Investor Updates: Vendease secures $30m for restaurant tech solutions

YC-backed Vendease secures $30m for its restaurant tech solutions

Highlights

• Vendease, a Y Combinator-backed digital platform that allows restaurants in Africa to buy supplies, access financial services, and power their business operations, has raised $30 million in an equity and debt funding round.
• Vendease’s digital procurement engine makes it easier for restaurants in 8 cities across Nigeria and Ghana to buy food supplies at considerably cheaper rates than open market prices, with guaranteed 12-hour delivery.
• The latest investment—comprising a series A equity round of $20 million and $10 million in debt—will go towards consolidating its growth and operations in Nigeria and Ghana, and support its expansion across the continent.

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Africa’s restaurants and food businesses feed 700 million people across the continent daily. However, these businesses reportedly lose $100 billion annually due to expensive and unreliable supply, limited access to data to inform procurement decisions, wastage and theft, and limited access to capital to fund procurement. Therein lies the opportunity for restaurant-focused SaaS startups like Vendease and Egypt-based OneOrder, Bonbell, and the Food Lab. The former claims to have seen 3x growth in the number of users and 5x growth in its revenue over the last 12 months while clients have accessed over $12 million worth of inventory via its embedded finance product.

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Nigerian investment platform ComiBlock secures Expert Dojo funding

Highlights

• Nigerian investtech startup ComiBlock has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Expert Dojo, a California-based growth accelerator, to help it scale.
• Launched in February 2021, ComiBlock is a goal-based investing crypto Robo-advisor that gives anyone with smartphone access to planning tools, advice, and curated and thematic crypto-portfolios.
• This new funding enables ComiBlock to expand its operations and invest in product development as it builds to accelerate responsible crypto investing for people across frontier markets.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

Africa is the world’s third fastest-growing crypto market—adoption has increased by over 1,200% since 2020—and is home to a large number of crypto and blockchain startups (from new upstarts in the web3 space such as MARA, Nestcoin, and Jambo to exchanges and remittance platforms like Buycoins, Quidax, Yellow Card, Bitmama, and Busha). While, the bulk of crypto platforms are, strictly exchanges, leaving users to rely on external advice to carry out trades, ComiBlock takes a more inclusive approach and claims to have amassed over $420,000 in trade volume. 

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Nairobi-based Baobab Network backs four African startups with $200k

Highlights

• The Baobab Network (TBN), a Nairobi-based accelerator that invests in early-stage tech companies across Africa, has announced its latest cohort of four startups, each of which will receive $50,000 in funding and growth support. 
• The cohort consists of startups from Nigeria (Oval Interactive), Ethiopia  (Shemach), and two from South Africa (Lemon and Local Knowledge).
• The cohort joins 25 other startups that The Baobab Network has invested in since it launched its accelerator in 2019, including 5 from the first cohort earlier this year.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

The venture funding landscape in Africa is more saturated with foreign investors than local investors but in recent years, local players are upscaling their operations and increasing their investments in startups. More so, The Baobab Network is one of the leading players addressing the challenges faced by entrepreneurs, startups, and early-stage companies on the continent, from a shortage of funding to a lack of mentorship and support.