Investor Updates: March 25 2022 - Ghanaian diagnostics startup Yemaachi raises $3m seed round

Ghanaian diagnostics startup Yemaachi raises $3m seed round

Highlights

• Ghanaian cancer research and diagnostics company Yemaachi Biotech has closed a $3 million seed round to advance its mission of diversifying precision oncology globally. 
• Founded in 2020, Yemaachi uses cutting-edge immunogenomics, bioinformatics, and artificial intelligence to accelerate the development of cancer detection and cure strategies that have high efficacy regardless of ethnicity.
• Last year, Yemaachi was one of 15 African companies to be selected for the S21 batch of the Y Combinator accelerator and was also recently named a recipient of a $1 million grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Source: Technova GH

Our Takeaway

With significant venture capital funding pouring into the ecosystem, Africa is seeing a boom in the number of startups solving some of the most challenging health problems of the continent. These range from access to medical care, infant and maternal mortality and rapid diagnostics, and consistent, convenient monitoring of critical health care needs. Last year, over $4.77 billion was invested in African startups; around $379.6 million of those went to 479 healthcare-focused companies, compared to the $90 million 180 companies received in 2020.

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Tunisia’s Betacube launches 2nd edition of Women In Fintech program

Highlights

• Tunisian venture builder Betacube has launched the second edition of its Women in Fintech pre-incubation program, to help aspiring entrepreneurs shape their ideas and build lasting businesses.
• Run in partnership with the United States Embassy in Tunisia, the six-week program allows fintech projects led by Tunisian women to acquire the knowledge and support needed to take their project idea to the prototype level.
• Participants will benefit from mentoring from Betacube experts, and gain visibility and access to opportunities. At the end of the program, they will have started the development and progressed on the execution of their ideas.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

In Africa, female entrepreneurs are increasingly taking their place in the male-dominated fintech boom. However, gender bias still makes it harder for them to access finance and grow their businesses. Per Briter Bridges, only 3% of the total funding raised by startups in Africa since 2013 has gone to all-women co-founded teams. Efforts like the Betacube are crucial to increasing female representation in the startup space, which remains minute against a faster-growing percentage of startups run by men.

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Kenya is close to having its first unicorn startup

Highlights

• Kenya is closing in on its first unicorn after retail tech startup, Wasoko, formerly Sokowatch, raised $125 million from international investors, pushing up the company’s valuation to $625 million.
• Wasoko’s current valuation coupled with its high growth prospects and backing by high-profile investors puts it in a pole position to join Africa’s growing billion-dollar tech startup league that is currently dominated by West African firms.
• After raising what is considered Africa’s largest fundraiser for a non-fintech startup, Wasoko founder and CEO, Daniel Yu, is keen to tap into a “growing interest in the continent’s food e-commerce and retail tech segments” by foreign investors.

Source: Business Daily

Our Takeaway

Africa currently has seven unicorn startups including Jumia, Interswitch, Flutterwave, Andela, Wave, OPay, and Chipper Cash. Most were born in 2021 when the continent experienced record-breaking fundraising activity. For Kenya, it is currently ranked second in terms of value and volume of fundraising after 20 start-ups raised $223.5 million (19.9% of the total) as of March 1, 2022, rising from the fourth position in 2021.