Last week featured four announced funding activities in the African tech business ecosystem. Electric Vehicle manufacturer Spiro secured $ 50 million in debt funding, and solar energy solutions provider, d.light, also obtained $3.4 million. Elsewhere, Egyptian fintech MNZL secured seed funding of $ 3.5 million while B2B ecommerce solutions Maad raised $ 3.2 million in debt and equity seed funding round.
Funding
MNZL
Funding round: Seed ($3.5 Million)
Investors: P1 Ventures, Localglobe, Ingressive Capital, 500 Startups, Flat6Labs, First Circle Capital, ENZA Capital, Beenok.
Founded: 2023, Egypt
Founders: Sameh Saleh, Ahmed Eldessouky and Bassem El Shaer
Products: The company operates a fintech solution that allows users to convert their vehicles and house assets into liquidity to raise funds for projects and needs.
What Next?: Fuelled by the funding injection, MNZL will enhance its digital infrastructures to meet up with increasing operational demand in Egypt and across MENA.
Maad
Funding round: Seed Debt-Equity ($3.2 Million)
Investors: Ventures Platform, Seedstars International Ventures, Reflect Ventures, Oui Capital, Launch Africa, Voltron Capital, Alumni Ventures, DFI Proparco.
Founded: 2020, Senegal
Founders: Jessica Long
Products: Maad operates an end-to-end distribution platform that offers B2B ecommerce solutions for informal retailers of fast-moving consumer goods. The platform enables retailers to easily restock their inventory from partner suppliers at affordable costs.
What Next?: The startup plans to channel the funding into expanding its coverage to other parts of Africa and also introduce a Buy Now Pay Later service to enable retailers to purchase inventory on credit.
D.Light
Funding round: $3.4Million
Investors: Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU)
Founders: Nedjip Tozun, Samuel Goldman
Products: d.light provides affordable and sustainable energy solutions for households in East Africa. The company’s solutions range from portable solar lanterns to comprehensive solar home energy systems and other related electronic products including televisions and smart devices.
What Next?: The company will use the funding to improve its service provision and provide more access to affordable, sustainable, and, reliable energy solutions.
Spiro
Funding round: Debt ($ 50 Million)
Investors: Afrieximbank
Founded: 2014
Founders: Kaushik Burman, Mansoor Ali Khan
Products: The company assembles and manufactures electric vehicles and distributes them all over West and East Africa. It also operates battery charging and swapping stations in key locations across different countries.
What Next?: The funding is expected to bolster the company’s operational capacity, and enable it to expand its reach across Africa
Opportunities
World Food Forum (WFF) Startup Innovation Awards.
