Investor Updates: Ghanaian agritech startup secures $12.9m pre-Series A

Ghanaian agritech startup Farmerline secures $12.9m pre-Series A

Highlights

• Ghanaian startup Farmerline has secured a $12.9 million debt and equity pre-Series A investment. The startup partners with agribusinesses and farm associations to support farmers with fertilizer and seeds, free education on climate-smart farming practices, and access to international markets.
• Farmerline’s marketplace combines digital tools with logistics, field agents, farm resources, and partnerships. Its in-house platform, Mergdata, is licensed by global food traders and manufacturers and used to improve the lives of farmers globally.
• Farmerline has digitized over 1 million farmers across 26 countries, and with the new funding on board, it is planning to scale further in Ghana and expand to Ivory Coast.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to increase its agricultural output and overall contribution to the economy, however, the sector remains untapped largely due to a lack of access to quality farm inputs and infrastructures like warehousing and market access. Startups like Farmerline address some of these issues while also contributing to Africa’s rise as a global leader in agritech. Between 2016 and 2019, the industry grew by 44% year-on-year, and the continent has registered the highest number of agritech services in the developing world reaching more than 30 million smallholder farmers as of 2021.

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SWVL acquires Turkish B2B mobility startup Volt Lines

Highlights

• Egypt-founded mobility startup SWVL has acquired Turkey-based B2B mobility startup Volt Lines in a deal that values the latter at over $40 million.
• Founded in 2017 by Aly Halabi, Volt Lines provides its corporate clients with mass transit and ride-hailing services utilizing a network of smartly routed shared buses. 
• As per the deal, Volt Lines will establish an R&D center dedicated to supporting SWVL’s expansion plans.

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Since its founding, SWVL has rapidly expanded its geographical footprint by acquiring smaller players with Volt Lines being its fourth acquisition deal to date. Last month, SWVL announced the acquisition of Germany-based “mobility as a service” MaaS software platform door2door. That was on the back of a couple of global startups acquired, Viapool and Shot, in the previous year. The startup also joined the public markets through a special purpose acquisition merger about a month ago.

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Kenyan electric vehicle company Opibus is now ROAM

• Kenyan electric vehicle company Opibus has changed its name to ROAM, with the rebrand coming after the company’s expansion led to a strategic shift in its vision. 
• Founded in 2017, Opibus is the leading provider of electric vehicles designed and manufactured locally. Its vision is to create reliable and cost-effective products designed for the pan-African mass market.
• The company raised $7.5 million in equity and grant funding late last year to help it scale its operations, and in January it introduced the first all-electric bus in Kenya – also the first Africa-designed electric bus ever. 

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

Globally, electric vehicles are gaining momentum with adoption estimated to have risen six-fold since 2015. In 2020, there were more than 11 million registered EVs including cars, buses, vans, and trucks globally, and the number is expected to hit 145 million by the end of the decade, suggesting a global transition from gas-powered vehicles is right on track. By continents, however, Africa lags behind its peers and has shown little progress so far. Electric vehicles remain rare in most of Africa but local players like Opibus offer a ray of hope that the region won’t be totally left behind.