This Week in African Tech 🌍

Plus, Valuations 101 with Tech Safari and Raise

Caleb Maru
October 16, 2023

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Hey hey! Welcome to This Week in African Tech.

Before we dive in - next week we’re hosting an event with our friends at Raise called Valuation 101, where we will explore how to value a startup.

Valuations are part art and part science, and I’m excited to be learning the different methods to valuing a company. Sign up to attend here.

Alright, let’s dive in.

After raising $86.1 million in funding across 5 years, Dash, the Ghanaian fintech company, is shutting down. This comes after the former CEO, Prince Boakye Boampong, misrepresented and exaggerated user numbers, paid himself $50,000 per month, and reported a burn rate of $500,000 per month with no revenue.
- In our WhatsApp community, The Safari Club, we had some interesting takes on what this means for Ghana’s startup ecosystem following the struggles of Ghanian startup, Float.

OPay, DHL, and Meta may be fined if Nigeria’s data protection commission establishes wrongdoing in data violation investigation. They may be asked to pay 2% of their gross revenues in 2022 as fines if found guilty.
Payhippo, a Nigerian SME Lending startup, appoints Dami Olawoye as the new CEO. This comes after the company raised $16 million in equity and debt and acquired a microfinance bank to service SMEs in Nigeria.

A 3-month-old Nigerian AI startup, CoverAI, has been acquired by Writesea, a New York company, for a five-figure deal. Talk about a quick exit.
Egyptian startup Intella has closed a USD 3.4 M pre-Series A. Intella offers real-time, on-demand market research for its business clients across diverse sectors. The round was co-led by Hala Ventures and Wa’ed Ventures, the VC arm of Aramco.
WATT, a Nigerian company that delivers hybrid solar solutions, has raised $13m in funding to advance renewable energy solutions. The US$13 million funding came from Empower New Energy, a renewable energy financier.
Senegalese FMCG startup Lengo AI has raised a seven-figure pre-seed round. Lengo AI is the first data-driven operating system for informal retail in Africa. The pre-seed round was led by Acasia Ventures and Ventures Platform.
South Africa’s Sanari Capital, a women-led and owned South African private equity firm, has raised ZAR1.25 billion (US$65 million) in the second close of its growth fund.
Egyptian insurtech startup Amenli has closed a $1 million equity funding round. The round was led by Alter Global and Qatar Insurance Company’s corporate VC arm, Digital Venture Partners (DVP).

Founders - how much is your startup worth? We are teaming up with Lisa Illingworth and Marvin Coleby from Raise to show you how to value your startup next Wednesday. Ready to value your company? Register here.

Hey founders! I'm teaming up with Achille Aruoko CEO of Bujeti for The Founders Finance Stack. Join us on 7th November to learn about tools you can use to manage your finances effectively so you can focus on running your business. RSVP Here

Startups in Kenya! Latitude59 and Startup Wise Guys are calling for early-stage startups to join the L59 Pitch Competition in Kenya on December 6th. The application deadline is November 23, 2023. Apply here
Are you running a tech startup that is working to transform the agriculture and food tech industry in Africa? Apply to the SAIS Investment Readiness Programme and get help to scale your business. Apply here before October 20th.
Africa-focused venture capital firm TLcom Capital is hosting its 5th annual Africa Tech Female Founder Summit on November 14th in Lagos, Nigeria. Apply here.
Interested in African Fintech? The 10th African Fintech Summit is coming to Lusaka, Zambia on 2nd-3rd November 2023. Register here

And that's a wrap for this week!

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