Tag: Startups

South Africa Green Energy Startups Has $100 billion Funding Opportunities

Green energy start-ups and entrepreneurs from South Africa will get the chance to pitch to a room full of international and local investors with the potential to fund investment opportunities at the Green Energy Africa Summit, which will take place on October 5, 2022, at Cape Town, South Africa.

As an initiative of the Hyve Group, an international organizer of exhibitions and conferences, the company in charge of the Mining Indaba and Africa Oil Week, a group of regional clean-tech enterprises will come together for the pitching event to propose their businesses to an audience of fundamental investors, who collectively behold investments worth more than $100 billion.

Hyve Group joins hands with the Saldanha Bay Innovation Campus (SBIC) and consultancy company RIIS to identify potential regional start-ups and entrepreneurs who would be a good fit. After a thorough initial application process, a shortlist of candidates will proceed to the pitching event in October, where they will have the opportunity to earn backing for their project.

CEO of the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone, Kaashifah Beukes, avers that the pitching event proffers a tremendous opportunity that is not readily available to regional start-ups.

“Even for the most seasoned organizations, finding acceptable investment partners may be challenging. The inability to get to appropriate finance sources for start-ups and entrepreneurs is a deterrent that undermines South Africa’s development objectives”. Beukes says.

Read: Vodacom SA Commits to Using Only Renewable Energy Sources by 2025

The shortlisted candidates will not only have access to investors through the pitch opportunity but also get free business training in advance of the event. Davis Cook, the CEO of RIIS, notes that start-ups and entrepreneurs prevalently focus more of a priority on product development and prototyping than on business imperatives.

“From an investor’s standpoint, launching a business demands particular considerations, and while fledgling companies may show technological readiness, they are rarely business-ready. We believe that providing the applicants who made the shortlist support before the pitching session would help them make the most of this tremendous opportunity,” Cook added.

According to The Hyve Group, they are keen to see the Energy Investment Village outcome, which serves as the pitching competition’s official name.

Read: Vivatech Opens in Paris, Emphasizing African Startups

Paul Sinclair, vice president of energy and director of government relations for Africa Oil Week and the summit, asserts that the pitch session might eventually be a feature of the Green Energy Africa Summit,

“With the increase in demand in South Africa to put practical and creative green energy solutions forward, Green Energy Africa Summit is keen and ready to play a part in allowing the formation of such initiatives, which can potentially influence the future of Africa.” Sinclair added.

About Green Energy Africa Summit

Green Energy Africa Summit is a global platform for stimulating deals and transactions across the African Energy Industry. The event brings together governments, national regulators and utility companies, independent power players, investors, financial institutions and service providers. The summit will drive deals and investment into energy projects, provide energy access and solutions for the continent and shape the future of Africa.

The 2022 summit event, held in October, will provide the ideal platform and engine room for growth across Africa’s renewable and low-carbon sector. This is the place to be if your company is involved in Africa’s energy transition.

August 11, 2022
FMO Announces $10 million Commitment to Algebra Fund II

FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, has announced the signing of a $10 million commitment with Algebra Ventures, an Egyptian venture capital firm.

The commitment was signed in Cairo in the presence of H.E. Mr Han-Maurits Schaapveld who is a Dutch ambassador based in Cairo. The commitment of $10 million was used for the fund manager’s second fund.

About Algebra Fund II

The Algebra Ventures second fund was announced in April 2021 and is expected to be used to invest in startups located in Egypt with an allocation for the wider middle east and the African region. FMO is not the only organization that invested in this program, there are other investing partners namely:

International Finance Corporation (IFC)
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

In a statement, the Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures, Karim Hussein, said:
“It is an honour for us to have FMO as an investor in our new fund.

FMO’s wealth of experience and knowledge across the African continent and its deep expertise in agrictech and fintech, in particular, are of significant strategic value to Algebra. We look forward to working closely with FMO to support exceptional companies in Egypt and across Africa”.

Since the fund was initiated four years ago, they have invested in 21 startups all over Africa and have guided entrepreneurs to turn their startups into world-class companies. With the aid of its fund, Algebra Ventures’ managing partners Tarek Assad and Karim Hussein have continued to aid tech start-ups with finance and talent- they have also driven innovation and job creation in Egypt.

The second fund was partnered by Laila Hassan and Omar Khashaba who have added extensive regional and international venture capital investment experience, the fund has helped support startups in fintech, agritech, edutech, logistics, and healthcare and e-commerce to address specific gaps in these listed sectors.

FMO Initiatives Across Africa

FMO has also funded in various platforms across the Middle East namely:

Paymob: a merchant payment platform (2020)
Dopay: Salary payment platform (2019)
Liwa: SME lender and marketplace (2018)

FMO through its investment in Algebra Ventures and other initiatives has shown its support for the expansion of the Egyptian venture capital ecosystem.

In a statement, the head of the FMO Ventures Program, Marieke Roestenberg, said:
“We are excited to partner with Algebra Ventures, one of the most deep-rooted and seasoned venture capital firms in Egypt. FMO believes regional investors like Algebra Ventures play an instrumental role in both the creation and maturing of markets.

Read Also : Ivory Coast Fintech Startup, Bizao Raises $8.2 million For Expansion

We look forward to continuing to support and learn from the flourishing Egyptian venture capital ecosystem”.

Benefits of Venture Capital Firms

Venture capital in simple terms is the process where an investor invests in your startup without you paying back hence giving them some say in the company’s operations. For startups that are aiming to grow quickly, that’s the only viable option.

The venture firms can also introduce one to potential future investment partners and help secure future rounds of funding. Here are the benefits they provide to startups:

1) Startups can access large amounts of capital:
For most startups getting a loan can be an uphill task as even mature startups can only be qualified for $5 million and the requirements to get this loan is enormous hence most of them may not get them and eventually close down due to bankruptcy but with venture capital, small startups can have access to capital worth $100,000 and more mature startups can have access to $25 million.

There is also a very big possibility that these startups may raise venture capital a few times more hence providing them access to loans which they thought would be impossible for them to obtain.

2) Venture capital can help provide risk management support:
For most startups, the risk of failure in their first year of operation is 20% but when venture capital firms who have invested in your company provide you with their experienced team which will help to monitor growth and operations it will help to curb the risk of failure and help to grow the startup beyond its expectations.

Most startups are usually run by inexperienced employees which will make them novices in the competitive market hence making them unproductive but experienced personnel from venture capital firms on the ground, will help to curb the risk of failure.

3) No Recurrent Payments:
When taking loans from banks you will have to make a payment every month which will make you spend money to be used to procure resources spent on debt payments but with venture capital firms there is no need to spend money on monthly payments as profits made will be used to improve resources, make researches, and hire more employees.

Startups that borrow loans from banks are usually stagnant or making little competition in the market as they are bent on paying their loan before they start investing in their company which leads to unproductivity.

4) No Need for collateral:
When borrowing loans from banks or any financial institution, the owner of a startup will be required to put up some of his property as collateral to get such loans and failure to pay the loans will lead to a seizure of the collateral and even the startup at times but with venture capital, you don’t need to have collateral before taking a loan as the lender will have some say in the company’s operations and the loan is not required to pay back.

5) Proper guidance and mentorship are available: For most startups, the entrepreneur even though inexperienced is considered the most intelligent person in that startup and the wisest which leads to stagnancy but in venture capital you have access to experienced founders and employees to seek their opinion on the company’s issues.

FMO provides new startups with funding to advance their projects, help them with resources, and provide them guidance on how to excel in their chosen sector or industry. Encouraging startups with funding will be very helpful to them as it will enable them to provide the solutions for which they were created.

July 28, 2022
Africa is set to take over the global videogame business.

There was a time when African gamers would go to internet cafes to play their favorite online games. When these games were first released, consoles were the primary means of playing them. Young males were the primary patrons.

Most characters, materials, and even languages in African-inspired video games may now be played anywhere thanks to the rise of smartphones.

There is a new trend in the market that is helping to boost the video game industry in the region: multi-functional gaming consoles are becoming more and more popular.

Gamers in Africa have seen a substantial increase in the last five years because of this. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the gaming market is claimed to have grown at an astronomical rate.

The gaming industry in Africa is dominated by South Africa.

South African gaming platform Carry1st commissioned a study in 2021 that estimates the sub-Saharan African region’s total population of players at 186 million, up from 77 million in 2015.

With 40 percent of the population participating in video games, South Africa is Africa’s largest market for video games, with a population of 24 million players. As a result of this, the video game market in the country is gradually overtaking that of movies and music.

In a tie for the second position with 27% each, Ghana and Nigeria are both African nations. A combined 22% and 13% of the continent’s population participate in video games, putting Kenya and Ethiopia at the bottom two spots.

Read Also : Africa is set to take over the global video game business

In the next years, these numbers are expected to grow exponentially as more investment plans are made in Africa’s gaming business. CRE Venture capital led an investment of USD 2.5 million in Carry1st, a gaming development firm, to support and invest in-game publishing in Africa in May 2020.

Adding your own personal touch to video games

Using blockchain technology, game developers are now introducing new components, the latest of which allows players to own characters and assets within the games they play.

There is a growing number of tech-savvy young people in Kenya who could soon be making money from this sector boom, thanks to a social impact gaming company called Usiku Games Africa.

We are looking into ways to have money mechanisms embedded into the games where players may earn or spend in a more transparent manner, says founder and CEO of Usiku Games, Jay Shapiro.

Gamers will still have the pleasure of gaming, but they won’t be able to cash out their winnings as they can in traditional gambling under this new model.

“African gaming is booming. This is true not only for those who enjoy free-to-play games but also for those who are prepared to spend money on them.

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It has instead been implemented in the form of long-term savings tools like pension schemes, health care, and education insurance, which helps to strengthen the low savings culture among young Africans and strengthen their financial resilience.

According to Shapiro, “the fact is that you may lose all you have even if you have a job or income, a little bit of savings maybe,”

Africa’s digital currency market and video games

In addition, the gaming sector generates billions of dollars in revenue for countries around the world each year.

As the continent adopts digital currencies, these figures are expected to expand at the quickest rate in the globe, with 63 million of 186 million gamers now paying for games.

Another study by Newswagg’s found that 38 percent of the 41.9 million gamers in the world who own cryptocurrency are between the ages of 21 and 38 years old.

Read Also: Nigerian Agri-fintech company Tingo seeks $500M Expansion funds, plans NYSE listing

There are already 5.9 million gamers in Africa and the Middle East who hold cryptocurrency, and this number is expected to rise in Africa due to the continent has one of the most youthful populations by the year 2050. ( 50 percent growth).

February 22, 2022
Norrsken, VCs and 30 Unicorns team up to back African startups with a $200M fund “in finding their horns”

Norrsken Foundation has teamed up with 30 unicorn founders, seasoned VCs and a couple of private equity investors to back African startups with $200 million in funds in finding their horns and becoming a unicorn through Norrsken22.

Norrsken Foundation and the quest to help Africa tech startups find their horns

Founded in 2016 by Niklas Adalbert, one of the founders of Swedish fintech unicorn Klarna, Norrsken Foundation was set up to help entrepreneurs solve the world’s biggest challenges through its Norrsken House, a Stockholm-based co-working space for over 350 impact entrepreneurs, the Norrsken Founders Fund, and Norrsken VC.

In 2019, the foundation launched operations in Kigali, Rwanda, as a base for investing across the East and Central African region. Last year, it accepted 11 startups from Africa into the inaugural edition of the Norrsken Impact Accelerator reported by Disrupt Africa.

The accelerator’s goal was to create real change through investing in next-generation business models, focusing on businesses where the impact is a result of the core operations, and also, influence and profit go hand-in-hand.

The accelerator program saw the participation of four Kenyan startups — recruitment startup Afric AI-Labs, fintech platform Asilimia, digital banking service Kwara, and payments startup Nash.

There are three from Ghana — agri-tech startup Complete Farmer, logistics platform Kadi, and e-health startup Wala Health, and another three from Nigerian startups — health insurance startup cribMD, ed-tech platform Gradely, and e-health startup WellaHealth.

Rwandan salary advance service PesaChoice completes the African continent. Other startups hail from Argentina, Sweden, the United States (US), India, and Mexico.

Read Also: African-founded AI startup, InstaDeep Closes $100M Series B funding to accelerate Disruptive AI Across Industries and US

The foundation had partnered with Hans Otterling, partner at Northzone, and an investment team led by Natalie Kolbe, previously global head of private equity at Actis in South Africa, Actis colleague Ngetha Waithaka in Kenya, and Lexi Novitske, founder of Acuity Venture Partners, to launch the Norrsken22 Africa Tech Growth Fund.

Before Acuity, Novitske was principal at Singularity Investments. Portfolio companies across both firms include API fintech such as Mono and OnePipe; and exited companies like Flutterwave, Paystack and mPharma.

Norrsken22 is managed by a team of general partners deeply ingrained in the African tech ecosystem, with decades of experience supporting African entrepreneurs.

The firm is intended to be a growth-stage local-based firm that will enable startups to unlock significant partnerships to grow revenue, find the best talent, and facilitate expansion plans across Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. In other words, the firm is set up to help African startups find their horn and become a unicorn in no time.

Currently, Norrsken22 is the latest big-sized Africa-focused VC fund that includes the likes of TLcom Capital, which recently closed nearly half of its new $150 million funds; Novastar Ventures, a $200 million funds, and Partech Ventures, a $143 million funds.

Norrsken22 “$200M funding” and the Union of Unicorns in Backing Africa Next Tech Giants up to Series C.

Norrsken22 has reached its first close of $110 million, of which $65 million comes from a group of 30 unicorn founders globally. Among them is Flutterwave co-founder Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola; Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström; iZettle co-founder, Jacob de Geer; Delivery Hero co-founder Niklas Östberg. Others include Carl Manneh, co-founder Mojang; Sebastian Knutsson, co-founder King; and Willard Ahdritz, founder of Kobalt Music. The $200M fund, dubbed Norrsken22, is the latest fund by Norrsken after closing €125 million impact fund for European startups last March.

Asides from the capital, the unicorn founders will help founders understand what it takes to bring their companies from series A to billion-dollar companies, said the founding partners. The Norrsken22 African Tech Growth Fund is also supported by a local advisory council board, which according to the partners, will help portfolio startups navigate business challenges across the continent.

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Nonkululeko Nyembezi, the chairman of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), is a member of this board. Arnold Ekpe, the ex-group chief executive at pan-African bank Ecobank; Phuthuma Nhleko, an ex-chief executive at telecoms giant MTN; and Shingai Mutasa, founder and chief executive at Harare-based investment firm Masawara are the others.

While the other VCs seldomly invest above Series B rounds, Norrsken22 is willing to go beyond that stage and plans to invest 40% of its capital, about $80 Million in Series A and B companies and the rest in follow-on rounds from Series C up until exit.

The firm aims to make 20 investments at an average ticket size of $10 million and may go as high as $16 million, including follow-on rounds in some portfolio companies.

Per sectors, Norrsken22 will rely on its general partners’ years of experience and investment philosophies to back startups in FinTech, MedTech, EdTech and market-enabling solutions such as B2B marketplaces and inventory management businesses.

Looking into the criteria Norrsken22 are keen to consider a startup for investment, Novitske highlighted on a call with Techcabal that:

Read Also: The New Generation of Earbuds From Africa

“We have taken a narrow focus on our investment criteria. Not because we don’t believe there are no other attractive investment opportunities outside of our mandate, but because we want to be absolutely the best at what we do. Our resources are dedicated to backing companies from the Series A to C rounds, with real customers, repeatable revenue, attractive unit economics, and in our primary markets and sectors. These primary markets are Nigeria, Ghana, Southern Africa, and Eastern Africa. This is also where we have a team on the ground that can really identify and support our partner companies. It’s important to mention that we have set aside approximately half of our funds to support our portfolio champions throughout their lifecycle. Innovation success stories sometimes take time to unlock, and we are committed to being there for the journey.”

She remarked that — “The next set of Africa’s unicorn startups is most likely emerging from the fintech, market enablement, healthtech, and edutech sectors. We believe these are also the sectors that are solving some of Africa’s key societal problems. Market enablement includes software, marketplaces, and APIs [Application Programming Interface], unlocking more efficient trade, logistics, and customer engagement. We are especially excited about the crossover of these two sectors in areas such as embedded finance. And I do not believe everything has already been done in fintech – there are many opportunities still to be unlocked!”

February 8, 2022
The New Generation of Earbuds From Africa

Africa has in recent years witnessed the emergence of young talents who have gained global recognition with their innovations. One of such talents is Danny Manu who is setting trends in the world of communication.

The Ghanaian-British digital entrepreneur has gone global with the introduction of what is described as the world’s first completely wireless headphones with live voice translations in 40 different languages.

After successfully delivering on his first true wireless translation earbuds, Mymanu CLIK, the 33-year-old keeps setting new standards in the world of mobile communication, now with the introduction of the Titan earbuds.

The earbuds, equipped with an eSIM, make it possible to make and receive 4G calls and text messages independently of the smartphone, even if it is hundreds of miles away.

This innovation has come in handy particularly for the visually impaired community as they could easily get in touch with their loved ones just by the power of the voice without using their mobile phone.

Africa presents a pool of economic opportunities in virtually every sector, and the continent’s youthful population structure is an enormous opportunity in this digital era, hence the need for Africa to make digitally-enabled socio-economic development a high priority.

While several governments in Africa brawl to achieve this, the Global Business School Network argues that the continent does not yet have the tech talents to enable this transformation. However, Danny Manu has proven them wrong.

The Man Danny Manu

Danny Manu is a graduate of Oxford University, he started working at Quanta Networks, a data and cloud computing Solutions Company. True to his description of himself in his website, “a very ambitious, hard-working engineer who strives to develop life-changing solutions to improve people’s life” before Clicks, Manu has been involved in other self-projects to better the lives of people in his community.

During the heat of the pandemic, he created MedyBird, an integrated innovative manufacturer of both medical and industrial PPE hand protection and other equipment. Within a few weeks of establishment, MedyBird filled a major void. Over time, it has supplied more than 500 million PPE to countries struck by the pandemic.

Read Also : Whose Your Landlord” secured $2.1M funding led by BlackOps Ventures

MyManu is the parent company that produced the wonder wireless earbuds. It was established in 2014. Danny Manu had to hustle for funding of his projects from scratch. The world-changing innovation, Clik S was self-funded by one black man from Africa. According to Danny, he had difficulty accessing government funding so he had to scrape together funds from his other businesses and also crowdfunding online, where he got more than 5 million pounds from websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Danny was working as an Aerospace Engineer when he first had the idea of MyManu company one day as he watched his daughter’s phone fall into the bathtub, according to Keepingthefaith, there he decided to bring out innovations that will ease people’s life.

The first product at MyManu was a water-proof Bluetooth device, and true to his inspiration he named it after his daughter Gabby. The innovation company went on to produce more high tech sound devices including headphones. Manu had his first breakthrough in 2017 with the invention of AI language translation earbuds, the Clik S.

Read Also: Nigerian mobility company, Uber has launched its first bike-hailing service in Nigeria

The Clik S is a live translation earbud that translates languages without the use of the internet in real-time. It is one of the most solution-oriented products in the world of tech in recent times. It works with your smartphone to learn the language being spoken to provide an instant translation. These life-changing earbuds are said to have the ability to translate more than 40 languages. Imagine having a meeting with your Chinese or French business partners without needing a middle man or a human translator. This is the world, Danny Manu has made possible with his innovation.

Clik S is made possible by the MyJuno operating system, a social and messaging application that power the earbuds. With all these notable inventions, one can only imagine what the future holds for this genius of technology and what other innovations he has for humanity.

February 6, 2022
Nigerian mobility company, Uber has launched its first bike-hailing service in Nigeria

Nigerian mobility company, Uber has launched its first bike-hailing service in Nigeria, which will be operated in the largest city in the country, Ibadan, Oyo State. This is according to the statement from the country manager, Tope Akinwumi.

According to the firm, the ‘okada’ rides would go from as low as N100 upwards depending on the distance. Uber has been active in Nigeria for the past 8 years, operating in five cities including Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Port Harcourt.

The country manager was of the opinion that there is a need to continue to provide solutions for transportation and mobility and it is for this reason that the motorcycle service was launched. Upon the launch, she stated, “As we recover, we know we need to continue to offer solutions that respond to consumers who are looking for smart mobility solutions while providing new revenue streams and earning opportunities for drivers”.

Why Not Lagos?

The motorcycle service has previously been launched in other countries. In 2014 it was launched in Thailand but failed after two years because of the government’s policy in the country. In In18, it was launched again in Uganda where it was a success and even expanded to Kenya.

There are speculations as to why it wasn’t introduced in Lagos which is usually the first point of entry for most companies testing the Nigerian market, however, the “okada ban” in Lagos would pose a major challenge to the service.

The Lagos Government said the operators are unruly, uncouth, rude, and brutal, adding that however, those who patronise them and the motorcyclists will not be left in the cold.

Read Also: Nigerian Startup AltSchool raises $1 million pre-seed round to help Young Africa’s get into tech

The Governor said the Inring of lawlessness witnessed daily from the confrontation between commercial motorcyclists and law enforcement agencies required urgent action, stressing that the Government would be announcing reforms in transportation, which will further make chang, es to the parameters of motorcycle and tricycle operations.

What You Need To Know About Uber Bike Hailing Service

UperMoto carries the same door-to-door safety features as any other Uber option such as Injury Protection, 24/7 support, including driver background checks and screenings.

Uber’s goal is to always provide innovative products and services to help improve the rider and driver experience on the app. “We are excited that we can expand our options and provide an opportunity with a wider and more cost-effective range of options for both the riders and drivers in the city while navigating traffic seamlessly,” concludes Akinwumi.

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Moto, get set, go!

To request a trip on UberMoto, riders need to simply open the app and tap on UberMoto, they can then select cash or card as their payment option. Riders will also be able to see whether others have had a good experience with the UberMoto drivers and will be able to contact each other via the app if there is any confusion around pick-up details

February 5, 2022