Investor Updates: Egyptian unicorn fintech eyes US listing

Story 1: Egyptian unicorn fintech mulls US listing

Highlights

• Fawry, Egypt’s largest electronic payments startup, is considering a secondary listing in the United States (US) after it went public on the Egyptian Stock Exchange in 2019 and became a unicorn in 2020. It is also creating an American Depositary Shares (ADS) programme.
• Founded in 2008, Fawry provides a wide range of financial services including payment gateways, e-commerce, and microfinance solutions to consumers and businesses through over 250,000 agents and several other channels.
• The announcement comes as Fawry plans to raise $51 million through a rights issue to existing shareholders, proceeds of which will fund expansions in financial services for both consumers and merchants. 

Source: DailyNewsEgypt

Our Takeaway

Startups of African origin have, over the last couple of years, set their eyes on the top-ranked foreign exchanges in the world as they seek to gain easy access to capital, enter new markets, and boost brand recognition. In 2019, Jumia, the Nigeria-based e-commerce giant, became the first African-focused company to go public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Based on reports and trends, chances are Jumia won’t be the only African company listed on foreign bourses in the next couple of years. Apart from Fawry, IROKO, the biggest online catalog of Nollywood movies, plans to raise $30 million at the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), a sub-market for companies with small market capitalization.

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Story 2: ExpandCart raises $2.7m pre-Series B bridge round

Highlights

• ExpandCart, an e-commerce platform that operates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, has secured $2.7 million in a Pre-Series B bridge round of financing, led by Hong-Kong-based Betatron Venture Group.
• The startup’s omnichannel selling solution includes a customisable platform for building online storefronts, an integrated cloud point-of-sale system for retailers, and a connected branded merchant mobile app. It is currently used by over 25,000 merchants in over 40 countries.

• The new round of funding would fuel ExpandCart growth in current markets, including Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait while adding new product offerings.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway 

In recent years, the MENA region has seen significant growth in the e-commerce sector. Estimates show that the e-commerce market has been growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35% over the last five years. A larger acceleration in e-commerce adoption and sales is expected between 2020 and 2025, based on a number of underlying considerations that include a young population, high levels of internet penetration, entry of players like Amazon, growth in mobile wallets, and the increase in the digital savviness of consumers caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

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Story 3: Oracle opens first data center for cloud computing in Africa

Highlights

• US-based cloud infrastructure firm, Oracle, recently launched a data center in South Africa—the company’s first on the continent.
• The move by Oracle sees it join the likes of Microsoft and Amazon in setting up facilities in Africa, where the demand for enterprise cloud services is growing rapidly.
• The new data center marks Oracle’s 37th cloud region worldwide — with plans to have at least 44 cloud regions by the end of 2022.

Source: Reuters

Our Takeaway

Rising demand for faster computing from African giant corporations is attracting big cloud operators into the African market, which is largely untapped. Microsoft was the first to launch data centers in South Africa, followed by Amazon and Huawei. Last month, US-based Equinix Inc. announced it was buying MainOne, a West Africa-focused connectivity and data solutions company, for $320 million. The deal will see Equinix enter the African market, in line with a long-term plan to establish itself as a digital infrastructure company in Africa.