Tech and Startup News in Africa for the Month of June 2022

Africa’s tech startup scene is on the rise. Here’s a list of the most interesting funding deals, tech and startup news in Africa for the month of June 2022. Here’s May’s Issue.

Most Insightful Funding, Tech and Startup News in Africa for the Month of June 2022

• 🆘 Ransomeware attack on Africa’s largest retail chain Shoprite claimed by RansomeHouse
• 📈 In the month of June, African startups raised a total of $426,280,000 million in a cumulative of 36 disclosed deals
• 🔎 MTN’S MoMo takes 18 Nigerian Banks to court over $53.7 million fraud allegation
• 💳 Kenya’s M-Pesa & Visa launched virtual cards for global transactions

• 📒 The state of B2B payments in Africa report was published by Duplo while The State of AI in Africa report was published by The AI Media Group South Africa team.

• 🛍 PiggyVest parent company; PiggyTech, acquired a Nigerian mobile money (MOMO) license allowing it to pivot the Abeg App (social payment app) to Pocket by Piggyvest (social commerce app)
• 💸 Airtel launches Smartcash PSB in Nigeria as the telecom giant seeks to ramp up its mobile money play and tap into the 55% of Nigerians who don’t have bank accounts.

• ❌ Kenyan Food delivery service Kune shuts down 1 year after raising $1 million
• 🦸‍♂️ Egyptian fintech super app’s MNT-Halan $150 million bond issuance
• 🤑 MFS Africa’s involvement in a new $100 million Series C extension as it ramps up plans to acquire Global Technology Partners (GTP) for $34M in a mix of cash and stock

• 💰 Ghanian Fintech Fido’s raises $30 million its bid to launch news products and expand across Africa
• ☀️ South African energy startup Yellow Africa in $23 million debt raise
• 🚗 Moove Africa’s snags $20 million in debt funding from British International Investment (BII)
• 🛒Cairo’s on-demand grocery retail startup Apetito acquired Lamma, a another on-demand grocery startups it seeks to expand to Morocco, Tunisia, and West Africa
• 🏦 Nigeria’s Access Bank announced a second acquisition in Kenya. as it seeks to buy Sidian Bank for $36.7 million (Ksh 4.3 billion)
• 🧾️ The Kenyan Government plans to introduce a 20% tax on all fees charged by digital lenders in the country.
• 💳 Union54 now offers Zambians the ability to own virtual debit cards for paying bills, online shopping, and also tobe able to access local and global supply chains
• 🌐 Google’s Equiano subsea internet cable has landed in Namibia. The cable connects Europe and Africa via a cable running along the west coast of Africa from Portugal to South Africa
• 📱South African international calling platform, Talk360, raised a $4M seed round as it seeks to enables users to make international & local calls via Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for a fee — only the call initiator needs the app, while the recipient receives the call as usual.

• 🤖 South African AI-powered financial advisory platform LifeCheq, which serves over 45,000 South African users raised a ~$3.3M 🤖Series A
• 🚚 Nigerian B2B marketplace, Betastore, which connects informal retailers directly with FCMG manufacturers & distributors, raised a $2.5M pre-series A
• 🖼 Ayoken, a Nigerian/British NFT marketplace for creatives with a particular focus on facilitating transactions of users across Africa and other emerging markets, raised a $1.4M pre-seed
• 🛬Nigerian/Canadian immigration tech platform, HumanSquad, which connects immigrants to various resources, raised a ‘six-figure’ pre-seed
• 🏦 South African/pan-African Neobank, Finclusion,  raised an undisclosed amount.
• 🛒Nigerian mobility tech startup, DriveMe, which connects drivers with vehicle owners and fleet operators, raised an undisclosed pre-seed. DriveMe has a pool of over 3,000 drivers and has matched over 1,000 drivers with businesses and individuals.
• 🛒🚗South African cloud-based e-commerce platform, Shopstar, which helps businesses & entrepreneurs sell online, raised an undisclosed amount.
• 🚙 ‘Mobility as a service’ platform, M Auto, which offers electric vehicles to drivers in Togo and Benin via a pay-as-you-go model, raised an undisclosed amount. M Auto currently has ~300 electric motorcycles are in circulation in Togo and has plancs to construct a manufacturing plant in the country.

• 📈 Nigeria’s VC Firm, Constant Ventures is raising a $100M fund to invest in West African startups — Constant Ventures portfolio includes Appzone, Omnibiz, Gokada, and CreditClan.
• 🚕 Egypt’s SWVL plans to lay off 32% of its team two months after going public despite plans to expand its B2B and B2G businesses while scaling back its B2C operations  — Swvl is the first African startup to go public via a SPAC.

• 👨‍💻 Tunisian tech training & upskilling platform, GOMYCODE, raised an $8M Series A  — GOMYCODE currently operates in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Nigeria, and Bahrain; it has 20 physical centres and over 500 teachers on its platform.
• 💸Nigerian API-driven credit infrastructure platform, Indicina, which helps companies facilitate lending decisions, raised a $3M seed round  — Indicina has over 120 customers who it has helped process over $5M worth of loans
• 🛒 Nigerian fintech focused on the cross-border e-commerce space Klasha, raised $2.1M  — Klasha announced a $2.4M seed round in October 2021 and says that this fundraise completes the round; , this raise also signals American Express Ventures’ first investment in an African startup. Since its May 2021 relaunch, Klasha has onboarded over 1,700 merchants & processed over 210,000 transactions.
• 🔐 Nice Deer, an Egyptian digital insurance & healthcare platform connecting healthcare providers, health insurance companies, and beneficiaries, raised a $1M pre-seed led by DisrupTech Ventures
• 🛒 ShopEx, a Nigerian direct-to-consumer live shopping multi-channel retail platform offering ‘As Seen on TV’ brands, raised a $635K pre-seed  — ShopEx says it’s done nearly $2.5M in sales since launch.
• 💶 South African investment platform, Franc, raised a ~$522K seed extension round — The company announced a B2B offering that enables companies to offer investment products using Franc’s technology and license.
• 🎀 Moroccan fintech and rewards platform, WafR, which helps FMCGs execute promotional campaigns in local grocery stores while allowing users to earn phone recharges when they use the app to pay, raised $455K at a valuation of $9M — WafR previously raised ~$650 over two rounds earlier this year; most recently in Week 14, it raised ~$278K at a $7.5M valuation
• 🖥 VantagePay (formerly ZappGroup), a South African B2B white-label payment & technology solutions provider co-founded by former MTN Group CEO Paul Edwards, raised an undisclosed Series A from Crossfin Holdings, a Blue Garnet Ventures subsidiary
• 🚗 SparePap, A Kenyan B2B2C after-sales spare parts, accessories, and car servicing platform, raised an undisclosed amount from Mobility54
• ✅ OurPass, a Nigerian one-click checkout platform, raised an undisclosed amount from Tekedia Capital — Tekedia Capital previous led OurPass’ $1M pre-seed round in September 2021
• 💰 Nigerian primary healthcare platform Clafiya and clean energy financing platform SunFi, South African health network HealthDart, Kenyan savings and investment platform Power Financial Wellness, Ghanaian BNPL platform Motito, Ugandan lending platform Emata, Tanzanian payment solution Umoja Labs, Rwandan artisan recruitment platform Fixa and Mozambican digital transport platform Appload are receiving a $125K investment each from the Norrsken Impact Accelerator

• ⚡️Virridy, an American/Kenyan developer of technologies for monitoring and managing water, energy, and agricultural resources, raised a $5.5M Series A — Virridy’s solutions are currently in use in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone, and the company plans to use a portion of the proceeds to further expand its offerings across Africa
• 📦 Egyptian on-demand warehousing and fulfillment platform, Khazenly, raised a $2.5M seed round 
• 💷 South African B2B2C embedded fintech provider specializing in liquidity solutions for the informal sector, Kuunda, announced a $2.25M seed round 
• Egyptian conversational AI platform, DXwand, raised a $1M pre-Series A 
• 👷 Kenyan B2B construction technology platform,Jumba, raised a $1M pre-seed 
• 💸 Nigerian digital lender,Veend, raised a $330K pre-seed 
• 🏡 Egyptian rent collection & property management SaaS platform, Boyot, raised an undisclosed ‘six-figure’ pre-seed round led by a Kuwait-based real estate firm
• 🆔 Entersekt, a South African device identity & customer authentication solutions provider, announced that it raised an undisclosed amount from South African private equity PAPE Fund 3
• 💳 Nigeria’s Buy Now Pay Later platform, CredPal, raised an undisclosed amount from the Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund (CASF)
• 🛍 Vetwork, an Egyptian e-commerce marketplace connecting pet owners with pet care service providers, raised an undisclosed amount in a bridge round from Alexandria Angel Network, Nestlé Purina, and others

• 🔐 mTek, a Kenyan digital insurance platform, raised $3M (debt and equity) from South Africa’s Finclusion Group
• 🤑 Afropolitan, a Nigerian web3 community super app for the African diaspora, raised a $2.1M pre-seed 
• Fintech infrastructure API provider, Thepeer, raised a $2.1 million seed round
• 🤖 Egyptian B2B AI platform, Synapse Analytics, which helps businesses adopt machine learning solutions, raised a $2M pre-Series A 
• 💱Ugandan goal-based savings & investment platform, XENO, raised a $2M seed round 
• 📔 Kibo, a Nigerian online school offering STEM training programs, raised a $2M seed round 
• 👩‍⚕️ Home-based health services startup, Healthtracka, a Nigeria provider of , raised a $1.5M seed round.
• 🌇 Nigerian tech-enabled provider of solar-powered cold storage & smart refrigeration solutions Koolboks and Nigerian manufacturer of solar energy equipment, Greenage Technologies, both raised $500K from All On
• 👨‍💻 Kenyan tech training and upskilling platform, Moringa School, raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A round 

• 📚 Kenya’s kids-focused ‘edutainment’ & media platform, Kukua, raised a $6M Series A. Kukua is an edtech platform that empowers African children with basic literacy and numeracy skill using an entertainment- & fun-first approach

• 🗃 South African spend management platform for SMEs, Sava, raised a $2M pre-seed.
• 🥗 Afrikamart, a Senegalese agritech platform digitizing the fresh food value chain, raised an $850K seed round
• 📡 Nigerian NFC-enabled payments Touch and Pay, a platform, raised an undisclosed amount from Tekedia Capital

• 👥 FirstCheck Africa, a gender-lens, early-stage VC firm, added a $2M commitment from TLcom Capital to its $10M debut fund

• 🏥 Egyptian healthtech startup Vezeeta cuts 10% of its 500-person staff
• 🏦 Central Bank of Morocco to introduce Bitcoin and crypto regulation bill
• 🏪 South Africa’s Takealot is now almost the size of Game in terms of revenues