Investor Update: Nigeria’s TeamApt raises over $50m for market expansion

Nigeria’s TeamApt raises over $50m for market expansion

Highlights

• TeamApt, a Nigerian fintech that provides business payments and banking platforms, has raised over $50 million in what is reported as a pre-series C funding round. 
• QED Investors, a U.S. fintech-focused venture capital firm that hired Gbenga Ajayi and Chidinma Iwueke to lead its entry into Africa, led the new investment.  Novastar Ventures (co-lead), Lightrock, and BII — also participated in this round.
• The company said the fund would allow it to expand its credit services, move into new markets, and “spread financial happiness by digitizing Africa’s economy.”

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

With almost $5 billion in assets under management (AUM) and a recently closed $1.05 billion seventh fund, QED has backed over 180 companies (27 of them unicorns). In TeamApt, the VC firm finds a company that bootstrapped for four years before raising a venture round in 2019 but has grown 300% annually to build one of the largest fintech startups in Africa (in revenue and market cap) — and is profitable. It processes a $100 billion annualized run-rate transaction value via its products Monnify and Moniepoint—which now serves 400,000 small and medium-sized businesses across Nigeria.

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Kenyan social commerce startup Elloe acquires Flo by Saada

Highlights

• Kenya’s Elloe, a conversational e-commerce startup, has acquired counterpart Flo by Saada for an undisclosed sum to help it scale operations and move into new markets.
• Founded by Owen Sakawa, Elloe is an AI-powered, conversational commerce platform that allows SMEs to buy and sell products online across any messaging platform.  
• The startup raised a $1 million pre-seed funding round in April, and has now acquired Flo by Saada, whose team will join Elloe’s product and engineering group in Kenya as the company incorporates the technology to complement its existing portfolio of messaging services with a packaged, AI-driven offering.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

Facebook and Instagram are used for online shopping more than e-commerce marketplaces by Africans, per a GeoPoll survey. By many projections, Africa’s emerging social commerce space is set to witness exponential growth in the coming years as more startups emerge and consumers embrace making purchases via social media platforms. Consolidation of players within the space is also a huge boost as startups merge capabilities for a better shot at scale. With the acquisition, Elloe expects to be able to accelerate its next phase of business growth by expanding operations for its clients and its footprint beyond Kenya and the Philippines.

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Kenyan fintech startup FinAccess closes $500k funding round

Highlights

• Kenyan startup FinAccess, which digitizes Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs) and farming cooperatives in East Africa, has raised $500,000 in funding from HAVAÍC.
• Founded in 2017, FinAccess offers a SaaS solution to SACCOs and co-ops. The company’s two core products are banking software solution Fincore and agricultural software solution Grobox.
• The funding from HAVAÍC, allocated from the VC firm’s $20 million HAVAÍC Universum Core African Fund, is part of a pre-Series A funding round and will help FinAccess cement its market leadership in Kenya and expand into other markets.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

In most rural parts of Africa, cooperative organizations bring together people with similar social and financial backgrounds and play a crucial role in helping community members access a wide range of saving and investment opportunities. In Kenya, they have emerged as the dominant micro-financing societies that spearhead savings and investment in the country. Digitization, provided by FinAccess, ultimately releases credit and other vital financial services so farmers and other members can increase productivity and efficiency and for the startup, there is so much scope to continue growing across Kenya and beyond.