Deal-Street Africa [September 27- 30]: Andela Closes USD 200 Mn Series E Funding Round
Moroccan Startup Cloud Fret Raises USD 390 K Investment
Cloud Fret, a logistics startup based in Morocco, secured MAD3.5 million (USD 390 K) from Azur Innovation Fund, the fund’s second investment after Epicerie Verte. Azur Innovation Fund is a public-private seed fund that aims to finance the capital of innovative startups in Morocco. The fund aims to promote initiatives that are part of Morocco’s development strategy.
Flat6Labs Closes USD 10 Mn Seed Fund For Tunisia Startups
Flat6Labs, a regional seed, and early-stage VC firm announced the second close, and increase of its Tunisia-based Anava Seed Fund (ASF) from USD 3 Mn to USD 10 Mn, expanding its impact through world-class startup programs across the North African markets.
Senegalese Startup Yobante Express Raises USD 1.2 Mn Seed Round
Yobante Express, a Senegalese delivery startup that connects local couriers with local commerce to optimize domestic, cross-border, and last-mile delivery, raised a USD 1.2 Mn bridge funding round to continue its rapid expansion. The funding comes from Grenfell Holdings, Launch Africa Ventures, R-Ventures, Libertad via its investment branch Aguila Investments and a pool of local and high international angel investors. It will be used to help the startup reach critical mass in South Africa and Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Yellow Card Raises USD 15 Mn Series A Funding
Yellow Card, a Nigerian cryptocurrency exchange, raised USD 15 Mn in Series A funding to boost its hiring and expand beyond Africa. The round was led by Valar Ventures, Third Prime, and Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Square, Blockchain.com Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, BlockFi, Fabric Ventures, Raba Partnership, MoonPay, GreenHouse Capital, and more.
Ugandan Fintech Startup Fin-e Innovations Raises USD 300 K Funding
Fin-e Innovations, a fintech start-up based in Uganda, raised USD 300 K in pre-seed capital from an undisclosed US investor.
Egyptian Blockchain Startup Pravica Raises Funding To Scale Operations
Pravica, a Cairo-based communication platform that uses blockchain technology to empower user privacy and security, received an undisclosed investment from a Swiss venture capital group, Valley Venture Capital, to help it scale.
Andela Closes USD 200 Mn Series E Funding Round
Andela announced a USD 200 Mn Series E funding round. Softbank Vision Fund 2 led the new round, with participation from new investor Whale Rock and current investors including, Generation Investment Management, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Spark Capital.
Nigerian Edtech Startup Edves Raises USD 575 K Funding
Edves, a Nigerian ed-tech startup, received a seed funding round of USD 575 K to help it develop its product and bring more schools online. The round was led by Beta. Ventures, and also featured Launch Africa Ventures, Chinook Capital, and Future Africa. It plans to use the investment to fuel product improvement, release new offerings to address fresh consumer needs in the Nigerian market and major segments in other African markets.
South Africa’s Sun Exchange Raises USD 2.5 Mn Funding
Sun Exchange, a peer-to-peer solar leasing platform based in South Africa, raised an additional USD 2.5 Mn in funding through a convertible note investment from ARPF, a Mauritian private equity fund, to help it scale further. The investment will enable Sun Exchange to continue scaling using its crowd-based solar leasing platform to facilitate solar power for small-to-medium organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
