We are now one month into Q4 2019 and the funding deals are already promising. As per the Digest Africa Index 2019, out of the $210M raised in Q4 2018, $33M (15.7%) of the quarter’s funding relates to October 2018. In 2019, the same value of funding for October is $45M raised across 12 rounds. This represents a 36% increase in funding compared to 2018 and a 210% increase compared to September 2019 ($14.5M across 9 rounds).
E-commerce has prevailed as the most funded sector for the month, the same as September, from 3 rounds. A great portion of this funding, however, is accredited to Twiga Foods which raised $23.75M in a Series B led by Goldman Sachs. Agritech was next in line with $13M from 1 round followed by Commercial and Professional Services with $3.75M from 4 rounds, Information Technology with $2M from 3 rounds and lastly Transport and Logistics with $2M from 1 round.
Highlighted below are more details on these deals:
SweepSouth at the beginning of the month announced an R50M ($3.5M) in a Series C round from Micheal and Suzan Dell Foundation which invested $1M, existing investors Naspers Foundry, Smollan, Vumela, CRE VC and musician Black Coffee. This brings their total disclosed funding to $6.2M across three (3) rounds and puts SweepSouth among the most funded startups co-founded by a woman in Africa.
Cairo-based ride-hailing platform for kids Hive raised $400K in seed funding. This came from Abdelmoneim Al-Adawy, an early Hive customer. Founded in 2018 by Abdelrahman Osama an experienced UX consultant and Mohammad Aboali, who has built various tech products, the platform provides subscription-based safe ride-hailing solutions for children through a pooled ride to and from school.
Goldman Sachs has acquired a stake in Twiga Foods after leading a $23.75M Series C round, bringing the company’s total funding to $44.6M across three (3) rounds. The round also had participation from some of the firm’s already existing investors International Finance Corporation (IFC), TLCom Capital and Creadev. The funding raised is to drive the company’s growth across Kenya and Africa. An additional $6.25M in debt from Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic) and AlphaMundi brings the total funding raised for the month to $30M.
Towards the end of the month, Nairobi-headquartered African Incubator raised ¥200M ($1.84M) from the SBI Investment bringing their total funding to $3M across three (3) venture rounds. Afri-inc, as it is also known, provides a sales management system for manufacturing and distribution companies in Africa.
WeFarm raised its highest amount yet in a Series A of $13M led by True Ventures, with participation from AgFunder, June Fund, LocalGlobe, ADV and Norrsken Foundation among others. This brings its total funding to $19.6M across three (3) rounds. Per their live activity, the number of farmers joining the platform has grown by 36% from 1.4 to 1.9 million.
Sendy received a $2M investment from Goodwell Investments. This investment will be used to drive the company’s mission to support low-income groups in accessing good quality basic products and services at a lower price. Sendy has raised a total of $12M across four (4) rounds with Goodwell Investments, DOB Equity and Safaricom as some of their notable investors.
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