Investor Updates: June 10 2022 - Morocco’s Chari acquires Ivory Coast startup Diago

Morocco’s Chari acquires Ivory Coast startup Diago

Highlights

• Morocco-based B2B e-commerce and fintech startup Chari has acquired Diago, an Ivorian app that connects local shops to FMCG producers and importers.
• This marks Chari’s third acquisition to date after buying Axa Credit for $22 million back in March, and the fintech app Karny.ma last August. Earlier this year, Chari raised an undisclosed bridge round at a valuation of $100 million.
• Founded in 2020 by Sophia Alj and Ismael Belkhayat, Chari aims to digitize the retail value chain in Francophone Africa, offering a marketplace and embedded finance platform that connects informal stores and retailers to FMCG suppliers.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

African markets, though diverse, have some common themes, one of which is the largely fragmented fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. Often, both local and multinational manufacturers do not have visibility and control over their own distribution channels while distributors have to deal with discrepancies in prices and inefficient logistics. For small informal retailers, much of their time is spent on fulfilling orders and struggling without sufficient capital. Chari is one of many startups in the B2B e-commerce space in Africa that have built digital products to address these bottlenecks.

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Mauritius-based VantagePay secures pre-Series A funding

Highlights

• Mauritius-based payments technology company VantagePay has secured pre-Series A funding round of an undisclosed amount from Crossfin Holdings.
• Headquartered in Mauritius, with offices in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, and London, VantagePay currently provides payment solutions to leading Ghanaian banks, telcos, and fintech with plans to expand into several African countries in the coming years.
• Co-founder Paul Edwards is a former CEO of MTN and Multichoice, and more recently founding executive chairman of Emerging Markets Payments (EMP), the latter of which was launched in 2010 and in six years had become the leading pan-African and pan-Middle Eastern payments processor.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

Africa represents a huge market for mobile payments given the relatively high mobile phone penetration coupled with relatively low penetration of financial services. Per GSMA, Africa now accounts for 70% of the world’s $1 trillion mobile money value after mobile money transactions on the continent rose 39% to $701.4 billion in 2021 from $495 billion in 2020.

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Egypt’s ADVA secures seed round from Sawari Ventures

Highlights

• Egypt-based fintech ADVA has raised an undisclosed “six-digit figure” seed round from Sawari Ventures.
• Founded in 2020 by Rania Gaafar, ADVA is a consumer lending platform that allows customers to pay for a wide variety of services and products in installments.
• The startup plans to use the funding to expand its product offering as well as the scope of its financial services to include wedding parties, car maintenance, insurance, and travel.

Source: Wamda

Our Takeaway

BNPL options are sweeping the global e-commerce sector. In 2020, they accounted for 2.1% of global e-commerce transactions. That figure is expected to double by 2024 when it will make up 4.2% of global e-commerce sales. But in Africa, where most people are credit-averse, activity is just beginning to pick up. However, there are signs that consumer perception is shifting on the continent, especially as more Africans take on loans to finance their needs coupled with the emergence of consumer lending startups.