Investors update: OPEC Fund backs AFC's infrastructure funding

OPEC Fund backs AFC’s infrastructure funding with $50m

Highlights

• The OPEC Fund for International Development and Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) this week signed a $50 million loan agreement to finance the development of infrastructure critical to economic growth and job creation across Africa.
• The facility doubles the OPEC Fund’s commitment to AFC following an initial $50 million 10-year loan provided in January 2021 and builds on collaboration initiated through a cooperation agreement in 2017.
• Proceeds of the 10-year funding will be used to improve connectivity, transport, logistics, and trade and to boost access to energy across the African continent. 

Source: ABC

Our Takeaway

Africa presents a massive infrastructure investment opportunity with a current investment gap of over $150 billion per year. The continent is home to some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, with a combined GDP of $2.3 trillion and a population of 1.3 billion people. But only 60% of the population has access to basic electricity, among other infrastructure challenges. With funds like the AFC initiatives and a growing middle class, Africa’s infrastructure market is poised for substantial growth in the coming years.

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South Africa’s Sendmarc nabs $7m Series A funding

Highlights

• Sendmarc, a Johannesburg-based startup offering individuals and businesses protection from cyber-attacks and general email impersonation to global clients, has raised $7 million in Series A funding. 
• The startup was launched by Sam Hutchinson, Keith Thompson, and Sacha Matulovich in 2020 after selling their former startup: a communication platform that allowed businesses to send, deliver and track email and SMS communications. 
• The South African startup, which has offices in the Netherlands, Argentina, and Canada, intends to use the investment to increase its sales team across Africa, the U.S., Europe, and Latin America.

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Globally, businesses lose up to $1 trillion annually to cybercrime; in Africa, that figure stands at a whopping $4 billion. As digital services, financial and non-financial, providers penetrate the African and global market at large, services like Sendmarc’s are crucial to helping businesses make the internet safer for their operations and customers. The startup claims to have over 1,000 paying customers so far; 80% of them are in South Africa and the rest are spread globally. 

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Untapped Global launches climate initiative for Africa

Highlights

• Untapped Global, an investment company focused on emerging markets, has launched its Climate Action Initiative with the support of a growing consortium of partners to deepen EV adoption in Africa.
• The company provides smart asset financing to businesses and has a network of mobility partners that manage over 30,000 vehicles across a half dozen countries.
• Through its new initiative, Untapped aims to achieve 25% electric vehicle adoption across its mobility partners by 2025, deploying over 10,000 EVs, and displacing an estimated 240 metric tonnes of CO2 per year.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

Africa sees huge impacts of climate change, despite accounting for only a fraction of the current level of global CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. Still, there’s a need for the continent to join in an ongoing effort to transition to greener energy, and for investors, nowhere promises bigger business opportunities than in Africa given the need to reinvent all sectors. Untapped’s initiative should help drive forward the adoption of EVs in the region, which is gaining momentum through the efforts of startups like BasiGo.