Investor Insights: Shopstar secures funding

SA e-commerce platform Shopstar secures further funding

Highlights

• South African e-commerce platform Shopstar has secured its third round of funding as it begins the next phase in its strategy to scale.
• Founded in 2014, Shopstar is a cloud-based e-commerce platform that enables local entrepreneurs to build online stores and grow their businesses by offering easy-to-use, professional services.
• The fresh funding comes from Launch Africa Ventures, which has provided early-stage investment for over 60 high-potential African tech startups so far.

Source: Ventureburn

Our Takeaway

Shopstar’s latest fundraising comes at a time when the e-commerce industry in South Africa, and the continent at large, is reaching new heights. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, up to 68% of South African consumers now shop more online and e-commerce in the southern African country has been accelerated by five years, per a December report from Heavy Chef. The pandemic-induced boom in Africa’s digital economy is expected to continue its exponential growth trend with the continent’s e-commerce value projected to quadruple by 2030.

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African startups raised over $400m in May

Highlights

• In May, African startups raised $437,100,000 across 49 fully disclosed deals according to data compiled by TechCabal. 
• Ranked by sector, fintech startups raised $195,900,000 (44.82%), AI/deeptech startups raised $47,000,000 (10.75%), and mobility/logistics startups raised $45,700,00 (10.46%). Meanwhile, West Africa led in terms of region with 37.47% of the amount raised.
• The top 5 disclosed deals of May include Interswitch’s $110 million raise, Paymob’s $50 million Series B, Instabug’s $46 million Series B, Jambo’s $30 million raise, and Mara’s $23 million funding.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

African startups raised more than $4 billion in 2021, in what was a record year for venture funding on the continent. This year, it took barely 7 weeks to reach their first $1 billion in 2022 through more than 130 deals, and after the first four months of the year, African startups had crossed the $2 billion mark. This has prompted predictions startup funding in Africa may reach $7-$8 billion at the end of 2022 if the trend is maintained especially considering the slowdown in global venture funding. 

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MTN names new executive to oversee digital banking

Highlights

• The MTN Group has announced the appointment of Andrew Goodrich as Executive for Banktech in our Group Fintech team, which became effective as of 1 June 2022.
• Andrew joined MTN in 2019 as a GM for Banktech & Beyond Payments division, where he has added value in executing the South African mobile telecommunications company’s digital banking strategy.
• Before he joined MTN Goodrich was a director at JUMO, a mobile money marketplace for people, small businesses, and mobile network operators. In 2015 he was the head of products and channels at Capitec, a South African retail bank.

Source: ITNewsAfrica

Our Takeaway

With more than 277 million subscribers in 20 countries in Africa, the $11 billion-valued MTN Group is currently on an expansion drive to become a fully-fledged technology services company with a core focus on digital banking through its mobile money service MoMo. The group currently offers a range of other services such as short-form video content (MTN Shortz), music streaming (Music Plus), and social media service (MTN Ayoba), in addition to voice and data. Last year, it valued its mobile money arm at about $5 billion and mentioned that it’s considering a listing of that division.