Investor Updates: Persistent Energy raises $10m Series C

Africa-focused Persistent Energy gets $10m Series C

Highlights

• Persistent Energy has raised $10 million in Series C funding to grow its climate venture building business in Africa, in a round led by Kyuden International Corporation and Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Africa Investments.
• Persistent Energy, as an expert and investor in Africa’s renewable energy sector, helps startups build businesses that can “scale sustainably” from ideation to the early growth stage. 
• The company plans to use the new resources to accelerate its growth in Sub-Saharan Africa in a quest to promote the adoption of clean energy options and technologies in the continent.

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Persistent’s portfolio companies provide domestic, commercial, and industrial solar solutions and deliver e-mobility solutions and ecosystem building, including Solar Works, Solar Taxi, Oolu, BBOX, Rensource, Upowa, Altech, Ecoenergy, etc. It invests capital and human resources in them – where its team members join and work together with the management teams of portfolio companies. The company has 20 partner firms spread across 17 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and has had two successful exits to date.

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Zazuu raises $2m to scale its cross-border payment marketplace

Highlights

• Zazuu, a U.K.-based and Africa-focused fintech that offers customers various remittance options, has raised $2 million in a new venture round.
• The financing round welcomed participation from pan-African investors Launch Africa and Founders Factory Africa, Hoaq Club, British rapper Tinie Tempah, iROKOtv founder and CEO Jason Njoku, and Kuda chief executive Babs Ogundeyi. 
• The company plans to use the new investment to grow its numbers, hire more talent and scale its Pay with Zazuu feature that allows users to complete transactions in-app as well as launch new products that address financial challenges African immigrants face, such as access to credit.

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Africa is the most expensive region to send money to, with 10.6% in average transaction fees. Although most of the traditional players that charge high commission rates still dominate the space, controlling as much as 80% of the market, a number of digital-first platforms like NALA, Chipper Cash, Zazuu, and Sendwave have sprung up in recent years offering lower rates to Africans, hoping to seize the lucrative business opportunity for remittance. 

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SWVL expands to Mexico with Urbvan acquisition

Highlights

• UAE-based mobility services provider SWVL has acquired Urbvan, a Mexico-based mass mobility startup that provides tech-enabled transportation services.
• Founded in 2016 by Renato Picard and João Matos Albino, Urbvan offers intercity transport and mass mobility solutions for local privately-owned organizations. It currently operates in 18 cities across Mexico.
• This is SWVL’s fourth acquisition this year and sixth to date, and sees it enter Latin America’s second-largest country by population.

Source: Wamda

Our Takeaway

SWVL is one of Africa’s fastest-growing startups. Since its founding, it has rapidly expanded its geographical footprint by acquiring smaller players with Urbvan being its sixth acquisition deal to date. Earlier this year, SWVL announced the acquisition of UK-based B2B smart bus operator startup Zeelo, in a deal valued at $100 million. Prior to that, it bought Germany-based “mobility as a service” MaaS software platform door2door. That was on the back of a couple of global startups acquired, Viapool and Shot, in the previous year. The startup also joined the public markets through a special purpose acquisition merger recently.