Investor Updates: Stitch raises $21m to build a pan-African payment powerhouse

Stitch raises $21m to build a pan-African payment powerhouse

Highlights

• South African fintech API Stitch has closed a $21 million Series A funding round that drew participation from The Spruce House Partnership, PayPal Ventures, and TrueLayer among a mix of global and local investors.
• The funding comes 12 months after the company emerged from stealth with a $6 million seed round, and will be used to expand the team, launch new product offerings, and enter new markets across the continent.
• This investment will also allow the company to expand its API and help more clients link bank accounts, wallets, and stores of value to its financial graph.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

African startups received a record $5 billion in 2021, with more than 60% of that funding going to fintech startups. Stitch boasts some of the continent’s fast-growing fintech businesses among its clientele, including wallet-based companies like Chipper Cash, Luno, and Zapper; financial services providers like ImaliPay; subscription and e-commerce players like FlexClub, as well as PSPs and payment aggregators like Peach and Yoco. The growth of digital financial services and embedded finance, in particular, offers a huge business opportunity to provide the infrastructure that enables businesses to launch, optimize and scale fintech solutions.

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YC-backed Remedial Health gets $1m pre-seed

Highlights

• Nigerian startup Remedial Health has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding to accelerate its growth and drive the expansion of its BNPL offering, as it also confirms its participation in the W22 batch of Y Combinator.
• Founded in 2019 by Samuel Okwuada and Victor Benjamin, Remedial delivers technology solutions that make it easier for healthcare providers to access affordable and genuine retail medicines, consumables, and devices.
• It has operations in six states across Nigeria and is connected to more than 100 pharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers, including GSK, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca, as well as Nigeria’s Orange Drugs, Emzor, and Fidson Healthcare.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

The applications of technology to improve the healthcare sector in Africa are widespread and one key area is the medical supply chain. It’s widely believed that the use of emerging technologies can prove to be the most effective solution to manage the complex and fragmented medical distribution systems on the continent and venture capital investors are willingly backing startups tapping into Africa’s healthcare supply chain opportunities. Apart from Remedial, e-commerce giants like Konga, Copia and Jumia have also shown strategic interests in the space.

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Egypt’s proptech startup Nawy raises $5m seed round

Highlights

• Egyptian property tech startup Nawy has raised a $5 million seed funding round to help it expand across the region.
• Founded in 2016 by Mohamed Abou Ghanima, Abdel-Azim Osman, Ahmed Rafea, Aly Rafea, and Mostafa El Beltagy, Nawy allows users to browse houses online using customizable criteria such as unit space, price, and location.
• So far, the company has helped over 60,000 individuals locate homes, and sold over $200 million worth of properties. It is now targeting further growth after raising the seed investment led by the Sawiris family office, where it raised capital last year.

Source: Arab News

Our Takeaway

Across Africa, technology has barely scratched the surface when it comes to the real estate industry, unlike financial services or commerce. Players such as Nawy have achieved impressive feats promoting transparency and enabling customers to make much more informed decisions. But there are still huge untapped opportunities for providers or potential players to capitalize on digital technologies in expanding services and transforming the real estate market on the continent, which is valued at trillions of dollars.