Investor Updates: June 8 2022 - Egypt’s Nice Deer raises $1 million pre-seed round

Egypt’s Nice Deer closes $1 million pre-seed round

Highlights

• Egypt-based insurtech Nice Deer has raised a $1 million pre-seed funding round led by DisrupTech Ventures.
• Founded in early 2022, Nice Deer, one of IT-Fusion’s sister companies, facilitates insurance and repayment of insurance claims between healthcare providers, health insurance companies, and beneficiaries.
• Nice Deer will use the funds to expand its services such as providing health insurance solutions for SMEs, such as health savings accounts.

Source: Wamda

Our Takeaway

Africa has an ever-growing need for innovative insurance solutions to address the significant lack of coverage on the continent. As of 2018, the insurance penetration rate in Africa stood at a meager 1.12% or 3% with South Africa. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remain largely untapped with regards to insurance as much of the region remains low on penetration: less than 1% in Egypt and around under 4% in Morocco.

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Nigerian teleshopping startup ShopEX raises $635k pre-seed

Highlights

• Nigeria-based multi-channel retailer, ShopEX, has announced its pre-seed round of $635,000, which saw HAVAIC join Echo VC and Expert Media Partners as investors in the startup. This brings the total amount raised by the company to $885,000.
• Founded in 2018, the teleshopping startup offers a different shopping experience from existing eCommerce players. It uses video ads across television and other channels to provide an immersive experience for its customers. 
• This funding round will enable ShopEx to continue growing its team, brand, product agreements, inventory, and operations into new markets, with Ghanaian expansion already underway. 

Source: Nairametrics

Our Takeaway

Unlike popular e-commerce models, teleshopping involves retailing exclusive products from several brands by running ads, which demonstrate how the products work as well as customer testimonials, on TV or social media channels. Orders are taken and processed via phone calls or social platforms while the company handles the delivery to the customer. Africa needs a certain level of infrastructural maturity to make teleshopping work and ShopEx’s ascent coincides with rising e-commerce adoption and maturing logistics and payment platforms across Africa.

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Egyptian CX startup Tactul AI acquired by Dstny

Highlights

• Egyptian startup Tactful AI, which provides an intelligent customer experience platform, has been acquired by Dstny, a Belgium-based business communications company.
• Tactful is a unified customer experience platform that provides businesses with a single dashboard through which to manage, engage, augment, and understand customers’ journeys across various touch points.
• Dstny, meanwhile, offers a series of interactive communication tools that bring employees and customers closer together, and the acquisition of Tactful AI extends its product portfolio and helps companies enhance customer engagement operations across modern digital and traditional voice channels.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

Going by the number of mergers and acquisitions involving African startups announced so far this year, all signs point to a significant surge in the total number of exits and buyouts the region’s ecosystem will record by the end of 2022. This trend is spread across the continent, with a number of acquisition deals reported outside leading tech hubs such as South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. The recent surge in consolidation activity in different parts of the continent is an indication of a maturing ecosystem.