Issue #114: Moroccan Logistic Startup Yola Fresh Raises $7m Pre-Series A Fund

June 4, 2024

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Last week was somewhat unremarkable in the African startup funding scenes. Only one funding deal involving Moroccan startup, Yola Fresh made the news, reflecting the recent state of the market as investment activities have become significantly slower in the past few weeks.

Funding

Yola Fresh

Funding round: Pre-Series A ($7 Million)

Investors: Algebra Ventures, E3 Capital, Janngo Capital, and FMO

Founded: 2023, Morocco

Founders: Youssef Mamou, Larbi Alaoui Belrhiti

Yola fresh is a supplychain and logistics tech solutions provider revolutionizing the African agricultural supply chain operations. It provides seamless connection between agricultural commodity producers and consumers using cutting edge technology which streamlines the process of farm products transfer from the farm to the consumers.

Through its technology, Yola Fresh tracks products from farm to retail. It intends to reduce the influence of intermediaries in the supply chain. That way, it helps lower costs on retailers, minimize waste, and improve profitability for every participant in the chain

Yola Fresh recognizes the investment as a vote of confidence in its commitment and efforts to creating a more efficient and transparent agricultural commodity distribution network in MENA. The company intends to use the funding to facilitate its expansion in Morocco first, and then progress into other markets.

Venture Fund

Amethis Fund III Secures Investment from European Investment Bank

Amethis und III, a pan-African fund has received an investment of EUR 25 Million ($ 27.18 Million) from the European Investment Bank. The fund provides private equity capital for growth stage SMEs. It mainly targets companies that serve low and middle income populations across Africa in the healthcare, business services, logistics, and IT industries.

In addition, it aims to support Agribusinesses, FMCG distributors, non-banking financial service providers and infrastructure service facilitators.

Speaking on the decision to support the fund, Thomas Ostros, the Vice president of EIB disclosed that the EIB is glad to support Amethis in its effort to invest in small companies in middle-income African countries. He reiterated that the bank considers Africa as a close and important partner with a lot of potential and untapped opportunities. But due to a lack of capital, several African enterprises struggle to grow, and that’s what setups like Amethis Fund seek to address