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- This Week in African Tech 🌍
Welcome to Tech Safari!
Your tour guide on African Tech 🧭
Hello to the 153 new folks who have joined the Safari since the last edition.
If you haven't subscribed, join 9,376 smart folks curious about Tech in Africa.
Good morning! Currently on a train from Wilmington Delaware to Washington DC 🚆
On Thursday, we had an incredible call with Iyin Aboyeji - the man behind two of Africa’s seven unicorns, and now Managing Partner at Future Africa. We talked about:
Iyin's upbringing, and what he learned from his dad grinding to get him a good education.
Who inspires Iyin. Surprise - they're not in tech.
The day Iyin knew he was all in on tech. It involves him not being let into his co-working space.
Iyin's biggest 'failures' and what he learned from them - including his run at Presidency
How Africa can multiply its best tech talent to build generational companies - like Andela and Flutterwave
I’ll be sharing the recording soon. (Train WiFi bandwidth doesn't let me upload it to Youtube).
It's the first session of many! We’ve got more great innovators and investors sessions on the cards in the coming months. The Safari Club decides who we talk to - and come along to the sessions.
ICYMI, the Safari Club is our WhatsApp Community.
If you want to join us, refer 3 friends to Tech Safari with your unique referral link (at the bottom of the email). Then you’ll get a link to join us!
It gates the community to members that actually want to be a part of it and be active contributors (plus, it helps us grow)!
Tech Safari Syndicate
At Tech Safari we talk about how startups using tech will change Africa for the better.
We profile the incredible founders who are behind those companies. Founders like:
Sam Baddoo from Fleri, who makes family care in Africa as easy as a subscription
Dacod and Tao from Foondamate, who built ChatGPT for education in Africa before there was a ChatGPT, with over 1 million users around the world now
Fadl from Nexford University, who re-wrote University from first principles and has helped hundreds of graduates across Africa land global roles.
All founders I want to back - not just through telling their story, but by investing in them too.
So we are starting: The Tech Safari Syndicate. The idea is to write about startups in Africa and follow that up by writing check into them too.
Believe it or not, I was an investor before I became a ‘writer.’
After I raised a fund in 2021 (the good days), writing became my tool to learn about the ecosystem and become a better investor.
Now, I’ve invested in 18 startups across Africa. And from my time in the US, it turns out a lot of you want to invest in Africa too.
The Tech Safari Syndicate will join me investing in startups in the world’s most exciting continent for tech.
If you want to come along for the ride, fill out the form below. I’ll loop back next week with more info (and hopefully the first deal memo 👀).
Deal Roundup
Helpoo, an Egyptian auto-tech startup that digitises car insurance and inspections has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Morni Holding, to support its growth.
Chari, a Morocco-based B2B e-commerce startup, secured further funding from Plug and Play in an extension of its Series A round, which Orange Ventures invested in in February 2023.
Figorr (previously known as Gricd), a Nigerian last-mile delivery startup, secured $1.5m of seed funding led by Atlantica Ventures and included Vested World, Jaza Rift and Katapult.
Port433, a South African cybersecurity startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding to expand more into Africa and the Middle East.
Sabi, a Nigeria-based B2B e-commerce startup, has raised $38m in series B funding from CommerzVentures, Norrsken22, Fluent Ventures, Proof VC and CRE Venture Capital. This brings their valuation to $300 million.
Amini, a Kenya-based climate-tech startup that is using AI and satellite tech to bridge Africa’s environmental data gap, has raised $2m in pre-seed funding, led by Pale Blue Dot VC.
M-Kopa, a digital financing firm, has announced a close of more than $250m in debt and equity financing. Lenders include Standard Bank, BII and others.
Events + Opportunities
Calling all founders, investors and tech folk in Washington DC! I’m having a Tech Safari mixer with Fleri and Waya on Tuesday 23rd May near Dupont Circle. RSVP here.
The following week I’ll be hosting an event with in New York with AfricaTech on (Wednesday May 31st). RSVP here
Are you an Africa-focused founder or investor in New York? Send me an email back I have a cool opportunity for you 💪🏾
We’re starting a Tech Safari Syndicate! To invest in African Startups alongside us fill out this quick survey.
Content I loved this week
Preamble dropped its first video on Youtube this week and it was incredible. Imagine Vox Media meets African Tech. It visualises how startups in Africa raised $5.8 billion last year, the biggest deals and the most active funds on the continent. And beautifully.
Sati goes deep into a topic in Africa, looking at the history to track why Africa is where it is. This week it was about Logistics in Africa. Some of you might remember my post on how Logistics is broken in Africa? Marge and Ona dive into why this is the case in their latest edition.
And that's a wrap for this week! We will be back with a feature story this week.
Did we miss anything? Or just want to say hey? I'd love to hear from you! You can
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Catch you soon!
👋🏾 Caleb