Investor Updates: June 30 2022 - Egypt’s MNT-Halan closes $150m securitized bond issuance

Egypt’s MNT-Halan closes $150m securitized bond issuance

Highlights

• Egyptian fintech MNT-Halan has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Tasaheel has securitized around $150 million of its loan book in the first issuance of a $600 million program with Commercial International Bank (CIB). 
• The startup’s fintech ecosystem connects customers, vendors, and micro-enterprises through its consumer-facing app, merchant app, distributed lending and payment processing software, and payment solutions, as well as offering services such as ride-hailing and logistics.
• Last September, the company secured a $120 million investment by major global and regional growth investors to further develop its product and expand internationally, and earlier this week it acquired B2B e-commerce startup Talabeyah.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

Having begun life as a ride-hailing app back in 2018, MNT-Halan has morphed into a super app of sorts, and in the process become Egypt’s largest and fastest-growing lender to the unbanked. The $150 million deal, its first securitization, is rare in Africa’s startup funding landscape and should ensure its continued growth as the company expects its loan book to exceed $2 billion over the next couple of years. Proceeds from the deal will fuel the company’s accelerated growth across multiple lending business lines and MNT-Halan’s expansion into new verticals.

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Sava Africa raises $2m to help SMBs manage spending

Highlights

• South Africa-based Sava Africa has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding round to enable small businesses to have seamless access to lending services and adequate finance management.
• Yet to launch, Sava’s platform is a one-click platform on which bank accounts, mobile wallets, payment, and accounting integrations services can be carried out.
• Its spend management platform will launch its beta in South Africa in the third quarter of this year and the startup also plans to launch in Kenya in the fourth quarter, later on looking to expand into other markets like Nigeria and Egypt.

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Informal players account for up to 90% of businesses in Africa and represent a massive opportunity already being tapped by Africa’s budding technology startups. Across the continent, Sava faces competition from upstarts offering comparable and vertical services such as Float, Lenco, Boya, Prospa, and Brass. Essentially, layering digital solutions on offline business activity—from payments to inventory management and fulfillment—helps merchants operate efficiently and scale while generating returns for the startups and venture backers.

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Mali-based insurtech OKO raises $500k seed extension round

Highlights

• Malian insurtech startup OKO has raised a $500,000 seed extension round to help it expand to Ivory Coast and work towards a Series A.
• Founded in 2017, OKO develops affordable mobile-based crop insurance products to provide smallholder farmers with the financial security they need. The startup operates in Mali and Uganda and has so far brought insurance to more than 15,000 farmers.
• OKO saw an impressive 6x growth in the number of paying customers from 2020 to 2021 and is continuing to expand its reach in 2022, with new crops covered, and new partnerships signed with financial institutions providing agricultural loans to insured farmers.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway
Africa has an ever-growing need for innovative insurance solutions to address the significant lack of coverage on the continent, both on an individual basis and enterprise level. As of 2018, the insurance penetration rate in Africa stood at a meager 1.12% or 3% with South Africa. Many startups have emerged in recent years with the mission of broadening insurance coverage across the continent through innovative, digital-led solutions that ride on the increasing adoption of mobile devices, as Africa plays catch up in the global insurance space.