Hi and welcome to African VC/ Startup news, a weekly newsletter where I highlight transactions in the African startup ecosystem over the past week (or two). Since 4 March 2021, I noticed 8 deals come across my screen, 7 investments and 1 fundraise. Of the 7 investments, South Africa had 3 and Egypt and Nigeria had 2 deals each. Fintech was the most active sector with 3 investments.
In addition to sending the weekly newsletter, I maintain a database of deals, investors and portfolio companies in the African startup ecosystem, it is available: here
The UpStartVC Podcast released a new episode on Thursday, we spoke to Simon Ellis from SmartWage. You can find our episodes here: Substack, Apple Podcast and Spotify, Please leave us a review! Check out our research note on SmartWage: <here>Since 4 March 2021, I noticed the following deals:
Investments (7 deals)
1: FlexClub | $5m | Seed round | Kindred Ventures; CRE VC; Endeavor | e-Commerce; Marketplace
Investee:
FlexClub – a South African car subscription marketplace offering flexible ways to get a car online. The company partners with car rental companies and automotive groups to building the future of automotive retail in markets like South Africa and Mexico.
Investor(s):
Kindred Ventures (lead) - a seed-stage venture capital fund based in San Francisco, California.
CRE Venture Capital - a New York based venture capital firm that invests in technology enabled startup companies in Africa.
Endeavor - US based non-profit organization that supports high-impact entrepreneurs around the world.
Detail: South African e-commerce startup FlexClub has secured $5m in seed round funding. Funds raised will be used for scaling the company’s business.
2: Dayra | $3m | Pre-Seed round | Various investors | Fintech
Investee:
Dayra – an Egyptian data-driven fintech company providing financial services to unbanked gig-workers and micro-businesses via API integration. The company offers financial services to unbanked individuals.
Investor(s):
Tanmiya Capital Ventures (lead): an Egyptian SME private equity manager investing in small and medium enterprises with investment tickets of $2-7million.
EFG EV Fintech: a fintech focused startup accelerator that is a partnership between Egyptian financial services company EFG Hermes and Egypt Ventures.
Y Combinator: a US-based accelerator that invests in startups twice a year. In each round the company invests $125k in exchange for a 7% stake in the business. The program lasts for three months and helps founders to refine their investor pitches.
Detail: Egyptian fintech startup Dayra has raised $3m in a pre-seed round. This is ahead of the startup being selected for the Winter 2021 cohort of Y Combinator. The funds are to be used to double the company’s team and create new features for its product.
3: Quench | Undisclosed amount | Undisclosed round | Imvelo Ventures | Logistics; Mobility
Investee:
Quench – a South African startup that provides an on-demand delivery app for delivery services to locals. The company offers groceries, alcohol, and other essential items.
Investor(s):
Imvelo Ventures - a South African venture capital and growth firm funded by Capitec Bank.
Detail: South African mobility tech startup Quench has raised an undisclosed amount in an undisclosed round of funding from Imvelo Ventures. The company aims to expand its delivery offering across industries and its delivery footprint.
4: Flutterwave | $170m | Series C round | Various investors | Fintech
Investee:
Flutterwave – a payment service fintech that provides technology, infrastructure, and services to global merchants and payment service providers to enable them to build secure, seamless payment solutions for their customers.
Investor(s):
Avenir Growth Capital (lead) – a New York based future-focused growth equity firm backing category-defining technology and technology-enabled companies.
Tiger Global Management LLC (lead) - US based investment firm focused primarily on the global internet, technology, telecom, media consumer, and industrial sectors, with a ten-year investment horizon and a strategy to target growth-oriented private companies.
DST Global - a leading internet investment firm making minority investments in the most significant and fast growing internet companies globally.
Early Capital Berrywood - A from-scratch venture firm openly exploring capital distribution and value creation.
Green Visor Capital - an investment firm focused exclusively on seeding and developing early stage Fintech companies.
Greycroft Capital - a venture capital firm that focuses on technology start-ups and investments in the Internet and mobile markets.
Insight Ventures; Salesforce Ventures; 9yards Capital; Worldpay / FIS; PayPal
Detail: Flutterwave, the prominent African fintech startup, has received Series C funding from a consortium of investors led by Avenir Growth Capital and Tiger Global Management totalling $170m. Funds will be used for customer acquisition in international markets and for the development of new products.
5: Adumo | $15m | Undisclosed round | IFC - Financial Institutions Growth Fund | Fintech
Investee:
Adumo – South Africa’s largest independent payments processor, offering a range of smart payment solutions to large multinational and independent retailers as well as entrepreneurs and informal traders. Its group companies include Sureswipe, iKhokha, Humble, Innervation Pan African Payment Solutions and Innervation Rewards.
Investor(s):
IFC - Financial Institutions Growth Fund – a $500m fund managed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) that invests in financial institutions across global emerging markets.
Detail: IFC has invested $15m in preference share funding in Adumo. The startup aims to use the funds to expand its payment solutions offering across the African continent to service SMEs.
6: Koinz | $4.8m | Seed round | Various investors led by Justin Mateen | Food-tech
Investee:
Koinz – an Egyptian food ordering platform, that helps increase restaurants' customer satisfaction as well as keeping them engaged and connected to the brands. The platform provides detailed analytics on customer engagement.
Investor(s): various led by
Justin Mateen – an American internet entrepreneur who is the Founder and former CMO of Tinder.
4DX Ventures - an early stage venture firm focused on Africa that partners with world class entrepreneurs leveraging technology to build transformative businesses.
Detail: Egyptian food ordering and aggregator platform Koinz has raised a Seed round of $4.8m from various investors led by startup investor Justin Mateen. The funds will be used to grow the Koinz team and the reach of the company across the Middle East.
7: Havenhill Synergy Limited | $4.6m | Debt Funding | Chapell Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NDIF) | Renewables
Investee:
Havenhill Synergy – a utility company that uses solar energy to generate clean, safe, cost-effective and sustainable electricity in rural and urban Nigeria.
Investor(s):
NDIF – Nigeria's largest and Africa's first-ever listed infrastructure fund, providing long-term financing for infrastructure projects in Nigeria.
Detail: Nigerian cleantech Havenhill Synergy has raised debt funding of $4.6m from the Nigerian Infrastructure Debt Fund, which funds will be used to build 22 solar mini-grids in rural Nigeria.
Fundraises (1 deal)
1: Savannah Fund II | $25m | Various investors (incl. IFC) | Seed / Series A funding
Investor: Savannah Fund – a Kenyan based early-stage venture capital fund focused on women entrepreneurs and disruptive companies in high-growth sectors.
Capital raised: $25m
Sector / Stage focus: fintech, ed-tech, logistics, e-commerce, SaaS, e-health, agtech; Seed to Series A funding.
Portfolio / fund size: $25m
Cheque size: undisclosed
That’s it for this week! Have a great 1!
Daryn
African VC deals since 4 March 2021