Numida Technologies, a fintech venture based in Uganda’s capital of Kampala that raised seed funding last year, has raised $12.3 million in an equity and debt funding round as it looks to expand overseas, especially Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania.
The $7.3-million, pre-Series A equity round was led by Serena Ventures with participation from Breega, 4Di Capital, Launch Africa, Soma Capital, Y Combinator and existing investor MFS Africa, which had led the seed funding. The $5-million debt portion will come from Lendable Asset Management.
Numida was founded five years ago by Mina Shahid, Catherine Denis and Ben Best. It offers digital banking services and unsecured working capital to small and medium-sized enterprises in the East African nation.
The startup initially sought to provide tools to microlenders to assess small businesses by cash flows rather than collateral-based loans. However, this didn’t click. So, in 2017, the startup pivoted to giving loans itself without collateral.
Numida uses a proprietary credit score that helps small firms borrow up to $4,000 quickly for working capital requirement.
iiDENTIFii
South African digital identity startup iiDENTIFii has raised $15 million in growth capital African investment company Arise alongside growth-stage private equity firm Sanari Capital and US tech entrepreneur Bill Spruill, to expand across the continent.
Led by Gur Geva, iiDENTIFii has developed a face authentication technology used by the pan-African banks, insurers and mining houses for both customer and employee authentication.
Farmerline
Ghanaian agri-tech startup Farmerline, which raised $6.4 million pre-Series A investment in its first equity round and another $6.5 million in debt earlier this year, has topped it up with a second close of the round with an additional $1.5 million investment from social impact investor Oikocredit.
Farmerline supports smallholder farmers and agribusinesses with digital tools, logistics, field agents and farm resources. It is now expanding its operations into Ivory Coast.
The startup is focused on providing smallholder farmers with inputs and market access through a network of local agribusinesses. It leverages its proprietary Mergdata farmer management platform to reach smallholder farmers in Ghana, while also providing this platform on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis to corporate houses and developmental organizations active in the agricultural value chain.
Farmerline was founded in 2013 by Alloysius Attah (CEO) and Emmanuel Addai (COO) with initial operations serving 800 farmers across Ghana.
Partment
Egyptian proptech startup Partment has closed its pre-seed funding round at $1.5 million, led by Nclude, Plus Venture Capital (+VC), along with a group of angel investors.
Founded early this year by Ahmed El Raggal, Nadim Nagui and Chinmaya Das, Partment enables users to co-own second homes, while providing property management service.
Fleetsimplify, Drive to Own
Mobility 54 Investment SAS, the corporate venture capital subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corporation and CFAO SAS, has decided to invest in Fleetsimplify Inc. and Drive to Own Pty Ltd.
Fleetsimplify operates a management platform for the owners of ride-hailing business vehicles in Kenya, while Drive to Own engages in the vehicle finance business in South Africa. The two companies were selected in the 2022 Digital Transformation Challenge for Africa, a pitch event for startups in Africa. The investment amount is $50,000 for Fleetsimplify and $100,000 for Drive to Own.
An emerging markets news platform for alternative investments
© The Capital Quest, 2021
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