This Week in African Tech 🌍 from Zanzibar

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Morning! Welcome to This Week in African Tech.

I’ve had one of the best weeks in a long time in Tanzania. Now I’m in Zanzibar for the week on the beach 😎 

The full recap is coming up, but here is a light flex.

This week we were active. Here is a recap.

• On Tuesday I held a very fun, informative event with Mark Straub (CEO of Smile ID) and Henry Obiekea (Managing Director of Fairmoney). Catch it here.

• On Thursday I hosted a Dar Es Salaam Tech Mixer with Ennovate Ventures and Startup Discovery School 🇹🇿 

• And on Friday we launched our LinkedIn Newsletter, Tech Safari Weekly. It’s like this newsletter but on LinkedIn so you can comment, discuss and engage with it. Check it out here.

This week (as work from the beach) I’m learning about Africa’s travel and tourism industry.

I’m searching for resources, statistics, startups or stories on tourism in Africa. If you have any please send them my way 🙌🏾

Alright, let’s dive in 🤿 

Tech Roundup

• Sendy is shutting down and finalizing an asset sale. The startup has been around for 8 years and raised $26.5 million. We are staying tuned to hear who the acquirer is, and articles indicate it could be sold to Sabi, Wasoko, or Trella.

• Kenya’s Worldcoin saga continues.

  • The government now says Worldcoin collected biometric data illegally. The country suspended Worldcoin last week amid safety and data privacy concerns. (I wrote more about it here).

  • Kenyan authorities also raided a Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi, taking away equipment as they look into how the company gathers data.

• A group called Anonymous Sudan plots a cyberattack on Nigeria's digital service systems. The group claims the attacks are in response to Nigeria’s military intervention in coup-ridden Niger.

• Senegal arrests Starlink sellers for providing internet “illegally” following a country-wide internet shutdown.

• Uber finally integrates Mpesa into their app. Kenyans can now pay for rides using mobile money directly within the Uber app. This follows a similar addition on the Uber Eats platform a few weeks back.

• Nigeria’s Autocheck expands to South Africa, three years after launch. The company uses tech to change how Africans buy and sell cars. They’ve made a one-stop place where you can find, finance, and get support for your car needs.

• Moove, the African Mobility fintech, raises $76M equity, debt from Mubadala and BlackRock at a $550M valuation. Moove has raised $325 million ($150 million in equity and over $175 million in debt) to date.

Deal Roundup

• Knife Capital closes a $50 million series B fund to invest in growth-stage B2B startups in South Africa. The fund will also back similar companies in other African countries. Congrats to the Knife Capital Team 💪🏾

• Edencare becomes the first Rwandan company to join Y Combinator. The health-focused insurtech is taking part in YC’s summer batch.

• VaultPay from DRC and Chow Central from Nigeria have also joined Rwanda’s Edencare in Y Combinator’s S23 batch. VaultPay makes banking easier by connecting banks and Telcos, while Chowcentral is creating a delivery chain of cool restaurants in African cities.

• Antler, an early-stage venture capital firm, is rolling out a $60 million fund to back startups across the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan (MENAP) region.

• REdimension Capital, a South African venture capital firm, has raised more than $10 million for its first fund. Growthpoint Properties, Rand Merchant Bank, and Investec Property Fund led the funding round. The fund will focus on PropTech startups in Africa.

• Talents Arena, an AI recruitment startup from Egypt, raises pre-seed funding of $750,000 for its expansion into Saudi Arabia. The round was led by UI Investment alongside unnamed Saudi angel investors.

Events + Opportunities

• Attention African founders! You can now apply for OST Grow 2023, a year-long program that helps African startups grow. They’re looking for startups that want to reach their first $1 million and expand into new markets. Apply here before 31 August.

• TechCabal has announced the speaker list for their inaugural Moonshot conference in Lagos this October. The event will feature 50+ speakers, including Flutterwave's CEO Gbenga Agboola and Sabi's Founder Anu Adasolum

• Stitch, a South African fintech company, will hold its second Scale Summit on Thursday, September 28, building on the success of its first event in 2022. Apply to attend here.

• The 10th edition of Angel Fair Africa is scheduled for November 29 in East London, South Africa. This event will unite accelerators, incubators, emerging businesses from Africa, and investors for deal-making.

• Calling founders from South Africa! AWS is bringing you its fourth funding round for underrepresented founders in South Africa. Access up to ZAR7.5 million (US $400,000) over 24 months, easing funding pressures. Apply here before 11 pm SAST today.

• Founders Factory in Africa is running its Gen F Entrepreneur in Residence Studio. It gives founders money and access to experts to test and launch their ideas. Ready to build? Learn more here.

PS - do you have any news, announcements, or opportunities I should know about? Email me and if they’re a fit, I’ll feature them 👌🏾

And that's a wrap for this week! We will be back with a feature story later this week.

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Catch you soon!

👋🏾 Caleb