Across Africa this week, 5 startups raised a total of $8.6m while 3 others raised undisclosed amounts. At the top of the country chart is South Africa, driven by Telecoms giant Talk360, who raised $3m in a second close of its seed round, in addition to the $4m raised earlier, bringing the total seed round amount to $7m. Closely behind is Nigeria with $2.6m and Egypt where 2 startups jointly received $2m.
Taking a closer look at Nigeria, Spleet Africa, a proptech that seeks to simplify rent payment for renters and landlords by facilitating monthly, quarterly and biannual payments (as opposed to only annual payments); raised $2.6m in their seed round led by Los Angeles–based early-stage VC firm MaC Venture Capital, with participation from Noemis Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Assembly Funds, Ajim Capital, Francis Fund, existing investors from its pre-seed, MetaProp VC, and HoaQ Fund, and proptech operators such Eduardo Campos and Paulo Buchucher of Yuca and Majed Chaaraoui of Insurami.
The investment will be used to scale Spleet’s products: the flagship residential rent management and rent financing solution. The rent financing solution, dubbed Rent Now, Pay Later, has already been beta-tested since December with a handful of users, who make a one-month down payment while the company finances the remaining 11 months.
In other news from the ecosystem;
● The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has sued Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, alongside its Nigerian public relations agency AT3 Resources at the Federal High court, Abuja Judicial Division; asking for ₦30 billion (~$50 million) in sanction for the violation of the advertising laws and for loss of revenue as a result of Meta’s continued exposure of unapproved adverts on its platforms.
● Google has announced its plans to establish a new Google Cloud region in South Africa – its first on the continent. The news, which came at the second Google for Africa event, is the latest example of how Google is delivering on the $1bn investment commitment made last year to Africa.
● Egypt-founded and UAE-based mobility startup Swvl, has expanded its services to Switzerland under the brand name, my Bux, where it established 81 “digital stops”for consumers. Swvl currently serves 115 cities in 18 countries including Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
● The government of Kenya has bought the 60% of Telkom Kenya it did not already own from London-based Helios Investment Partners.The government paid 6.09 billion Kenyan shillings (US$50.4 million) for the stake, which means the Kenyan state now owns 100% of the company.
● Helicarrier, the parent company of Buycoins and Sendcash, has announced that it has completed the signing of definitive agreements to acquire a significant equity stake in Accrue. As part of this agreement, Buycoins Basic will be transitioning into Accrue effective immediately.
● After holding steady for the best part of the last three years, mobile internet service providers in Nigeria have started increasing the prices of their data plans, reflecting a general rise in the cost of living in the country that has affected most things from airline ticket prices of food. MTN and Airtel, two of the four main telcos, have revised some of their internet data prices upwards by at least 10%.
● Egyptian and MENA-focused venture capital firm Algebra Ventures has announced a $100 million first close of its second fund and expects to reach its final close by the end of Q1 2023. Launched as a $90 million fund last April with a Q3 2021 prediction for first close, the lag has afforded the fund enough time to exceed its initial target.
