funding Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

19Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Nigeria News

TLP Advisory Celebrates 10 Years with New Report on Nigeria’s Startup Ecosystem

The report identifies talent shortages, funding challenges, and regulatory barriers as key obstacles, emphasizing the importance of strategic partnerships and policy advocacy. 51% of surveyed startups struggle to secure funding, with angel investors playing a vital role. 30% of founders cite regulatory issues as significant barriers, urging stronger policy engagement. One-third of startups rely on strategic partnerships, underscoring collaboration as a critical factor for resilience. TLP Advisory, the venture law firm headquartered in Lagos, with offices in London and New York marks ten years of operation with the launch of a new report, “A Decade of the Nigerian Venture Ecosystem: Numbers, Insights & Stories.” The report provides a comprehensive analysis of Nigeria's ...

24Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

Futuretech: Telkom, NRF launch tech research funding initiative

The programme will benefit historically disadvantaged academic institutions Telkom and the National Research Foundation (NRF) have announced the launch of the Future Technologies (FutureTech) programme, a new initiative to co-fund technology research grants and the studies of postgraduate students and postdoctoral Fellows, to help drive innovation. The FutureTech programme will support local universities in the research and development of future innovations, solutions and technologies. This will improve competitiveness in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector and other related fields. Commenting on the partnership, CEO of Openserve, Althon Beukes, said the company was pleased to contribute. ‘’Through the Futuretech programme we are investing in the future of South Afric...

19Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech, South Africa News

Happy Pay, SA fintech, raises $1.8M to reduce the cost of consumer credit to zero

Happy Pay raises $1.8 million pre-seed round and secures inaugural debt facility as it accelerates its mission of bringing the cost of consumer credit to zero for South Africans. Happy Pay, South Africa’s only independent BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) provider, now with 150,000 active users, announced today that it has raised $1.8 million in pre-seed funding. The funding round was led by a group of prominent South African venture capital investors, including co-lead investors E4E Africa and 4Di Capital, with participation from DotExe Ventures, Launch Africa, Equitable Ventures, Felix Strategic Investment, U.S.-based Gaingels, and local angels. In addition, Fin Africa (formerly Finclusion Group) is providing Happy Pay’s debt facility. Happy Pay’s forward-compliant BNPL platform, designed to m...

Skincare firm, Uncover successfully closes oversubscribed $1.4m funding round

16Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Kenya News, Startups

Skincare firm, Uncover successfully closes oversubscribed $1.4m funding round

Founded in Kenya three years ago, la société Uncover s'est étendue au Nigeria, Uganda, and recently to Ghana, with plans underway to expand to the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC. Uncover, Africa’s emerging beauty brand, successfully closed a $1.4m Seed II funding round led by EQ2 Ventures and IgniteXL Ventures, with participation from Chui Ventures, Samata Capital and Altree Capital. As part of the round, Uncover also facilitated a significant secondary transaction to accommodate investors’ demand. EQ2 Ventures is a Dubai-based investment company that invests across innovative B2B and B2C tech-enabled businesses in the Middle East & Africa. IgniteXL Ventures, based in Silicon Valley, is a global fund dedicated to fueling innovation at the intersection of health, technolo...

Sendmarc secures $7m funding to help make the internet a safer place

13Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

Sendmarc secures $7m funding to help make the internet a safer place

Sendmarc, a leader in email and domain security, has announced a $7 million series A funding round led by Atlantica Ventures and supported by Allan Gray E-Squared Ventures, Fireball Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, 4Di Capital, Kalon Venture Partners, Endeavor Harvest, and Alpha Private Capital. The funding will be used to expand Sendmarc's market enablement strategy and to continue improving its product, with a focus on being the best in email and domain security – making the internet a safer place. “We are proud to have protected over 10 billion emails from impersonation last year” says CEO and founder Sam Hutchinson, “And with this new funding we can expand our market enablement strategy and also continue to improve the product, while remaining hyper-focused on being the best in this specif...

How to start a business with almost no money

22Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, South Africa News, Startups

How to start a business with almost no money

By Catherine Wijnberg One of the questions I am most frequently asked is: “How can I get funding to start my business?” Today’s Google search will give you 340 million answers to this question. But if it’s just one good answer you need, this one might help. The reality is that most new businesses start with very little money. I started Fetola from my dining room with one laptop and an idea. Similarly, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Apple founder Steve Jobs and South African whizz kids Elon Musk and Mark Shuttleworth all started globally successful businesses from their garages, relying mainly on their skills and hard labour and some help from friends and relatives. Closer to home, Helena van der Westhuizen from Simply Bee, South Africa’s fast-growing, natural skincare company, developed ...

Ventures Platform Closes its Pan-African Fund Above its Initial Target – at $46M

15Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business

Ventures Platform Closes its Pan-African Fund Above its Initial Target – at $46M

Ventures Platform, the pan-African VC firm championing the next generation of African technology entrepreneurs, has today announced the final close of its early-stage and intercontinental fund, at $46M. Surpassing its initial $40M target, the oversubscribed fund from one of the continent’s most prolific investors sees new participation from global investors with an array of top-tier commercial banks, corporates, DFIs, global institutional investors and HNIs, including Standard Bank, International Finance Corporation [IFC], British International Investment, A to Z Impact, Proparco with FISEA, AfricaGrow a Fund of Funds backed by BMZ [German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, DEG and Allianz, managed by Allianz Global Investors], and others. The new fund will see Ventures Pl...

27Nov

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South Africa News, Startups

Female Venture Capitalists are pioneering South Africa’s Silicon Valley

By Paula Mokwena, CEO at Fireball Capital The global venture capital (VC) ecosystem is no stranger to the common challenge that female entrepreneurs face – lack of funding. Research by the World Bank shows that for every $1 invested in women, $25 goes to men in the African startup space1. This is the case across all regions and twice the burden for African women attempting to break into the ‘boys’ club’. Small strides have been made toward uplifting women in the broader tech space, and the effort that has been made can be attributed to the influx of female investors and venture capitalists into the market2. The disproportionate level of funding channelled into male-led startups might suggest that these are more lucrative investments3. However, research by BCG has shown that businesses fo...

16Nov

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South Africa News

AURA, SA’s leading emergency marketplace, secures R62 million Series A funding deal (more than USD 4 mln)

AURA, the leading African-based security and medical response marketplace, has secured R62 million in a Series A funding round, which was led by MultiChoice Group (MCG), KLT Holdings and Buffet Investments. This positions AURA favourably for its global expansion plans. AURA is a marketplace that enables anyone to access the closest vetted private and public security and medical response unit to their location - anywhere, anytime - using a connected device. “South Africa has one of the most advanced private security and emergency response industries which has the capacity to ensure safety to a greater number of people who might not currently have access to it,” says Myers “AURA enables seamless and affordable ways for anyone to get immediate and trusted access to both private and public ...

9Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Startups

Omnisient raises US$ 1.4m for global expansion

Secure data collaboration platform achieves second round of funding Omnisient, a secure data collaboration platform, has achieved its second raise this year totalling USD1.4 million. ”We have brought in visionary international investors – Technova, Grand Bay Ventures, Tahseen Consulting, and Kepple Africa Ventures – who will be key to supporting our expansion globally. Investec, Nedbank, and Compass – Omnisient’s three original investors – led the round, reflecting their confidence in our ability to innovate and grow. The data economy is at the heart of the digital transformation that many of our customers embraced a couple of years back and this has been accelerated by the global pandemic. We see a huge and largely unaddressed market opportunity.” said Jon Jacobson, Chief Executive Off...