Fifty African startups have benefited from the program’s technical and financial support over the past five years. Its beneficiaries have already raised more than US$150 million in funding.
Incubator Startupbootcamp AfriTech issued, Monday (August 29) calls for applications for the third cohort of its ASIP Accelerator Program. Applications are open till November 11 for the program, which will run from February 20 to May 25, 2023.
To be considered, start-ups must be formally established and have at least two people working on the project and devoting at least 50 percent of their time to it. They must also generate revenues from the product and services they offer.
For this new edition of ASIP Accelerator Program, the targeted sectors are AgriTech and Supply Chain, FinTech, IoT and Connectivity; Machine Learning (Data Analytics), Cybersecurity, CleanTech and RegTech.
The ten early-stage startups selected at the end of the selection process will benefit from intensive coaching, pilot, and proof-of-concept opportunities that will open doors to longer-term business deals.
Each of them will receive €15,000 in cash as well as over €500,000 in credits and will benefit from exclusive partnership agreements with leading technology providers such as AWS, Google, Miro, Hubspot, and many others.
Five of them will be fully funded and supported by the EiA project and receive more support including access to the Euroquity community, networking events, monitoring, etc.
For this new edition, the incubator has the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), the Senegalese General Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship of Women and Youth (DER/FJ), telecom operator Telecel Group, and Enrich in Africa (EiA) -funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 program- as its partners.
Muriel Edjo
This is the second funding round completed by Duplo less than 12 months after the launch of its operations.
B2B payment startup Duplo recently completed a US$4.3 million funding round. In a press release received by We Are Tech on Wednesday, August 31, the company says the additional funds will be used to launch new products and expand into new business sectors in Nigeria.
According to Yele Oyekola, CEO and co-founder of Duplo, “there has been a lot of innovation in consumer payments in Africa in recent years, "but business-to-business payments have remained largely unchanged.”
“We strongly believe that there is a great opportunity to catalyze growth and maximize business opportunities across the continent by removing the bottlenecks that hinder the seamless flow of money between businesses and we are excited to have raised funding from this exciting group of investors to deliver this much-needed transformation,” he said.
This is the second round completed by the fintech, which was founded in September 2021. In February 2022, it secured pre-seed funding from accelerator Y Combinator and pan-African venture capital firm Oui Capital. The funds were secured to upgrade its tech and improve its product.
With this second investment, Duplo will expand its business and now work with financial teams of medium-sized companies and above. "When we think of payments in the continent or even Nigeria, for example, there’s a lot of focus on merchants collecting payments from the customers. And from the B2B angle, what startups help them with, is just collection and payout. Still, there’s a massive value in assisting them in tracking and reconciling payments in real-time, which is where we play a significant role,” Duplo says.
According to the World Bank, in Sub-Saharan Africa, B2B payments represent a US$1.5 trillion market. But the process of issuing and receiving payments remains largely manual, making it costly and highly inefficient for businesses.
The platform aims to address this situation. Since launching its operations, it has helped companies reduce time spent on administrative tasks such as account reconciliation by up to 50% and payment-related costs by up to 85%. Duplo claims to have increased the number of businesses on its platform by 1,000% in the last three months. Payment volume has also increased by 4,200% in the last 5 months.
Samira Njoya
In Africa, access to affordable loans is mainly the daily challenge faced by small businesses. In recent years, fundraising has emerged as one of the main sources for them to access the required capital and expand their businesses.
Scalable digital lending platform Pezesha announced on Tuesday, August 30, that it has secured US$11 million in pre-series A investment.
“We are excited about attracting institutional investors led by the Women’s World Banking Capital Partners II to harness our growth plans and push our mission to the next level. We are equally excited that WWBCP II intentionally invests in women, which allows us to cement inclusivity in our growth plans as a sustainable path towards our vision of building Africa’s MSME lending infrastructure,” said Pezesha founder, Hilda Moraa.
Pezesha was founded in 2017, in Kenya. It connects SMEs and financial institutions, helping the former raise working capital. Doing so “encourages meaningful financial inclusion and reduces inequality in access to formal financial services.” Pezesha also provides financial education and debt counseling to MSMEs to help them improve their credit score and have responsible borrowing habits as they move up the Pezesha financial ladder.
The additional capital, consisting of $6 million in equity and $5 million in loans, will enable it to expand its operations in its core East African markets and explore opportunities in new Sub-Saharan African markets.
The fintech claims to have more than 200,000 partners to date and over 100,000 loans made to MSMEs in Kenya, Uganda, and Ghana.
Samira Njoya
With the coronavirus demonstrating the importance of distance learning, many companies have set out to conquer the market by deploying significant resources to face the competition from international platforms.
eCampus is an e-learning platform developed by a Ghanaian eponymous startup. It is the modern platform of the startup, which started digitizing courses in 2003 by uploading them on floppy diskettes to allow users to conveniently learn without having to face the rigid traditional education means.
The e-learning platform helps users (students and employees notably) reach their training goals via its web and mobile apps launched in 2015. According to eCampus founder Cecil Senna Nutakor, the whole thing started following its harsh education experience. “I failed my final secondary school exams three times in a row, and all those times I wanted to find a tool I could use to prepare me and let me know if I was ready for the exams. I did not want to believe I was dumb as my parents and uncles thought, because I knew there was just a problem with the system,” he indicates.
eCampus’s mobile is accessible for Android and iOS devices. It allows users access to the resources available on the platform, provided they create an account by providing an email, a password, names and surnames, and referrers (if any).
The solution uses artificial intelligence to optimize students’ revision process by letting them know their strengths and weaknesses. It uses the same technology to help employees assess their preparedness for the job market and the relevance of their skills.
The e-learning platform also allows teachers to earn additional income by helping students and employees. With the coronavirus demonstrating the importance of e-learning, the startup now claims more than 50,000 registered users, including over 25,000 active users and more than 1,719 lessons available. It plans to expand into English-speaking East and Southern African markets and into French-speaking Africa.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The private health sector is growing rapidly in Africa. However, the sector is still much disorganized, prompting some entrepreneurs to introduce solutions to save as many lives as possible.
Medsaf is a digital platform developed by a Nigerian eponymous start-up based in Nigeria and the United States. It aims to make the pharmaceutical products’ supply chain more efficient by connecting hospitals and pharmacies with drug suppliers. The startup was founded in 2017 by Joao Pinheiro, Temitope Awosika and Vivian Nwakah after one of its co-founders (Vivan Nwakah) lost a friend due to counterfeit drug.
"The lack of proper supply chain infrastructure drives health care stakeholders to the open drug markets to find their medications and consumables.
The gap in the market was due to the absence of an entity properly adressing [...]Issues around how all players in the supply chain interact with each other and the reasons there are severe lapses within the pharmaceutical supply chain. [...] I realized early on that there needed to be a platform to reduce the friction between stakeholders and influence and reward positive behaviors in a sustainable way," Vivian Nwakah explains.
Medsaf is now that platform, a bridge that facilitates the introduction of quality medicines in Nigeria. By 2020, more than 160 hospitals and pharmacies have shopped on Medsaf. The start-up helps acquire everything from diagnostic products to reagents, equipment, and consumables. As such, it acts as a "one-stop-shop for hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic centers to purchase, manage, and track their crucial medication needs with technology."
Apart from being a marketplace, Medsaf also offers a range of services including Medsaf Assure, which allows subscribers to purchase products at discounted prices. The startup also plans to roll out Medsaf Speedy and Medsaf Patients direct services. Its plan for Medsaf Patients Direct is to work with a network of doctors to supply their patients with medication for certain chronic diseases. As for Medsaf Speedy, it is intended to be an express delivery service, delivering orders the same day when buyers are in Lagos and within 48 to 72 hours when outside the Nigerian metropolis.
Overall, Medasf plans to expand to West and East Africa in the coming years.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Zanzibar is known as one of the best tourist destinations in the world. The country wants to take advantage of this reputation to develop partnerships and become a technological innovation hub par excellence in Africa.
E-commerce platform Wasoko and the government of Zanzibar launched, Tuesday (August 30), the Wasoko Innovation Hub in Fumba. According to Wasoko, the hub aims to attract tech companies to the country and even woo them into relocating.
“As a Pan-African tech company, Wasoko has been looking for a location where we can bring together the best talents from across the continent and beyond to innovate and develop new products and services for our customers. While we considered more traditional centres such as Dubai and London, we were ultimately committed to the belief that technology for Africa should be built in Africa,” said Wasoko CEO Daniel Yu.
A few years ago, Zanzibar initiated efforts to accelerate its digital transformation. One of the initiatives taken was Silicon Zanzibar, which has Wasoko as a founding partner. Through the partnership with Wasoko, the government wants to create an attractive environment for technology companies, researchers, and industry professionals.
The Wasoko Innovation Hub will specialize in developing tools to personalize the customer experience, improve delivery metrics, expand financial service options, and collect key data and information across the value chain.
The new center will contribute to the development of Fumba, help create numerous employment and career opportunities, and establish the island as a leading center for pan-African technology companies. It will also enable the country to secure more than US$15 million in investment over the next decade.
The Wasoko Innovation Hub will focus on developing world-class technology solutions that will boost the African e-commerce sector. According to Zanzibar's Minister of Investment and Economic Development, Mudrick Soraga, the hub is to be an ideal and suitable setting "for all technology companies and their team members to be based in Zanzibar."
Samira Njoya
A few years ago, the African social media landscape was dominated by foreign messaging solutions. However, nowadays, local entrepreneurs are stepping in with local apps that integrate a set of useful features.
Dikalo is a digital platform developed by an eponymous Cameroonian startup founded in 2016. It allows users to discuss without sharing personal information.
It is available as an Android app, which incorporates features (like file sharing, voice, text, video messaging, etc) common to most instant messaging apps. It also includes packs of stickers dedicated to each African country. For instance, there is the “naija” sticker pack for Nigeria or the “zouzoukwa” pack for Côte d’Ivoire.
To register on Dikalo, users need to create a nickname, provide an email and create a password. The app then generates an authentication code to validate the registration. Dikalo does this to protect its users’ personal data in line with its transparent personal data management policy.
Currently, Dikalo, which plans to integrate a mobile money solution into its platform, claims more than 100,000 registered users, including 87,000 active users. "Most of our users come from Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire. Our main goal is to become the most used social media app everywhere. My ambition is to grow in countries like South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Algeria ...," says Dikalo founder Alain Ekambi.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
After her studies in the United States, the young woman has occupied various positions in financial companies and renowned institutions. Nowadays, as a partner in a venture capital firm investing in tech startups, she plays many roles in the African tech ecosystem.
Andreata Muforo (photo) is, since 2013, a partner at Nairobi-based venture capital firm TLCom Capital LLP. Her work within TLCom includes assessing investment sustainability and managing the venture capital firm’s ESG (environmental, social, and governance) approach. She is also the executive director of TIDE Foundation, a TLCom-sponsored non-profit “focused on improving the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sub Saharan Africa.”
Miss Muforo, who hails from Zimbabwe, is also a member of the board of several African startups, including B2B platform Twiga Foods and auto-tech startup Autochek. She is also a mentor for Endeavor network, a non-profit organization that helps grow ventures and supports entrepreneurs.
The strong advocate for gender equality in the African tech ecosystem started her professional career, in 2003, as an analyst for Citigroup. In 2004, she joined NERA Economic Consulting. Some five years later, she became AfDB Tunisia’s private sector investment officer. Barely months after joining the AfDB, she got employed as a Transaction Manager at Horizon Africa Capital Ltd, a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Melchior Koba
The somewhat tense relations between Algeria and France over the past few months is gradually being normalized. The two countries now want to capitalize on their historical bond as well as development issues to boost those relations.
During his friendly and working visit to Algeria, on August 25-26 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron (photo, center) announced several cooperation projects between the two countries. In the digital segment, in particular, he unveiled a project aimed at creating a Franco-Algerian incubator. According to the French President, the aim of the incubator is to let the two countries share their knowledge and innovations.
“Algeria has so many talents, and so do French and Franco-Algerians. That is the reason I want us to join forces to develop a bridging system [...], develop training and facilitate exchanges and joint innovations by our two countries, why not in the whole region,” he said.
Besides a training and project maturation framework for tech entrepreneurs, Emmanuel Macron also mentioned the creation of a €100 million fund to fund startups since financing is a key factor in their growth and success. Public Investment Bank BPIFrance will set up the fund, allowing tech entrepreneurs to promote projects, he added.
During the working visit, business mogul Xavier Niel, who was also part of the French delegation, announced the forthcoming launch of Ecole 42, a free coding school. The school was announced in 2017 but its launch has been delayed up to now.
Muriel Edjo
The future bill will propel the DRC and its administration into a digital era that will greatly benefit every sector of the national economy.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will elaborate a digital law to oversee its digital transformation efforts. On August 26, 2022, during a ministerial council, President Felix Tshisekedi (photo) ordered his government to adopt a bill for the digitization of the public administration.
"While praising the significant efforts already made by some ministries in that matter, notably with the project to secure land deeds and digitize the cadastre, the President of the Republic stressed the need to digitize the whole public administration,” reads the release published after the ministerial council.
In the coming days then, Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde will accelerate the elaboration of a legal framework to ensure the appropriate supervision of the digitization efforts. He will also ensure the related bill is submitted to the National Assembly during its September session for review and adoption.
The new instruction is further proof of DRC’s commitment to upgrading its administration. In early August this year, Minister of Land Affairs Aimé Molendo Sakombi signed an agreement with Luxembourg company "eProseed" for the implementation of the "e-Foncier" project that aims to secure the cadastre and modernize land management. The digital bill instructed will allow an in-depth reorganization of state actions to make DRC a digital government, amid the ongoing digital and social revolution. It is in line with Horizon 2025, the country’s national digital strategy that aims to make the digital sector a tool for integration, good governance, economic growth, and social progress.
Samira Njoya
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E-commerce has gained momentum in Africa since the Covid-19 period. Numerous platforms have emerged to help the population buy what they need online and allow sellers to sell more. With Kwely, the focus is now on selling more local products abroad.
Kwely is a B2B platform developed by an eponymous startup based in Senegal and the USA. The startup behind the platform was founded in 2019, by Birame N. Sock (photo). It aims to become the Alibaba of products made in Africa. For that purpose, it raised US$1.7 million to carry out its targeted projects.
According to Birame N. Sock, Kwely is a bridge between African producers, global consumers, and international buyers. “The goal is to be Africa's leading B2B e-commerce platform, redefining how African products are perceived and how African buyers and sellers transact with each other and the rest of the world,” she explains.
The best way to become one of Kwely’s suppliers is to enter its incubator program Tekki, which is currently in its second cohort. The program teaches producers how to improve packaging to meet international standards and gives tips to develop a scalable and adequate international business or marketing strategy as well as create effective product storytelling to enter the targeted markets.
Tekki helps producers create an export-ready brand while the Kwely platform offers marketing and distribution services. The products available on the platform include cosmetics, food, and home accessories.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Recently, the e-commerce boom gave a new impetus to a concept that started in the 1970s: dropshipping. Although the popularity of that concept is growing among Africans, there is almost no local platform facilitating the process. Tendo is changing that.
Tendo is a digital platform developed by a Ghanaian eponymous startup, connecting local suppliers with dropshippers. Before Tendo, “people who want to sell online [had] to save money, visit hundreds of suppliers to find a trusted one, and risk losing their capital by stocking up inventory. [They also had] to incur costs for logistics and warehousing,” explained co-founder Felix Manford. With the creation of the startup Tendo (in 2020), all that changed, he added.
The solution addresses additional challenges, allowing any individual who so wishes to become a retailer. "Tendo enables anyone to start their online business without investing any capital," the platform indicates. All the retailers have to do is share the goods listed by suppliers with potential customers. When a buyer places an order with the retailer, the latter simply sends the order and buyer’s details and lets the supplier deliver the order. Once the order is delivered, the retailer will receive the profit he/she generated.
Tendo also has a mobile app (accessible for Android and iOS devices) that allows users to perform all the tasks they can carry out on the web platform. It also allows suppliers to register on Tendo and leverage the retailer network to quickly sell their goods.
From 2020 to date, the Ghanaian startup behind the platform has raised over US$220,000. This year, it expanded into the Nigerian market and got selected to participate in Y Combinator’s winter cohort.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The African Digital Hub aims to take advantage of Tunisia’s geographical and geo-digital positioning to create a global digital hub.
During the TICAD 8, held in Tunisia last August 27-28, volunteer organization Tunisian Smart Cities (TSC) presented African Digital Hub, a pan-African project aimed at connecting Africa to the world.
According to the TICAD 8 whitebook published by the Tunisian-Japanese chamber of commerce and industry, the digital infrastructure offers an opportunity to establish a set of digital cardinals on the African continent, ensuring “the inter-connection of Africa with the rest of the world through a sovereign mesh of submarine cables.”
For Akil Sadkaoui, manager of the African Digital Hub project, the infrastructure will help boost connectivity in Africa, “therefore allowing residents to capitalize on new value chains in a context marked by growing e-commerce and mobile payment activities at a time when artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies and soon quantum networks are constant discussion topics.”
The African Digital Hub will be implemented following a public-private partnership model. During its first phase (US$307 million), Green's Data Cities will be built, forming the building block of a large backbone network that will benefit allied cities.
The project is expected to create some 500 direct jobs. It aims to create a green digital sector that leverages green energy sources and an academic research program. For connectivity expert Damien Bertrand, thanks to the African Digital Hub, Tunisia could become the northern gateway of a sovereign and autonomous Africa while Bizerte will be the building block of that gateway.
Let’s note that the Bizerte governorate (in Tunisia) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have already launched the feasibility study of the first phase of the African Digital Hub.
Samira Njoya
The solution was developed to help SMEs save resources and time by outsourcing some of their management chores.
Workpay is a digital solution developed by an eponymous Kenyan startup. It allows African SMEs to hire, manage and pay their employees. The startup, which developed the platform, was founded in 2019 by Jackson Kibigo and Paul Kimani. From its inception to date, it raised over US$2.4 million to support its African growth
According to co-founder Paul Kimani, the funds raised have provided an opportunity for Workpay to scale its “human resource management and payroll processing tools to SMBs and expand to enterprise clients across East Africa.”
“We are fortunate to have the backing of some incredible people on our mission to make it easy for businesses to manage and pay employees across Africa,” he added.
The digital solution has a mobile app, accessible for Android and iOS devices. The mobile app allows users access to the various web services offered by Workpay and also allows them to monitor team performance in real-time and hire the best African talents.
To let subscribing companies enjoy their subscription to the fullest, Workpay’s pricing is dynamic and tailored according to every company's need. “We believe not all companies are the same. Therefore, our packages and pricing are different for each company,” the Kenyan startup indicates. On its website, it claims over 500 firms are using its solution, including Nigerian unicorn Flutterwave.
Adoni Conrad Quenum