Investor Updates:October 11 2022

Nigeria’s Stears raises $3.3m, backed by Serena William’s firm

Highlights

• Nigeria-based data and intelligence company Stears has raised a $3.3 million seed round led by MaC Venture Capital. Serena Ventures, Omidyar Group’s Luminate Fund, Melo 7 Tech Partners, and Cascador also participated. 
• The news comes two years after Stears raised $650,000 in pre-seed funding. Last month, it was one of the 60 startups accepted into the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund 2022 cohort, which included some non-dilutive funding.
• The seed investment will help take Stears from an insight company to a data company focused on Africa with plans to expand its team and geographical presence.

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Stears has grown thanks to paid subscriptions, making it a rare subscription success story in Nigeria, where consumers are generally unaccustomed to paywalls for information. Up to 90% of its enterprise revenue comes from large institutional clients, such as the European Investment Bank, UNDP, and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, while corporate subscriptions from Nigerian companies account for the remaining. Meanwhile, the investment is one of just a handful in Africa for Serena Ventures, whose founder retired from tennis in September.

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Zimbabwe’s RioZim buys Namibian diamond mine after $19bn raise

Highlights

• RioZim has bought Sperrgebiet Diamond Mine in Namibia as the Zimbabwean group seeks to expand in Africa.
• The group has been trying to broaden its footprint in the mining industry in Africa and diversify its assets, and this acquisition is part of the strategy
• The acquisition cost around $58 million, according to a Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the matter.

Source: Mining.com

Our Takeaway

RioZim, which also has interests in coal and a nickel refinery, is planning further investments in base and precious metals, after spending more than $150 million at its gold mine and a new plant at the Murowa diamond mine in Zimbabwe. The company’s limited shareholders only recently injected $19 billion to prop up the troubled resources firm, which last week reported wide-ranging write-downs for the half-year period to June 30. Regardless of its troubles, investments in and by the company come as good news for the economies of southern African neighbors Zimbabwe and Namibia. 

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Nguvu Health partners with AXA Mansard to provide mental health care

Highlights

• Since its inception in 2020, Nguvu Health, an on-demand teletherapy platform, has been providing Nigerians with access to clinical psychologists. 
• Founded by Joshua Koya, Tolulope Ogunjuyigbe, and Juliet Odumosu, the health tech startup focused on mental health has partnered with AXA Mansard to provide affordable mental health care to Africans. 
• The partnership, a 2-year deal, brings together Nguvu Health’s connections to teletherapy services and AXA Mansard’s connections to thousands of users seeking proper mental health coverage.

Source: Techpoint Africa

Our Takeaway

The importance of this partnership is underscored by the fact that in Africa, mental health professionals are scarce, with only 1 psychiatrist per 500,000 Africans, which is 100 times less than the recommended number. The figures are even lower in Nigeria, where only 300 psychiatrists are available to the over 50 million people that suffer from mental disorders. AXA Mansard’s corporate clients and stakeholders will be granted quarterly discounted wellness sessions and a mental health audit while Nguvu will provide discounts for different therapy types, and 15% off couple and support group therapy for its partner’s users.