Africa Start-up and Technology Developments August 2021
In 2021 so far, venture capital has seen record-breaking growth with over $3.16 billion USD invested across 329 funding rounds (excluding prizes, grants and non-equity assistance). In August alone, $596.6 million USD was raised across 38 funding rounds, with $400 million raised by OPay in their epic Series C funding round.
Other notable founding rounds in the month of August were our portfolio company, Alerzo which secured 10.5 million USD in their Series A. The round was led by Nosara Capital and backed by FJ Labs and Galaxy Digital. Kuda Bank raised $55 million in their Series B round, making one of the top 5 FinTech funding rounds of the year. The investment was co-led by Valar Ventures and Target Global.
While these Nigerian companies were raising funds for growth, the Nigerian citizens were in the second month of the Twitter Ban and bank accounts of 4 online investment and trading start-ups were frozen for 6 months following a ruling by the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria. Risevest, Bamboo, Trove and Chaka are being probed for allegedly operating as asset management companies without required licensing.
Following such a big month in the middle of Q3, we look at the product launches and market expansions across Africa.
New Product Launches in August 2021
Of the 7 new product launches we found, 3 came from Nigeria and South Africa, with the remaining 1 happening in Kenya. Additionally, South Africa’s Orderin relaunched as a transport and logistics solution, pivoting from food delivery.
Earlier this month, we mapped out the VC-funded transport and logistics start-ups which have seen a considerable spike in the amount of funding raised this year (with $300.9 million USD raised as of 18th September 2021), even though the proportion of deals going to the sector has taken a dip. We saw the proportion of amount invested into tech-driven transport and logistics start-ups decrease to 9% in 2021, from 17% in 2020 and 11% in 2020.
August 2021 Market Expansion and Regional Growth
As in the map above, we see 50% of regional expansions were undertaken by FinTech start-ups. South Africa’s Revio, a billing platform, announced an expansion plan targeting launch in the East African market early in 2022. Earlier this year, we mapped the South African FinTech landscape in Q1 where we saw $145.7 million raised over 25 funding rounds. It would seem that there has been a bit of dip from the great start of the year, and over Q2 and Q3, FinTech start-ups have raised just $93.2 million USD over 10 rounds.
Fawry, the Cairo-based unicorn providing e-payment services, expanded its “Heya Fawry” initiative that advocates for women inclusivity in banking; they support them to earn by becoming agents. The latest expansion created 300 job opportunities for female agents.
Tunisia’s Junior Robotics Lab, which began as a robotics club for children and has since morphed into an EdTech platform, has expanded via resellers into Algeria, Benin, Morocco and France.
Finally, in 2020, InsureTech start-up Turaco partnered with M-Kopa to offer an insurance product, namely Hospital Cash & Life Insurance, which has expanded its market size to cover 16,00 people in the time since.
What expansions do you hope to see in Africa soon? Did we miss anything? Let us know.
Africa Start-up and Technology Developments August 2021
In 2021 so far, venture capital has seen record-breaking growth with over $3.16 billion USD invested across 329 funding rounds (excluding prizes, grants and non-equity assistance). In August alone, $596.6 million USD was raised across 38 funding rounds, with $400 million raised by OPay in their epic Series C funding round.
Other notable founding rounds in the month of August were our portfolio company, Alerzo which secured 10.5 million USD in their Series A. The round was led by Nosara Capital and backed by FJ Labs and Galaxy Digital. Kuda Bank raised $55 million in their Series B round, making one of the top 5 FinTech funding rounds of the year. The investment was co-led by Valar Ventures and Target Global.
While these Nigerian companies were raising funds for growth, the Nigerian citizens were in the second month of the Twitter Ban and bank accounts of 4 online investment and trading start-ups were frozen for 6 months following a ruling by the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria. Risevest, Bamboo, Trove and Chaka are being probed for allegedly operating as asset management companies without required licensing.
Following such a big month in the middle of Q3, we look at the product launches and market expansions across Africa.
New Product Launches in August 2021
Of the 7 new product launches we found, 3 came from Nigeria and South Africa, with the remaining 1 happening in Kenya. Additionally, South Africa’s Orderin relaunched as a transport and logistics solution, pivoting from food delivery.
Earlier this month, we mapped out the VC-funded transport and logistics start-ups which have seen a considerable spike in the amount of funding raised this year (with $300.9 million USD raised as of 18th September 2021), even though the proportion of deals going to the sector has taken a dip. We saw the proportion of amount invested into tech-driven transport and logistics start-ups decrease to 9% in 2021, from 17% in 2020 and 11% in 2020.
August 2021 Market Expansion and Regional Growth
As in the map above, we see 50% of regional expansions were undertaken by FinTech start-ups. South Africa’s Revio, a billing platform, announced an expansion plan targeting launch in the East African market early in 2022. Earlier this year, we mapped the South African FinTech landscape in Q1 where we saw $145.7 million raised over 25 funding rounds. It would seem that there has been a bit of dip from the great start of the year, and over Q2 and Q3, FinTech start-ups have raised just $93.2 million USD over 10 rounds.
Fawry, the Cairo-based unicorn providing e-payment services, expanded its “Heya Fawry” initiative that advocates for women inclusivity in banking; they support them to earn by becoming agents. The latest expansion created 300 job opportunities for female agents.
Tunisia’s Junior Robotics Lab, which began as a robotics club for children and has since morphed into an EdTech platform, has expanded via resellers into Algeria, Benin, Morocco and France.
Finally, in 2020, InsureTech start-up Turaco partnered with M-Kopa to offer an insurance product, namely Hospital Cash & Life Insurance, which has expanded its market size to cover 16,00 people in the time since.
What expansions do you hope to see in Africa soon? Did we miss anything? Let us know.