8 startups across the continent received a total of $74.1m during the week in review while 1 startup raised an undisclosed amount. MaxAB, had the lion share of over 50%. The Egyptian food and grocery B2B e-commerce platform connects suppliers with underserved traditional retailers across Egypt and Morocco and offers a wide range of finance solutions. The new capital will be used for further geographical expansions, it will also be deployed by MaxAB to finance further growth in the e-commerce arm of its business, expand its technology and product teams, and further scale the fintech arm by offering a wider range of embedded finance solutions.
On the sector vertical, the top 3 sectors are E-commerce (driven by MaxAB), Mobility and Fintech, in that order. Nigerian mobility startup Moove Africa raised 15m ($16.8m) for its UK expansion while fintech was driven by Nigerian Maplerad ($6m seed round) and Egyptian Nexta ($3m seed round).
In other news from the ecosystem;
● On wednesday 19th of October, the president of Nigeria signed into law the Nigeria Startup Act. The bill was launched last year in collaboration with a group of Nigerian tech leaders and several government bodies to govern how startups and regulatory bodies operate and collaborate in the multi-billion-dollar tech ecosystem.
● South African mobile network operator, Telkom has announced that MTN has decided to step away from acquisition talks which started in July 2022. MTN has also confirmed its withdrawal from the negotiations because Telkom was not in a position to provide MTN with assurances about exclusivity.
● Nigeria’s telecom regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission has rejected the recent increase in the prices of voice and data services by telecom operators in the country. This hike, a 10% tariff increase, is the latest effort by Nigerian telecom operators to pass rising costs to their customers.
● South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), through the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act, has declared that cryptocurrency assets are classified as financial products, allowing them to be regulated. However, the FSCA’s head of regulatory frameworks, Eugene Du Toit, clarified that the move does not mean that cryptocurrencies are now legal tender in the country.
● The Alibaba Global Initiatives (AGI), a professional training arm of Alibaba Group, has enrolled the second class of more than 360 African entrepreneurs for its Alibaba Netpreneur Training programme; following the success of the inaugural class which graduated 70 African participants last October. Scheduled to run until November 10, the training seeks to equip entrepreneurs and business leaders across different sectors with tangible and actionable steps they can take to advance in the digital economy.
● Co-Creation Hub (CcHub), in collaboration with Google, Rwanda’s Ministry of ICT and Innovation, and Mojaloop Foundation, have announced the six startups selected for the second cohort of the Fintech Incubation Programme. The three-month Fintech Incubation Programme is designed to support early-stage technology startups building solutions that are focused on increasing financial inclusion.
● Egypt-based fintech valU has acquired a minority stake in the social payment app Kiwe, for an unknown amount. The acquisition will build on valU’s mission to fuel the growth of cashless transactions, and widen its client base of young individuals.
