There's been so much activity this week. Nigeria's Taleology acquires the struggling Uganda Telecom. While South African and Ghanaian startups are receiving what I really think is much needed early-stage funding. That and more in this week's funding brief.
African Development Bank invests €7M in Partech Africa Fund
The African Development Bank approved the investment of €7 million into Partech Africa fund. ADB will take a seat on the fund's board. According to ADB, the Partech African Fund successfully completed its first close in January 2018 with €71 million. Though they are targeting a total fund size of at least €100 million through a 2nd round expected to be closed by October/November 2018. Digest Africa.
Nigerian startups raised at least $117M in the first 3 quarters of 2018
According to Nigerian media company, Techpoint, Nigerian startups have raised at least $117 million in the past three quarters of 2018. They have done a great job of curating these deals especially the minute ones. My only concern is with the methodology being used. Digest Africa.
Egypt’s HitchHiker raises $200,000 for its international P2P shipping platform
Cairo-based HitchHiker raised $200,000 for its international P2P shipping platform from Dubai-based angel investors. It is quite interesting that Egypt isn't recording huge ticket sizes. However, every once in a week, there's a startup raising in hundreds of thousands of dollars. MENAbytes.
SA insurance platform Click2Sure secures investment from Greenlight Re
Cape Town-based digital insurance platform Click2Sure secured an undisclosed investment from Greenlight Capital Re, a Cayman Islands-based reinsurance company. Nothing much was revealed about this deal. Ventureburn.
HAVAÍC acquires 10% stake in SA real-estate portal Instant Property
Cape Town-based venture capital (VC) company Havaíc acquired a 10% equity stake in commercial real-estate portal Instant Property. Not only is Cape Town seeing so much deal activity, it is also interesting to see that South Africa still has thriving classifieds businesses. Just recently, Naspers backed Webuycars through OLX Group, a deal that is the highest to be recorded on the continent since the beginning of 2018. Ventureburn.
SA insurtech startup Simply raises funding for growth
South African insurtech startup, Simply Financial Services, secured a multi-year funding commitment from private investment group Yellowwoods to help it achieve its growth aspirations. Still, nothing much was communicated about this deal. Disrupt Africa.
SAB Foundation awards R12.5m to SA’s most promising social innovators
The SAB Foundation has awarded R12.5 million to the winners of its 2018 Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment Awards. Venturburn.
NEIP Disburses $10M To Ghanaian SMEs
The government of Ghana, through its flagship National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan Initiative (NEIP), successfully funded 1,350 owners of Small and Medium Enterprises, with a total of USD 10 million in seed capital. Weetracker.
Nigerian company buys UTL at Shs268 billion
This week, the Ugandan cabinet handed Uganda Telecoms Ltd (UTL) to a Nigerian firm, Taleology Holdings GIB Ltd, ending a year of controversy and rancorous competition by seven bidders to snap up the state-owned enterprise. According to Daily Monitor, Highly-placed sources said Taleology staked $71m (Shs268b) against Mauritius Telecom’s $45m (Shs167b). Daily Monitor.
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