Showing 58 results for:
African startups
Popular topics
All results
African fintech company Moniepoint has secured new funding to expand its footprint globally. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the company, founded by CEO Tosin Eniolorunda and Chief Technology Officer Felix Ike, offers banking accounts, loans, expense cards, instant payouts, and accounting and bookkeeping solutions. According to information shared with AFROTECH™, the company has processed more than $250 billion in transactions annually for more than 10 million business and personal banking customers. The company said it “is one of the few fintechs globally, and the first in Africa, to achieve profitability at unicorn scale while driving financial inclusion,” in a press release. Moniepoint has officially closed its Series C round, amounting to over $200 million in equity financing. The round was led by Development Partners International’s African Development (ADP) III fund, with LeapFrog Investments joining for the final close, the press release confirmed. Lightrock, Alder Tree...
Janta Power, a next-generation energy tech company founded in 2021 by Mohammed Njie and based in Dallas, TX, has closed a $5.5 million seed round, according to a news release shared with AFROTECH™. Announced Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, the round was led by MaC Venture Capital , with Collab Capital also participating. The funding will accelerate deployment of Janta’s flagship innovation — a 3D solar tower — designed for industrial, commercial, and utility-scale applications, including data centers, EV charging networks, and critical sectors like healthcare and agriculture. Njie, who grew up in The Gambia, Africa, experienced the challenges of unreliable electricity firsthand. Driven to create change, he studied electrical engineering and developed a reliable, scalable solution to deliver power in resource-limited spaces. “Energy transforms lives. I saw firsthand the challenges people faced without reliable power, and I wanted to create a solution that could deliver clean, abundant energy...
Ebony Bogui-Akinyi is reshaping how startups across Africa and the African diaspora grow and scale. As the founder and managing partner of Think Forward VC, she invests in and builds companies in health care, fintech, and agriculture, combining capital, mentorship, and hands-on support through a hybrid fund and AI-powered venture studio. In an interview with AFROTECH™, she discussed her approach to venture investing and empowering founders from idea to scale. Her journey to this point, she said, was shaped by her mother. Bogui-Akinyi grew up in a single-parent household, watching her mother, an immigrant from Kenya, rebuild her life step by step, from working at a gas station and driving a taxi to becoming a nurse practitioner. “She showed me how to never give up on what you want, to give yourself a better life while also impacting others,” Bogui-Akinyi told AFROTECH™. That lesson in persistence stayed with her through her education. She began studying medicine at the University of...
The Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa (SEFAA), managed by Sahel Capital, has secured a $10 million investment from the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund, according to a LinkedIn post. The fund is managed by MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates) in Mauritius. A press release further notes that the investment will allow SEFAA to expand support for small and medium-sized agribusinesses (agri-SMEs), creating 10,000 jobs across 13 sub-Saharan African countries. These businesses, often excluded from traditional financing, play a critical role in empowering smallholder farmers and generating income opportunities for women and youth. “Since the inception of the fund in 2021, we have processed 33 facilities to 18 companies in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Mezuo Nwuneli, managing partner of Sahel Capital, in the release. “This $10 million commitment from the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund, through MEDA Mauritius, is a testament to our...
The LaunchPad, a new platform by Alami Capital with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will debut at GITEX Nigeria 2025, spotlighting women founders and addressing Africa’s funding gap for women-led startups, according to a news release. Across Africa, women own 27% of businesses and contribute 13% of the continent’s GDP, per the release. Yet, they only receive 7% of total venture capital funding. The LaunchPad aims to change that by deploying $250,000 in catalytic capital to five selected ventures after the event, per the release. Along with funding, founders will receive mentorship, regulatory readiness, and connections across the ecosystem to help their companies scale. “Who gets funded determines what gets built, and what gets built will define the economic future of Africa,” Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general of NITDA, said in the news release. “The LaunchPad ensures women founders are not just...
This Lagos, Nigeria-based startup has secured millions for its innovative approach to delivering everyday essentials. Founded in 2021 by Femi Aluko, Olumide Ojo, and Lanre Yusuf, Chowdeck is a tech company that provides logistics services to food and hospitality vendors across 11 Nigerian and Ghanaian cities. It also makes it easier for customers to receive meals, groceries, everyday essentials, and medicine in around 30 minutes. PC: Chowdeck According to a press release shared with AFROTECH™, it has reached 1.5 million customers and over 20,000 riders to date and projects to have a record-breaking year in 2025 after growing sixfold last year compared to 2023. To position growth in more cities in the countries mentioned and find further success, Chowdeck acquired Mira, a point-of-sale (POS) solutions company, for an undisclosed amount in June, according to Techpoint Africa. This was to enhance customer experiences and improve its technology. $9M Raise Additionally, Chowdeck has...
New funding has been raised to improve intercity travel across Africa. BuuPass Founded in 2017, BuuPass markets itself as a digital ticketing platform for bus, train, and flight purchases, its website mentions. Its inception was sparked during the 2016 Hult Prize Challenge, a global student competition that asked students that year to create something that would “better connect people to goods, services, and resources.” For company co-founders Sonia Kabra and Wyclife Omondi, this equated to making transportation more efficient in Kenya. “We’re building the infrastructure that makes modern travel work across Africa. Every new route, every operator, every integration strengthens the network,” said Sonia Kabra, co-CEO of BuuPass, according to Techcabal. The platform requires four simple steps for users, such as entering their travel dates, after which they will be shown various travel routes and pricing, per its website. Once the user selects an ideal route, they can book directly on...
A woman-owned trading finance platform is now positioned to scale its footprint in Africa. Liquify Established in 2023 by Nadya Yaremenko and Alberta Asafo-Asamoah, the Ghanaian company is the “f irst fully digital trade finance platform on the continent,” its website mentions. It exists to connect small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa with capital markets across the globe. The Condia reports that the platform allows exporters to turn unpaid invoices into cash in the same day while investors can tap into a high-yielding asset class with the added perks of short maturities and low market correlation. What’s more, Liquify has integrated AI into its due diligence process to create more competitive rates for exporters selling to investment-grade buyers along with lower operational costs. “We built Liquify to unlock the $120 billion trade-finance gap holding back Africa’s most dynamic SMEs,” Yaremenko (CEO) said, according to The Condia. $1.5M Raise Liquify has already financed $4...
This self-taught programmer has secured funding for his newly established startup. According to TechCrunch, Bereket Engida had an idea while living in Ethiopia to create a startup that would resolve issues he experienced around authentication. As a programmer, he created a platform that helped developers observe user behavior on their websites while he was working at remote software jobs. This took him down a new rabbit hole after he noticed frequent issues around authentication. He also did not have great faith in some of the tools that already existed to handle the process, which prompted him to take matters into his own hands. “I remember needing an organization feature. It’s a very common use case for most SaaS applications, but it wasn’t available from these providers,” Engida told TechCrunch. “So I had to build it from scratch. It took me about two weeks, and I remember thinking, ‘This is crazy; there has to be a better way to solve this.’” Better Auth This idea eventually...
A new round of funding has been raised to invest in the health of African businesses. PaidHR In 2020, CEO Seye Bandele and Chief Technology Officer Lekan Omotosho co-founded an HR management platform designed to support African businesses and their workers. According to a news release, the platform, named PaidHR, automates local and cross-border payroll in 49 currencies and has tools such as Earned Wage Access, which allows employees to receive a portion of their payment before payday. PaidHR can calculate taxes and pensions as well as file with the appropriate government agency. Additionally, it can set up benefits for medical insurance, pensions, housing, and more, its website states. “We’ve always been driven by a simple yet powerful idea: that managing your team and payroll shouldn’t be a source of stress, but a catalyst for growth and well-being,” the company stated in the news release. $1.8M Raise Led By Accion Venture Lab PaidHr, which launched in Nigeria, has expanded its...
Nigerian clean energy startup Salpha Energy has secured $1.3 million in funding from All On, an impact investment firm supported by Shell, People of Color in Tech (POCIT) reports. The funding will help Salpha Energy advance its mission of delivering dependable and affordable solar power to underserved communities across Africa. Notably, Salpha Energy is the only female-founded company in sub-Saharan Africa operating a solar home system assembly facility. Investment To Fuel Solar Growth And Innovation The $1.3 million investment will scale Salpha Energy’s operations, expand its product offerings, and strengthen its local assembly infrastructure. The company’s solar power solutions in Africa, ranging from 150Wp to 100kWp systems with battery storage and smart inverters, have already reached more than 2 million people, helping to make clean energy more accessible and affordable, according to POCIT. “This capital raise is a huge step forward in our vision to power homes and businesses...
One of Africa’s most prominent tech founders is stepping back into the spotlight with a new artificial intelligence (AI) venture. Karim Jouini and Jihed Othmani, his co-founder of Tunisian fintech startup Expensya, have launched Thunder Code, a generative AI-powered software testing platform. TechCrunch reports that the France- and Tunisia-based startup has already raised $9 million in seed funding. The return to startup life comes nearly two years after the duo sold Expensya to Swedish software firm Medius in 2023, according to the outlet. Although the terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch that they estimated it to be more than $120 million, marking one of the biggest African tech exits to date. From Promising Exit To New Beginnings Following the acquisition, Jouini assumed the role of chief product and technology officer at Medius. Neither he nor Othmani intended to return to entrepreneurship. However, Jouini’s exposure to the...
Carrot Credit, a Nigerian fintech company, recently announced via LinkedIn that it has raised $4.2 million in seed funding to expand its lending platform, which enables users to borrow against digital investment assets. The funding round was led by MaC Venture Capital, a firm that’s known for investing in diverse founders, as AFROTECH™ previously reported, with additional participation from Partech Africa and Authentic Ventures. When making the announcement, Carrot Credit stated that the funding will be used to support the company’s efforts to grow its team, enhance its credit infrastructure, and strengthen integration with digital investment platforms across Africa. Borrowing Without Selling: A New Credit Framework According to its website, Carrot Credit offers a unique approach to lending by allowing individuals to use their financial assets, such as stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), government bonds, or cryptocurrencies, as collateral. Users can access up to 40% of the value...
Kofa , a Ghana-based energy tech startup, secured $8.1 million in a pre-Series A funding round to expand its AI-powered battery-swapping network across Africa, as Techpoint Africa reports. According to the outlet, the investment consists of $3.25 million in equity, $4.32 million in debt, and $590,000 in grants, and was co-led by E3 Capital and Injaro Investment Advisors. Additional contributions came from the Shell Foundation and the UK Government’s Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform, as well as Penso Power’s CEO Richard Thwaites, among others. “This funding validates our vision to transform urban Africa’s energy landscape, and we are committed to building the ecosystem necessary to make this a reality,” Erik Nygard, Kofa’s founder and CEO, said in a press release. “The shift to cleaner energy, for both domestic and commercial use, goes beyond sustainability — it drives real economic impact, but for this transition to succeed, several key elements must come together.” Nygard...
Seven African healthtech startups have been selected for the latest cohort of the Investing in Innovation Africa (i3) program . Each will receive up to $225,000 in grant funding and tailored support to scale solutions that improve medicine access. Backed by the Gates Foundation, Merck & Co. Inc. (MSD), Sanofi, and others, i3 supports growth-stage startups working to close critical health care gaps. This cohort emphasizes pharmacy-related solutions, a vital part of health care in many African countries , where pharmacies handle up to 70% of initial patient visits, according to Urban Geekz. The selected startups, which are dedicated to developing a range of scalable, tech-enabled solutions, include: mPharma Chefaa Dawa Mkononi Meditect myDawa RxAll Sproxil Their offerings include AI-powered prescription refills, last-mile medicine delivery, cloud-based pharmacy systems, embedded financing, inventory management, and product authentication to reduce fraud and improve drug safety. “It is...
