Transsion and Kenya’s Wapi Capital partner to fund early-stage fintech startups in Africa
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| Cairo-based transportation startup, Swvl has reached a US$157 million valuation after it closed a US$42 million Series B-2 funding round led by BECO Capital and Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, a few months ago. It is now one of the most valuable VC-backed technology startup of Middle East & North Africa. According to findings from MENABytes, Property Finder and Boutiqaat are the only two tech startups with a higher valuation. Founded in 2017, Swvl connects commuters with private buses, allowing them to reserve seats on these buses and pay the fare through company’s mobile app. According to the report, Swvl is eyeing a US$1 billion GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) by 2023 and has plans to expand to Karachi, Lagos, and Johannesburg. |
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| A lot has been said about the African Continental Free Trade Agreement and how it holds so much promise for the continent’s economy and industrialization. With the agreement now signed and with a 2020 flag-off time now in view, the celebratory feeling around the accord is giving way to more concerns about its implementation and how vital this is to the success of the trade agreement. Last week, African technology stakeholders gathered in Kigali, Rwanda where the agreement was first signed, to discuss how the sector can formulate an effective framework for the benefit of the technology ecosystem. Find out more about what that went down at the conference, here. |
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| Congratulations are in order for Konga founder and serial entrepreneur Sim Shagaya, who has been appointed to join the Economic Advisory Council of Simon Lalong, Governor of Plateau State.”This is a part of Nigeria that I care deeply about and I hope I can be of significant service”, Sim said in a tweet on Friday. |
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| Chinese phone manufacturer Transsion Holdings, has partnered Kenya’s Wapi Capital to invest up to US$100,000 into early-stage fintech startups in Africa. Set to start in September 2019 under Transsion Holdings Future Hub, the two firms will select early-stage fintech startups from across Africa for equity-based investments of up to US$100,000. China’s interest in Africa’s growing technology scene has been on the increase in recent years with more concerted efforts by leading Chinese firms like Alibaba, to further grow the sector. Transsion and Wapi Capital are counting on the average 10-20% growth rate in Africa’s IT sector to build the Future Hubs into laboratories for pan-African solutions for devices and content generation. |
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| Come September 27, 2019, TechCabal will bring together the most knowledgeable and influential entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers in the mobility industry for the TC Townhall: Mobility. Speakers and participants will explore activities, trends and challenges in Africa’s mobility sector and what the future holds. Uche Ogboi, Chief Operating Officer at Lori Systems will be joined by an A-list speaker lineup including Kola Tubosun, Linguist for African Languages at Google; Taiwo Ketiku, VP Investments at EchoVC; Chinedu Azodoh, Co-founder at MAX; Oluwatoyin Oshinowo, Co-founder/VP Product at FieldInsight; and Emeka Ajene, MD/Co-founder at Goziem.
Purchase your ticket to the townhall now, and receive a 10% early bird discount using the code: TCMobility. Further discounts apply for companies/individuals buying at least 5 tickets. If you require the discount code for that, please fill this form. |
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| Eight black-owned fintech startups have won business support and funding totalling R16-million from Rand Merchant Investment Holdings’ (RMI) fintech incubator AlphaCode. They will each receive R1-million in grant funding and R1-million in support services including mentorship, exclusive office space in Sandton, marketing, and legal support. AlphaCode’s Incubate Programme has disbursed R21-million in funding to 23 black-owned fintechs since it began four years ago. |
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| South African security startup Jonga Systems has secured a seed funding round from the Savant Venture Fund. Founded in 2016, Jonga provides community-based home security hardware devices to lower income consumers via a mobile app. The funds will see it manufacture more than 500 devices in an attempt to gain market traction and commercial proof of concept, and thereby facilitate a broader VC investment. |
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| ASUS South Africa has announced plans to launch its own eSports tournament-The Republic of Gamers Invitation-at the 2019 rAge festival in South Africa. The tournament will centre around Counter Strike Global Offensive (CSGO) and four of the most popular teams in the country will be competing for the US$9,900 prize pool. Registration for the online tournament have opened and teams can register on the Mettlestate website. Gaming and eSports is a fast-growing industry in Africa and by 2021, the global number of eSports audiences is projected to grow to or surpass 557 million. |
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That’s it for today,
We’ll see you tomorrow.
– Kay
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