This Week in African Tech 🌍

The Female Founders Guide to Raising

Author

Caleb Maru
March 17, 2024

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Hey there! Caleb here.

Welcome to This Week in African Tech.

We have two great events coming up in West Africa this week.

If you’re in Lagos 🇳🇬 on Tuesday, come to our mixer with Paystack at their HQ.

And if you’re in Accra 🇬🇭 we’re hosting a Tech Safari mixer with Build.

Also, in a week’s time, we team up with Founders Factory Africa to explore “The Female Founder's Guide to Raising”.

I’ll be joined on the panel by Farah Emara, CEO of FreshSource Global, Hope Ditlhakanyane, Investment Principal at Founders Factory Africa, and Gwera Kiwana, Co-Founder of Women Who Build Africa.

If you’re curious about how female founders can be enabled to raise capital, this is for you.

Now, let’s get into the roundup!

Tech Roundup

  • South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority has approved operating licences for 59 cryptocurrency companies from the 12th of March. The regulator received 355 applications for crypto licenses - 59 of them were approved, and 262 are still being vetted.

  • Check your sent folder. Internet connection in large parts of Africa was lost because of an undersea cable breakage. The outages are affecting mobile network operators and Internet service providers.

Deal Roundup

  • Simera Sense, an end-to-end optical solutions company, raises $14.7 million in its first growth investment round. The company will use the money from NewSpace Capital and Knife Capital to grow its capacity, with more production sites in Europe.

  • Egyptian ad-tech startup dKilo has raised US$3.2 million in seed funding to create a new channel for brands to engage with consumers through its online platform, and expand into the Saudi market.

  • UXLINK, a Web3 social platform and infrastructure, closed a new round of funding, amounting to over $9 million total investment. This round’s investors include OKX Ventures, and Web3Port Foundation, among others.

  • XSML Capital, a provider of growth capital to SMEs in Central and Eastern Africa, has launched its fourth fund, African Rivers Fund IV (ARF IV), with a first close of $98.7 million. The new funding allows XSML to double its investments and impact and follow investees into new markets like Zambia.

  • Youverify, a Nigerian provider of identity verification and anti-money laundering solutions for banks and startups, secures a $2.5 million investment from Elm, which specialises in customised digital solutions for public and private institutions in Saudi Arabia.

  • MDaaS Global, a pioneering health tech company and operator of Nigeria’s fastest-growing healthcare network – BeaconHealth Diagnostics, raises a $3 million Pre-Series A round of financing. The round was co-led by Aruwa Capital Management and follow-on investor Newtown Partners to expand its healthcare network to all 36 states in Nigeria.

Events and Opportunities

  • London Africa Network 2024 is open for applications! The network provides a platform for members to engage with one another, and for the ecosystem to support and engage with the community. To find out more and apply to be a member, visit the website here. The deadline for applications is the 22nd of March, 2024.

  • Dream VC has opened applications for its 2024 cohort. This year, Dream VC will run the Launch Into Venture Capital (LIVC) and Investor Accelerator Program (IA). LIVC is a four-month-long program that offers a way into entry-level VC roles, while the IA program targets mid to advanced-stage career professionals. If you’re looking to get into VC, apply here before the 14th of April, 2024.

  • The Amazon Sustainability Accelerator has opened a new round of applications for climate-tech start-ups focused on packaging and the circular economy. Founders can win the right to financial and professional guidance. Start-ups that have moved beyond prototype testing and are working toward generating initial revenue and growing operations.

  • Village Capital and Moody’s Foundation have launched Greentech 2024: The Future of Sustainability, an investment-readiness accelerator. Village Capital unlocks social and financial capital for early-stage companies and runs over 14 accelerator programmes. Applications are open here until the 10th of May, 2024.

  • “The Female Founder's Guide to Raising” webinar will be hosted by Tech Safari, and on the panel we have;

And that's a wrap for this week!

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