This Week in African Tech: Fund Frenzy in Q1

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Tech Safari is brought to you by.. Raise

Founders!

On Thursday I'm hosting a workshop with Raise called Fundraising 101. In the workshop we will dig into: 

• When to start fundraising for your startup

• Preparing for your fundraise

• How to build momentum and close your fundraise quickly

Plus, any other questions you might have about fundraising. 

Join us on Thursday! Save your spot below

The Multiplier Effect

At Tech Safari I talk about the idea of startups being ‘flywheels’ of impact a lot.

Companies like Cellulant, Careem and Paystack have become ‘multipliers’ of impact, as their employees go on to build successful companies.

And while it’s easy to talk about the impact a startup has, what about going beyond words to visualise impact?

Endeavor is a non-profit helping entrepreneurs from emerging markets to scale, with companies I’ve covered like Cellulant and Careem in their ecosystem.

This week they launched an interactive ‘Multiplier Effect Map’ to visualise the impact of entrepreneurial ecosystems, and I’ve spent most of my Saturday morning scrolling through the map.

Below is a look at Careem - a startup I covered in February.

Have a play around with their site to see the Multiplier Effect in practise.

You can even apply for your startup to be featured.

I’d love to see some more startups from around Africa on the map, like Cellulant, Paystack, Interswitch and MFS.

If you’re an African founder or operator I’d encourage you to apply and get on their map!

More dry powder - but startup funding is down 🤔

Last week I pointed out that while we’ve seen a lot of new funds announce raises this year - six, to be exact:

• Partech Africa II - $271m

• Flat6Labs - $95m

• Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV) - $43m

• Camel Ventures - $16m

• Equator - $40m

• Goodwell x Oxfam - $21.7m

This doesn’t count new fund and venture studios announcements, like:

• Kalon Venture Partners, who are set to raise a $50m fund.

• Factor[e] Ventures launched a new venture studio, Delta40, will invest $100-600k checks.

• The Nigerian government, who launched a $618m tech fund as part of their i-DICE programs.

• DFS Labs and Stellar, who launched a fund to invest in fintech startups building on the Stellar network.

So it seems like there is a lot of new cash to invest.

But this quarter, African Startup funding is down 57.2% compared to Q1 last year, with only $649 million raised.

Founders are feeling the crunch too. This morning I spoke to a founder who had multiple term sheets pulled and commitments reduced by more than 50%.

It’s a little confusing, so I want to put a question out there.

Given the number of new funds that have launched on the continent this year alone, do you think that:

• Funds will keep deploying and funding will grow in 2023 compared to previous years?

• Funds will sit on their (newly raised) cash and ride out the downturn?

• Funds aren’t actively deploying because their fundraising announcements are just announcements - and not actually cash in the bank?

Let me know on LinkedIn!

Tech Roundup

• Lazerpay, a web3 and crypto payment company, is shutting down after failing to secure funding and downsizing its workforce. It had enabled over 3000 merchants to receive and make payments in crypto.

• Healthlane, a Nigerian health-tech startup, has announced restructuring plans following months of operational struggles and little business. The startup offers health tests on its digital platforms before the patient

Deal Roundup

• FarmTrace, a cloud-based farm management tool, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding to expand operations and serve more farms, add more products and expand to more geographies.

• Victory Farms, a Kenya-based aquaculture startup, has raised $35 million in Series B to expand local operations and build the world's most sustainable end-to-end protein platform to nourish 2 billion Africans with affordable, accessible, and healthy meals.

Events and Opportunities

• The Green Changemakers Challenge, run by Ashoka and HSBC, invites African startups with solutions that contribute to building a sustainable and equitable world. The challenge will award up to 12 winners with up to $25,000 in grant funding and the chance to learn with HSBC and Ashoka. Apply here by April 26.

• Founders! I’m hosting a workshop on Fundraising 101 with Raise Africa - a startup dedicated to helping African startups grow across borders. It’s this coming Thursday - save your spot here.

• The Tech Safari Tour will begin in the US next month! A set of meetups across San Francisco, Washington DC and New York. Register here to be updated on event details.

And that's a wrap! We will be back with a feature story next 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