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This Week in African Tech 🌍

This Week in African Tech 🌍

Bujeti raises $2 million, Bitmama acquires Payday

December 11, 2023

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Hey and welcome to This Week in African Tech!

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Tech Roundup

YC-backed Pivo is shutting down a year after raising $2 million. The Nigerian fintech banked small supply chain businesses and had big-shot investors like Y-Combinator, Rally Cap Ventures, Ventures Platform, Mercy Corp Ventures, and 15 others.
Ghana bans Elon Musk's Starlink for operating without a license. Starlink has faced similar bans in Zimbabwe and Senegal.
Massimiliano Spalazzi, Jumia Nigeria's CEO, is stepping down after 11 years at the company. He’ll be replaced by Jumia Ghana CEO Sunil Natraj come January next year.
Flutterwave secures money transfer license in 13 US states. This allows users to transfer money across these 13 states using Flutterwave's Send App.
Tech marketing guru Peace Itimi is releasing a documentary about Nigeria’s tech ecosystem. Dubbed #InnovatingAfrica, it features raw interviews with key Nigerian tech founders, investors and policymakers. Catch it here when it goes live.

Deal Roundup

YC-backed Nigerian startup, Bujeti, raises $2 million to expand it’s corporate card and spend management platform. The round was led by Y Combinator, alongside Entrée Capital, Voltron Capital, Unpopular VC, Kima Ventures, Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, and more. We wrote an article on how Bujeti unifies the financial stack here.
Egyptian online car parts marketplace Mtor has raised $2.8 million in pre-seed funding to digitise local car workshops. The round was led by Algebra Ventures, with participation from the Dutch Founders Fund (DFF), Aditum Ventures, LoftyInc Capital Management, and others.
Kenyan climate-tech startup Amini raises $4m seed funding round. The round was led by Salesforce Ventures and Female Founders Fund. Amini wants to be the go-to source for reliable, AI-powered environmental data in Africa.
Wic Capital, a Senegalese fund, raises $1 million from FSDAi Nyala Facility. This funding will back women-owned businesses in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
Kenyan startup tappi raises $1.5 million in a pre-seed round to digitize SMEs across Africa. The round was led by Mercy Corps Ventures and Chui Ventures.
Nigeria’s crypto payment platform Bitmama acquires Payday, a virtual card service provider. This comes just nine months after Payday’s $3 million seed round and three months since it started looking for a buyer. The deal value remains undisclosed.
Kenyan e-mobility startup BasiGo raises $1.5 million in debt funding from British International Investment (BII). They’ll use the funding to assemble their electric buses locally.
Mastercard’s Africa Growth Fund to invest $27 million in VestedWorld, Chui Ventures, and SME Impact Fund. The Africa Growth Fund is Mastercard Foundation's way of closing the funding gaps for impactful African investments.
Tunisian team collaboration startup Cynoia raises $930,000 to expand into Senegal and Ivory Coast. The round was led by United Gulf Financial Services, 216 Capital Ventures, and Bpifranc.
Events and Opportunities
- Building a Web3 startup in Africa? Fuse Network, a leader in web3 payment solutions, has announced a $10 million grant for startups to access Web3 payment systems, and they’re keen on Africa. Apply here.
- Want to back an African startup? AfriTech accelerator has created an investment syndicate/angel community to link startups with mentors and investors. Apply here.
- Hello Nairobi! The Tech Connect networking dinner is coming to Nairobi this Thursday, December 14. Register here to attend.