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Welcome to The Afro Pivot Point
Showing You What's Art and What's Not in African Tech
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It's been yet another eventful week in African tech! From exciting acquisitions to significant funding rounds, the continent's startups and innovators continue to make waves. Rise is expanding into Kenya through its acquisition of Hisa, while cab drivers in Kenya go on strike demanding better fares. In fintech, Flutterwave expands to Malawi, Kredete secures $2.25 million, and Moove gears up for a U.S. entry. Meanwhile, Egyptian ed-tech and fintech sectors are thriving with major funding wins. Across Africa, infrastructure and health-tech advancements push forward as new partnerships and investments take root. I hope you had a fulfilling and exciting week!
Here’s what’s up in African Tech this week:
What’s Art?
Rise, the Nigerian investment platform, is making moves! The startup has just completed its second acquisition within a year by taking over Hisa, a Kenyan company that enables stock trading. The move allows Rise to seamlessly enter the Kenyan market without having to secure new regulatory approvals, thanks to Hisa’s pre-existing licenses.
The acquisition will see Hisa retain its brand, leadership, and staff to ensure smooth operations, leveraging their deep understanding of the local market. Hisa’s former CEO, Eric Jackson, transitions to the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO), while Leah Njoroge steps up as Head of Operations.
What’s Not?
Cab drivers in Kenya are back on strike, causing significant disruptions for passengers. Their demand? A base fare of KES300 ($2.33). This strike follows a 10% fare increase by Uber, Bolt, and Faras in August, but the drivers feel it's still not enough.
Meanwhile, over in Nigeria, drivers using Uber and Bolt are reportedly charging higher-than-suggested fares due to the recent fuel price hikes.
Money Moves
Flutterwave’s Send App has officially launched in Malawi, allowing customers to transfer money across borders faster and more affordably.
In Senegal, lending startup Rubyx has secured a EUR400,000 (US$440,000) loan through the Bridge by Digital, supported by Digital Africa and deployed by French development finance institution Proparco. The loan will accelerate the rollout of Rubyx’s algorithmic lending platform designed for startups and microfinance institutions across Africa. This follows Rubyx’s successful seed round in 2022 and a 2023 extension from Saviu Ventures.
Kredete, a Nigerian financial platform, has raised US$2.25 million in seed funding led by Blockchain Founders Fund, with participation from notable investors including Techstars, Tezos Foundation, Polymorphic Capital, Launch Africa, Neer Venture Partners, and DNA Fund. The round also included contributions from angel investors who’ve backed notable payment companies like Wise and Western Union.
Moove, a Nigerian startup backed by Uber, is expanding into the US after its $100 million fundraise in March.
Part of the team at Rubyx
Arab Money
Egyptian ed-tech startup Educatly is eyeing expansion in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region after raising US$2.5 million in seed funding, led by TLcom Capital and Plus VC with participation from Egypt Venture and Ireland’s HBAN syndicate.
In another Egyptian win, Paymob, has extended its Series B round to US$72 million with an additional US$22 million in funding. The extension round was led by EBRD Venture Capital with participation from Endeavor Catalyst. Existing investors PayPal Ventures, BII, FMO, A15, Nclude and Helios Digital Ventures also participated in the round.
Tunisia’s Wattnow, a startup specializing in energy management, has raised an undisclosed Series A round led by Lateral Frontiers and 216 Capital. The round also features Outlierz Ventures, Satgana, Octerra Capital, and a group of strategic angel investors, including InstaDeep founder Karim Beguir and Guillaume Amblard. The company initially raised $1.3 million in 2022 and is now scaling up its operations.
Another Egyptian food-tech startup Brotinni, has raised more capital from Entilaq to support its expansion across Egypt and other regional markets. The startup had initially raised US$600,000 in seed funding in November 2022.
Beasts from the East
Rwanda’s Kasha, a health-tech startup, has secured equity funding from Sanofi Global Health Unit’s Impact Investment Fund. This follows Kasha’s impressive US$21 million Series B round last year, helping the company expand its platform and increase access to health products across Africa.
Liquid Intelligent Technologies, part of Cassava Technologies, has completed a significant upgrade of its 1,300km fibre route between Mombasa and Busia, boosting multi-terabit capacity. The upgrade ensures 99.99% uptime for services along this critical corridor, further strengthening Liquid’s leadership in Africa’s digital infrastructure.
Southern Sun
South African telecom company Talk360 has raised US$1.4 million in pre-Series A funding after it secured a US$7 million seed round in 2022. The round was led by long-standing Talk360 investor HAVAÍC, which invested US$1 million.
Other investors injected the remaining US$400,000 capital, with the round valuing the startup at US$30 million. This additional capital will support Talk360’s goal of reaching 7 million users and achieving profitability across its global operations.
Talk360 plans to reach 7 million users
What’s up, Partner?
Zambian fintech and neobank Lupiya has teamed up with Network to launch a new debit card. The card will be e-commerce-enabled, equipped with 3D Secure, and utilize tokenization technology. Network will provide full card payment processing support throughout the lifecycle of the card.
Launch Africa Ventures has introduced its Mezzanine Impact Fund, aimed at providing growth capital to African tech companies. The fund will focus on unlocking mergers and acquisitions, market expansion opportunities, and growth strategies across multiple sectors, with a strong emphasis on ESG principles.
Meanwhile, Huawei has closed a $3 million deal with Nigeria’s United Bank for Africa (UBA) after reportedly selling 200 petabytes of storage and cloud solutions.
Part of Lupiya’s leadership team
New Kid on the Block?
Joseph Nsengimana is Rwanda's new education minister. He’s no stranger to innovation, having served with both the Mastercard Foundation and Intel Africa.
Joseph Nsengimana
On Every Block…
Nigerian neobanks are now charging a ₦50 Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) for transactions of ₦10,000 ($6) and above. This EMTL, introduced in 2020, is part of Nigeria’s Finance Act aimed at generating government revenue.
The Nigerian Blockchain Association SiBAN, has expelled its president and other executives after an internal power struggle.
Finally, in a groundbreaking shift, Zimbabwe is drafting its first-ever crypto regulation policy. This follows the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s 2018 ban on cryptocurrency transactions, marking a significant turnaround in the country’s stance on crypto.
That’s all for this week!
I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s roundup. Is there something you’d like to see or discuss? Feel free to reach out: [email protected]