Investor Updates: Jan 12, 2022- Afrikrea rebrands to ANKA, secures $6.2m funding

Story 1: Afrikrea becomes ANKA, closes $6.2m round

Highlights

• The Ivory Coast-based e-commerce platform that helps micro-retailers sell to 170 countries has rebranded to “ANKA” while successfully completing a $6.2m pre-Series A round led by Investisseurs & Partenaires. This bring their fundraising total to $8.1m since inception in 2016.
• The pre-Series A round will help ANKA build out its SaaS mobile infrastructure and further product development.
• ANKA plans to roll out a breadth of features including a customised online storefront connected to sellers’ social media platforms and marketplace channels; access to shipping with DHL; and receiving payments in various currencies (including a BNPL option).

-Source: Disrupt Africa

Zoom Out 

Globally, the African diaspora is spread out across several countries. An estimated 36 million Africans live outside the country of their birth, with just over 50% residing within the continent. The sheer size of the African Diaspora means there’s a large potential market for African cultural items outside the continent. And this is an opportunity for local retailers to boost African exports with the help of e-commerce platforms and solutions like ANKA, which handle all the resource-intensive components, including marketing, cross-border shipping, and payments.

Story 2: Ghana’s mPharma’s raises $35m Series D

Highlights

• The Ghanaian healthcare & community pharmacy platform raised a $35m Series D investment, $5m of which is debt provided by Citibank.
• The company has over 200 pharmacies & health shops under its mutti brand, with operations in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Gabon, and Ethiopia. Last year, it served over 1.2m patients and shipped over 3.8 million drug units.
• The round brings mPharma’s total funding to over $80m. It will be used to build its data infrastructure, grow the talent pool, support expansion plans and the launch of a new e-commerce platform for pharmaceuticals.

-Source: TechCrunch

Zoom Out 

In Africa, pharmacies often struggle to stock life-saving medicines due to their cost and drugs fail to get to those who need them most. mPharma is a leading player tackling this challenge by leveraging the collective power of its network to negotiate lower prices with manufacturers while helping pharmacies stock shelves with no payment required upfront. The startup is one of Africa’s foremost when it comes to balancing commercial and social impact and is poised to continue drawing the attention and checks of foreign investors.

Story 3: ThankUCash aims to build Africa’s BNPL infrastructure

Highlights

• ThankUCash is a Nigeria-based multi-merchant rewards platform that’s raised $5.3m in seed funding. VC firms 500 Global and Unicorn Growth Capital co-led the Lagos-based company’s seed round. 
• Individual investors like Andrew Dell, former CEO of HSBC Africa, and Craig Fenton of Google U.K. also took part.
• Among other things, the startup plans to build infrastructure for the nascent and largely untapped buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector in Africa. This will be in addition to its suite of services, which already includes cashback on purchases and deals from merchants.

-Source: TechCabal

Zoom Out

BNPL options are sweeping the global e-commerce sector. But in Africa, where most people are credit-averse, activity is just beginning to pick up. However, there are signs that consumer perception is shifting on the continent, especially as more Africans take on loans to finance their needs. ThankUCash is positioning itself for the imminent boom in point-of-sale financing.

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