Investor Updates: Paradigm invests $30m in Congo-based startup, Jambo

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Paradigm enters Africa with a $30m round for Jambo

Highlights

• Jambo, a Congo-based startup building a Web 3 user acquisition platform has raised $30 million in a Series A funding round led by Paradigm, marking the crypto investing giant’s first investment in Africa.
• The startup will deploy the funds into boosting its personnel strength by doubling its team across Africa to provide the critical talent required to educate the continent on the potential of Web3 technology.
• Jambo also has expansion plans as it looks to enter 15+ additional cities by the end of the year to have over 200,000 active community members, students, and ambassadors affiliated with its educational efforts.

Source: Zawya

Our Takeaway

Africa is a fast-growing region for crypto, with a 1,200% growth in the market in the year ended June 2021 to $106 billion, according to the World Economic Forum. Last month, the Central African Republic adopted bitcoin as legal tender. In November, Paradigm launched a record-breaking $2.5 billion crypto fund, topping the prior $2.2 billion record held by Andreessen Horowitz. Meanwhile, this funding comes after Jambo disclosed a $7.5 million seed round in February, with Coinbase (COIN) and Alameda Research among the backers.

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Kenya’s TopUp Mama raises $1.7m seed round

Highlights

• Kenyan startup TopUp Mama—which provides African restaurants with access to supplies, financial services, and business management tools—has closed a $1.7 million seed funding round to accelerate its growth, build its technology, and scale sales management tools.
• Founded in 2021, TopUp Mama is a one-stop-shop for restaurants in Kenya and Nigeria that provides them with all the necessary supplies, short-term credit, and tools needed to manage their businesses. 
• Since raising its pre-seed round 10 months ago, the company said it has grown by over 1,000%, signed up over 3,000 restaurants, and expanded into Nigeria. 

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Like most brick-and-mortar stores in Africa, small to mid-sized restaurants largely rely on pen and paper or ledgers for bookkeeping and recording important business data. This way of running a business can negatively affect business growth and limit the chances of securing loans. Across the continent, many tech startups are moving to bring these businesses online through cloud-based business management tools. TopUp Mama is one such and plays in a lucrative space. The global cloud-based restaurant software market is currently valued at over $70 billion and is expected to reach $116 billion in the next four years.

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Egyptian B2B e-commerce Teegara closes bridge funding round

Highlights

• Egypt-based e-commerce Teegara has raised an undisclosed bridge round, led by Alexandria Angel Network with the participation of investors from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan.
• Founded in 2019 by Ahmad Kayyali and Nader Ibrahim alongside the first investor Ahmed Samir, the B2B marketplace provides merchants with household and FMCG products at competitive prices.
• This round will be utilized in Teegara’s expansion plans by adding more verticals to its platform, hiring new talent, and enhancing its technical capabilities.

Source: Wamda

Our Takeaway

African markets, though diverse, have some common themes, one of which is the largely fragmented fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. Often, manufacturers do not have visibility and control over their own distribution channels, distributors have to deal with price discrepancies and small informal retailers spend a lot of time fulfilling orders. Startup-led tech-enabled procurement in the industry is helping to address these bottlenecks, especially in the Middle East and North Africa region, as the digital B2B e-commerce space maintains its momentum.