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). 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

Insights: Since 14 March 2021, I noticed 11 deals come across my screen, 9 investments and 2 fundraises. Of the 9 investments, Nigeria had 3 deals while South Africa and Ghana had 2 each. Fintech was once again the most active sector with 3 investments and 2 in Agritech (see below):

Within the 3 Fintech deals, 2 were in the Nigerian cross-border payments/ remittance sector. Interestingly Nigeria is one of the largest recipients of remittances in the world, receiving $23,8bn in 2019 (see below). Hopefully these startups will reduce the fees paid on these transactions which average 9%.

Since 7 March 2021, I noticed the following deals:

Investments (9 deals)

1: Bankly | $2m | Vault; Plug and Play Ventures; Rising Tide Africa; Chrysalis Capital | Seed | Fintech

Investee: 

Bankly - A Nigerian fintech that is helping to digitize the process of collating and saving money for unbanked individuals. Customers can deposit and withdraw cash with at a Bankly agent any time.

Investor(s):

Vault - a holding company, one of their subsidiaries, VANSO, was sold to Interswitch in 2016.

Plug and Play Ventures - experts in facilitating meaningful introductions, investing in startups, and bringing together key stakeholders into one world-changing network.

Rising Tide Africa - functions as part of a Global movement of The Rising Tide Program for Africa. It constitutes a group of women angel investors harnessing their power, network, passion and capital to positively impact and actively create a New Africa.

Chrysalis Capital - a team of operator investors that that solves problems in emerging markets and for its diaspora. It focusses on early stage tech companies in emerging markets.

Detail: the goal is to use the capital to grow the customer base to 2 million unbanked individuals in the next 3 years.

2: Redbird | $1,5m | Johnson & Johnson Foundation; Newtown Partners | Seed | Healthtech

Investee: 

Redbird - a Ghanaian healthtech that is modernising the way that pharmacies test their patients for chronic and acute conditions.

Investor(s):

Johnson & Johnson Foundation - an impact investment vehicle within the Johnson & Johnson Foundation that deploys investments in healthcare innovations, that addresses health workforce and healthcare challenges in low-income and diverse communities.

Newtown Partners (Imperial Venture Fund) - Newtown Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm that actively invests in emerging, disruptive technology startup businesses. They manage the Imperial Venture Fund that prioritises disruptive, startups in the global supply chain and logistics technology stack.

Detail: the capital will be used to grow the operations in Ghana and to expand to new markets.

3: Cowrie Integrated Systems | $750k | Stellar Development Foundation | Undisclosed round | Fintech

Investee: 

Cowrie Integrated Systems - a Nigeria and UK based fintech that provides cross-border payments solutions allowing users to participate in a global financial market by providing access to currencies not widely traded.

Investor(s):

Stellar Development Foundation - a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world’s financial infrastructure. 

Detail: the capital will be used to expand operations in emerging markets and develop payment corridors between, into, and out of Africa, with an initial focus on Nigeria.

4: Complete Farmer | Undisclosed amount | Ingressive Capital | Undisclosed round | Agritech

Investee: 

Complete Farmer - A Ghana based agritech business that has built the first African digital platform that brings together food growers, food buyers, and food lovers to interact on a single platform.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

Investor(s):

Ingressive Capital - a venture capital fund that invests into small, early-stage or emerging startups that is deemed to have high growth potential or which have demonstrated high growth in terms of annual revenue.

Detail: Complete Farmer will use the funds to expand into other markets.

5: Maia Group | Undisclosed amount | EXEO Capital | Undisclosed round | Retail

Investee: 

Maia Group - the South African holding company of the Wellness Warehouse and other consumer health businesses.

Investor(s):

EXEO Capital (Agri-Vie Fund II) - an alternative investment partner in Africa, sought after for its business building capabilities and its ethos of partnership and impact, delivering enviable returns. The Agri-Vie Fund II is a private equity fund that specialises in food and agribusiness in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Detail: The growth strategy of the business will be accelerated with the additional capital.

6: Afriex | $1,2m | Launch Africa; Y Combinator; SoftBank Opportunity Fund & others | Seed | Fintech

Investee: 

Afriex - a Nigerian fintech, mobile peer-to-peer payments app that makes sending money to Africa simple.  

Investor(s):

Launch Africa - a Pan-African fund solving the significant funding gap in the Seed to Series A investment landscape in Africa. Targeting B2B and B2B2C early-stage, technology driven startups with strong management teams. 

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.

SoftBank Opportunity Fund - a $100 million venture fund dedicated to supporting and building a community of outstanding Black, Latinx and Native American founders.

Future Africa - a platform connecting mission-driven innovators and investors looking to turn Africa's most difficult challenges into global business opportunities.

Brightstone VC - an early-growth stage venture capital firm who partners with bold entrepreneurs creating innovative & disruptive companies in the technology and life science sectors.

Precursor Ventures - a seed stage venture capital firm investing in long-term relationships with founders.

A$AP Capital; Ivernet Holdings; Processus Capital; Uncommon Ventures

Detail: the new investment will be used to grow the team and expand into other markets.

7: Capitol Foods Limited | $1m | Cordaid Investment Management; Triodos Investment Management | Loan | Food & Agriculture

Investee: 

Capitol Foods Limited - a company based in Sierra Leone that processes locally sourced fruit into beverage products, Sierra Juice.

Investor(s):

Cordaid Investment Management - A debt investor in fragile markets since 1998, who invests in decent job creation, sustainable economic development and building resilient communities. CIM offers patient capital to small and medium enterprises.

Triodos Investment Management (Triodos-Hivos Fund) - a globally recognised leader in impact investing. They have expertise across Energy & Climate, Inclusive Finance, Sustainable Food & Agriculture, and Impact Equities & Bonds.

Detail: The loan will help Capitol Foods source more than 5,000 tons of fruit annually, impacting around 10,000 farmers and support working capital requirements.

8: Consumption Information Real Time | Undisclosed amount | E-Squared | Seed | IoT; AI

Investee: 

Consumption Information Real Time - a South African firm that helps clients discover the value of information by harnessing Internet of Things (“IoT”) technology to provide clients with business-critical information that helps them improve their operational efficiencies, reduce costs, maximise productivity, and increase profits.

Investor(s):

E-Squared - an impact fund that enables Social Entrepreneurs to build and scale high-impact organisations while creating jobs, eliminating poverty and contributing to South Africa’s transformation.

Detail: the capital will be used to scale the operations.

9: Farmhut | $100k | Hult Prize Foundation | Seed | Marketplace, Agritech

Investee: 

Farmhut - a Zimbabwean agritech marketplace that links farmers with market demand. It is an online platform aiming to disrupt the food supply system by allowing farmers to sell their products before they finish harvesting.

Investor(s):

Hult Prize Foundation - the worldwide leader in impact education who has trained more than two-million alumni across 121 countries, transforming how they envision their own possibilities as impact leaders.

Detail: the capital will be invested to ensure that they have more inclusive systems that allow smallholder farmers to access markets with ease.

Fundraises (2 deals)

1: Bamboo Capital Partners (BUILD Fund S.A.) | $2,36m | Government of Luxembourg via UNCDF | Blended Finance

Investor:

Bamboo Capital Partners (BUILD Fund S.A.) - a blended finance fund launched by impact investors Bamboo Capital Partners in partnership with UNCDF. The fund focusses on Least Developed Countries and is designed to attract concessional, semi-commercial and select commercial growth finance to SMEs, financial service providers, and local infrastructure projects.

Capital raised - $2,36m (EUR2m)

Sector / Stage focus - Least Developed Countries: SMEs, financial service providers, and local infrastructure projects.

2: Cardinal Stone Capital Advisers (Growth Fund) | $64m | Commercial & DFI investors | General private equity

Investor:

Cardinal Stone Capital Advisers (Growth Fund) - a generalist Nigerian private equity fund manager that focusses on equity investments with ticket sizes of $5m to $10m in high growth SMEs.

Capital raised - $64m

Sector / Stage focus - Private equity: high growth SMEs in industrials, agribusiness, consumer goods and services, education, healthcare and financial services.

Cheque size - $5m to $10m

That’s it for this week! Have a great 1!

Daryn

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