Investor Updates: TLcom Capital raises $70m to invest in African startups

TLcom Capital raises $70m to invest in African startups

Highlights

• VC firm TLcom has announced a first close of $70 million for its $150 million Africa-focused tech fund. It sees participation from Allianz, the world’s largest insurance company, as well as a host of new and returning investors, the TLcom team, and major DFIs.
• With its new fund, TLcom will expand its existing focus on fast-growth, tech-enabled African startups to Egypt, as well as strengthen its long-standing presence across East and West Africa. 
• With ticket sizes ranging from $500,000–$15 million, TLcom expects to add 20 early-stage startups to its portfolio with an emphasis on Seed and Series A stages. A second close of the fund is expected later in 2022.

Source: Bloomberg

Our Takeaway

Last year, startups in the African tech landscape secured several high-value financing rounds and witnessed more exits and M&As than ever before. But there’s a general sense it’s only just the beginning with the ecosystem expected to further mature in the years to come. Naturally, this is attracting strong interest from investors, both local and foreign. After making lucrative bets on the likes of Andela and Twiga, TLcom’s latest close positions the investor to become the largest independent VC firm fully dedicated to the continent. 

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Tanzania’s NALA raises $10m seed for its remittance service

Highlights

• A Tanzania-based cross-border payments company, NALA, has raised $10 million in a new seed funding round led by Amplo, with participation from Accel, Bessemer Partners, and local investors like DFS Lab.
• The seed round comes almost three years after NALA secured a seven-figure pre-seed round led by Accel in 2019. 
• NALA, which is currently present in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, and South Africa, plans to be live in 12 African countries by the end of the year, including Nigeria.

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, and Sendwave have sprung up in recent years offering lower rates to Africans, hoping to seize the lucrative business opportunity for remittance. NALA started as a mobile money service in East Africa before pivoting to international money transfers. According to World Bank, remittance inflows to Sub-Saharan Africa in 2021 rose to $45 billion. 

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Opibus launches Africa-developed electric bus in Kenya

Highlights

• Mobility startup Opibus has introduced the first all-electric bus in Kenya, which it claims is also the first Africa-designed electric bus ever. 
• Founded in 2017, Opibus is a provider of electric vehicles designed and manufactured locally with a vision to create reliable and cost-effective products designed for the pan-African mass market.
• The company raised $7.5 million in equity and grant funding late last year to help it scale its operations and has a plan to provide a locally designed and developed electric bus that can be mass-produced for the pan-African market by the end of 2023.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

Globally, the acceptance of electric vehicles is gaining momentum with adoption estimated to have risen six-fold since 2015. In 2020, there were more than 11 million registered EVs including cars, buses, vans, and trucks globally, and the number is expected to hit 145 million by the end of the decade, suggesting a global transition from gas-powered vehicles is right on track. By continents, however, Africa lags behind its peers and has shown little progress so far. Electric vehicles remain rare in most of Africa but local initiatives like Opibus offer a ray of hope that the region won’t be totally left behind.