Browsing: Funding

Through its app, Zenda allows parents to pay fees directly to schools, all while streamlining collections by enabling schools to…

Africa’s fashion and textile industry is the second-largest sector after agriculture with an estimated market value of US$31 billion The…

Social commerce may seem like a more foreign concept but it is widely used across Africa Online shopping has gained…

“Sokowatch started as this kind of backend brand. We wanted a brand that could be more front and centre for the African retailer and easily pronounced across all markets while reflecting our East African roots. So that’s why we’ve rebranded now to Wasoko, meaning ‘people of the market,” Yu said.

The seven-year-old company said this round of funding will go towards exploring expansion into Nigeria as well as Southern Africa while consolidating its position across its six current markets.

It will also make hires and expand its product offerings to point-of-sale merchant systems, bill payments and social commerce, verticals it might build in-house or back and acquire companies that provide such services.

The company also offers a buy now, pay later option for retailers who need working capital to order more goods. Buy now, pay later offerings are the latest trend for B2B retail and e-commerce companies. They see it as a sticky option in an otherwise volatile space where retailers aren’t committed to one player, given non-differential offerings.

Majority of private equity investment in Sub-Saharan Africa is from outside the continent and represents only a fraction of the…

Data by the World Bank Group reveals that Kenya’s electrification rate currently stands at 70 per cent Easing the financial…

Norrsken22 plans on capitalizing on its general partners’ years of experience and investment philosophies to back startups in fintech, MedTech, Edtech, and market-enabling solutions such as B2B marketplaces and inventory management businesses.

Kolbe, whose previous firm Actis backed Egyptian fintech giant Fawry in 2019 as it prepared to go public, said Norrsken would look at Egypt ‘opportunistically.’ 

Deals from the country that may be of interest to the firm will be those planning an expansion into the four markets Norrsken22 is currently keen on, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.

While tech has presented an avenue to create jobs, supply isn’t catching up with demand. Additionally, the continent’s best talents are leaving in droves to foreign companies in the U.S, Canada, the U.K., and Germany.

AltShcool Africa founded by Adewale Yusuf, Akintunde Sultan and Opeyemi Awoyemi last October in Nigeria, has already received more than 8,000 applications for its software engineering program which starts in April. 

These applications come from 19 countries (including 14 African countries) and Yusuf said the company received the most entries from Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Botswana. 

The programme has so far managed to bring on board at least eight companies, such as Selcom Paytech Limited, Techno Image Ltd, AKM Glitters Company, financial institutions such as FINCA Microfinance, Victoria Finance PLC, AML Finance and Reni International Company Limited.

Endeleza which is also a Swahili literal term for “prolong” has been fitted with an ultimate objective which is qualifying SMEs with access to potential private capital from investors and financiers and other actors across the line such as angel investors, venture capital funds, private equity funds, banks and other financial institutions.

Rural businesses in Africa will benefit from an ambitious new financing programme launched by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural…