Investor Updates: August 23, 2022 - Egypt’s ArabyAds raises $30m pre-Series B funding

Egypt’s ArabyAds raises $30m pre-Series B funding

Highlights

• Egypt-born and UAE-headquartered advertising technology company ArabyAds, has raised $30 million in pre-Series B funding from AfricInvest.
• Founded in 2013, with headquarters in the UAE and tech hubs across Egypt, Tunisia, and Jordan, ArabyAds helps advertisers in customer acquisition, retention, and monetization by leveraging its technology platforms for influencer marketing, coupon-based advertising, retail media, live commerce, and on-device contextual advertising.
• ArabyAds plans to use the new financing to expand its footprint and further invest it to accelerate its technological advancement and talent acquisition to support its growth. 

Source: Wamda

Our Takeaway

In Africa, startups like ArabyAds and Stllr have emerged offering platform-based solutions that help African businesses optimize marketing tasks across online and offline platforms. And as the e-commerce industry, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region grows, the market opportunity is substantial. In 2017, the market was worth $8.4 billion, with an annual growth of 25% since 2014, and is predicted to reach $28.5 billion by the end of this year.

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Neobank Zywa raises $3m seed round to expand across MENA

Highlights

• UAE-based neobank Zywa, has raised $3 million in a seed round from Goodwater Capital, Dubai Future District Fund, Rebel Fund, Trampoline Venture Partners, Zemu VC, alongside some angel investors.
• Founded in 2021 by Alok Kumar and Nuha Hashem, Zywa offers a gamified community-based banking app and payment card to Gen Z between the age of 11-25 years old.
• The seed fund will help the YC-backed startup focus on product, growth, and strategic partnerships to accelerate its growth in the UAE and Egypt markets while prepping it to launch in Saudi Arabia by early 2023.

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Over the past few years, new fintech startups trying to take on legacy banks in Africa have sprung up as the digital banking wave takes shape. In Egypt, the need is glaring. Only 33% of people have a bank account, according to the most recent World Bank data. Expanding access to financial services is thus primal, and startups leading such efforts stand to gain significantly from increasing amounts of venture capital available in the country. Such neobanks have been attracting a significant share of fintech investment on the continent.

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Cameroonian digital business card provider Taaply raises $500k

Highlights

• The Cameroon-based Taaply, which began life digitizing business cards, has raised $500,000 in funding as it announces the release of a new app and website update.
• Launched in 2021, Taaply is a digital business card solution aimed at cutting down on carbon emissions in Africa. 
• The recent funding, app, website updates, and improvements will enable Taaply to effectively compete for the growth opportunities in the healthcare and health insurance markets. 

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

Digitization is increasingly proliferating daily life in Africa and nearly all activities, from learning and grocery shopping to the way events are organized and work is done. In the same light, Taaply’s exciting solution offers a new way to digitize and manage social and professional connections. It is currently active in several countries in Africa, Europe, and North America, and plans to expand beyond its currently marketed products, in order to meet growing demand from both private and business customers.