Startups in Africa raised a total of at least $32.9m across 6 deals (a 70% increase from last week’s $19.3m). This was largely driven by Homzmart, an Egyptian furniture marketplace who raised $23m in a pre series B round. This accounted for almost 70% of the total amount raised. This means that Egypt also maintained its top position as it was last week on the country chart.
On the sector vertical, E-commerce is leading, again thanks to Homzmart, followed by Insurtech, Energy and Gaming, in that order. Also worthy of note is Nigeria identity verification firm Youverify; who raised an additional $1m in an extension to its $1.5m seed round raised in 2020, bringing its total seed round to 2.5m. The Lagos and San Francisco–based identity verification company, founded by Gbenga Odegbami, helps African banks and startups automate KYC and other compliance procedures.
In other news from the ecosystem;
● South African digital banking group Tyme Bank has announced today that it will proceed with the acquisition of fintech firm Retail Capital, which provides award-winning funding services to SMEs in the country. The acquisition, which is still subject to regulatory approvals, would see Retail Capital become a division of TymeBank.
● Digital Realty, an American global provider of cloud and carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, has announced the successful completion of an agreement to acquire a majority interest in Teraco, a carrier-neutral data center and interconnection services provider in South Africa.
● MENA-focused transport and mobility solutions provider SWVL, has canceled the proposed acquisition of Zeelo, a UK-based B2B smart buses operator. The deal dates back to April this year and was worth $100 million. The company said that the decision came as a response to the current turmoil in the global financial markets. It also added that it previously invested a total of $5,000,000 in the said startup.
● South African mining company Anglo American has launched an incubator programme through its enterprise development arm Zimele. The programme will assist mainly youth- and women-owned businesses in areas around the North West, Limpopo and Northern Cape provinces; to help 500 startups in rural communities become sustainable and successful.
● Women-led social enterprises in Africa and MENA that are building solutions in culture, mindset, and education have been invited to apply for the HerMeNow accelerator. The entirely remote three-month programme provides training support to up to 30 social enterprises in the sprint phase, and technical, financial, and mentorship support to 10 social enterprises in the accelerator phase.
● Egypt-based VC firm Openner has launched Qurious Labs, a Web3-focused venture studio, to help develop markets and aid them to access the global technology, talent and capital pool. Qurious Labs will offer an inclusive ecosystem for builders to launch their Web3 ventures and explore Web3 business models through a one-stop shop.
● Amazon Prime Video has announced the launch of the localized version of its streaming service in Nigeria. Just as it did in Southeast Asia some days back, the tech giant is attempting to boost its subscriber push in new markets like Africa by increasing its investment in local production, unveiling slates of localized originals and introducing discounted Amazon Prime membership offerings to customers.
