funds received, Troygold will expand the banking and financial services backed by gold. Founded by brother duo Dane and Bastiat Viljoen, Troygold was created after the founders saw the effects of money printing and the debt-based financial system. Having worked in the investment banking sector, the duo turned their attention to understanding the gold value chain and created the…

Kalon Venture Partners has announced a follow –on investment in Sendmarc, a cyber-security email protection and compliance business for expansion. Kalon’s focus was to look for outstanding teams building innovative scalable technology.Sendmarc qualified in all these as they continue to show incomparable leadership while building on outstanding tech innovation and showing exceptional revenue growth. Sendmarc’s team provides solutions to large problems across industries ensuring that the internet is a secure place by preventing phishing and spoofing .Through this platform, fewer cases of cloning of emails for malicious intent are reported. This can be a very crucial threat to any business…

Uganda’s lending startup, Numida has raised a US$2.3 million seed funding round led by MFS Africa for expansion and launching new products. Most of the micro and small businesses in Africa do not have access to digital banking services. As much as these businesses drive economic growth and contribute up to one third of the continents’ GDP, their size and informality makes it hard for them to gain access to credits and other financial services. Founded in 2017 by founders Mina Shahid, Catherine Denis and Ben Best, Numida began by partnering with traditional microfinance institutions providing them with tools that…

Selina Wamucii is a mobile platform that aims at enabling buyers and exporters to source agricultural products directly from the small holder farmers without an internet access. The startup provides the Africa’s small holder farmers, pastoralists and fishing communities a platform to market their produce   Two women farmers named Selina Nyanchoka and Esther Wamucii Gaita began the Selina Wamucii’s story .Born and raised by smallholder farmers, John Oroko and Gaita Wamucii founded Selina Wamucii in 2015.  Technology used by Selina Wamucii enhances the management of the produce grown by smallholder farmers across Africa. The startup is best known as…

Totohealth works on ensuring that pregnant mothers deliver safely to healthy children. The modern mobile technology has played a big role on providing the maternal and child health guides across Kenya. With utilization of SMS and voice technology, Totohealth assists in reduction of maternal and child mortality. During the early stages of growth, Totohealth is able to detect any developmental abnormalities in the expectant mothers or the children. Pregnant women experience complications that can involve their health, their baby’s health or both. Diseases or conditions that the mother has before she becomes pregnant can lead to these complications during pregnancy.…

Zimbabwean agritech startup Farmhut has been named among the 11 winners of Hult Prize 2021, an annual competitionhelping students to solve a crucial social issue in the society. This year’s topics included: access to water, energy, food security, etc. Farmhut will receive US$100,000 in grants to help it improve their production offering and userbase. Farmhut was founded by Ahmad Ashkar when he reflected on how farmers work day to day for survival. Ashkar noted that, for farmers, putting food on the table is still an ordeal and he hopes that Farmhut could help improve their situation. Normally farmers worldwide lack…

Afribon Group aims at designing and marketing taste solutions for all application sectors in the food and beverage processing industry. Our team is based in four countries in East Africa. These are Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. Tools like JavaScript Widgets, Analytics, Hosting, etc. are among the examples of equipments we use. For the For the benefit of our clients we use over 8 technology tools on its website. Launched in 2012, Afribon was created by flavors and fragrances experts. Julien Giuge is one of the co- founders of Afribon and also the Managing Director of Afribon. He graduated from…

Bankly, a Nigerian startup has obtained a seed funding round of $ 2 million, led by Vault with participation from Plug and Play Ventures, Rising Tide Africa and Chrysalis Capital. The acquired fundraise has been set aside for increasing its 35,000 customer base in cash-dependent communities. This is by growing the number of the physical cash in points by expanding its 15,000 person agent network and plugging its API into partner networks. Nigeria still is a country that has large cash dominance. The population of Nigerian adults is closely to 100 million adults. Half of them have little or no…

Eneza Education operates in Kenya, Ghana and Ivory Coast. This is a platform that focuses on equipping scholars with knowledge .We provide revision materials in all subjects for primary and secondary school scholars. When providing these revision materials we ensure that they are curriculum aligned. Access to these revision materials is on any device. A virtual tutor is present who assists in accessing the curriculum aligned content in various subjects for students. These materials are made available on SMS and Web. Founded in 2012 as Mprep by Kago Kagichiri (techie) and Toni Maraviglia (teacher), Eneza started operating. Evolution has been…

Market360 is a Kenyan startup designed to enable consumer brands to optimize the way in which they supply essential goods and services to its dealers and clients. This is through bridging the information gap in last mile distribution. In addition to this we also maximize the efficiency across the sales and distribution value chain. The startup was founded in 2018 by Tesh Mbaabu and Mesongo Sibuti.This platform controls mobile devices which the field agents use. In this way they can record all customer interactions as they happen in the field. We then aggregate this data acquired and present it through…

Uamuzi tech was designed to find an interaction platform for citizens and leaders. By use of technology based solutions this has been enhanced. Kenyan Citizens have a platform where they can connect with their representatives in local administrations in the Uamuzi app. In June 2016, Elvis Sitati and Daniel Nyangarasi developed the Uamuzi app to link the leaders to voters who have elected them. They are the people who have made the leaders to be there and so their voices’ being heard is important. Uamuzi is a word in Swahili that translates to Decision in English. There are two apps…