Issue #117: Biotech Immobazyme secures $1.3m, LAfricaMobile obtains $4.6m, while Nigerian fintech Regxta wins top prize at Pitch2Win competition

June 26, 2024

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This week’s Ecosystem Insider issue features different interesting funding activities. South African biotechnology startup Immobazyme secured $1.3 million through the help of UTF. Telecommunications company, LAfricaMobile also raised $4.6 million from multiple VCs and angel investors. Elsewhere, Nigerian fintech, Regxta emerged as the winner of the $10k prize money at Tech Circle’s pitch2win competition.

Funding

Immobazyme

Funding round: ($1.3 Million)

Investors: The University Technology Fund (UTF), The University of Stellensbosch Enterprises

Founded: 2018, South Africa

Founders: Ethan Hunter

Products: Immobazyme is a biotechnology research startup that utilizes precision fermentation technology to produce high-value active protein ingredients. The company’s products include dextranase, an enzyme often used in sugar production, growth factors for cell-cultured meat, and many other ingredients for the food and beverages industry

What Next?: The company intends to expand its facilities and increase production capabilities with the secured funding. This will also involve recruiting additional employees to maximize the increased production capacity.

LAfricaMobile

Funding round: Series A (4.6 Million)

Investors: Janngo Capital, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Jules Koundé, SouthBridge Investments, Ciwara Capital, Karim Jouni and Jihed Othmani

Founded: 2014, Senegal

Founders: Malick Diouf

Products: LAfricaMobile operates a cloud communication digital infrastructure that enables users to execute large-scale communication campaigns and broadcasts through mobile platforms such as SMS, USSD, Whatsapp, and text-to-speech modules.

What Next?: The company raised the funding to accelerate its expansion across French-speaking Africa. As such, LAfricaMobile is expected to use the funding to consolidate its financial position and accelerate its expansion in Central Africa as planned.

Non-Equity Funding

Regxta Wins Pitch2Win Competition

Nigerian fintech company, Regxta has emerged as the winner of the $10,000 pitch2Win competition organized by Tech Circle. The company beat several other startups to bag the equity-free funding prize and an all-expense-paid trip to IVS2024, a remarkable startup conference to be held in Kyoto Japan.

Founded: 2021, Nigeria

Founders: Rukayat Bello, Moses Obika

Products: Regxta operates a digital platform that provides easy financial services access to underserved, unbanked groups, individuals, and micro-businesses in rural and peri-urban African communities.

What Next?: Fuelled by the funding, the company is set to continue innovating and improving its offerings with the goal of revolutionizing access to financial services in Africa

Investor Funding

VC Firm Breega Secures First $75 Million Close for Africa Fund I

French venture capital firm, Breega has secured commitments for two-thirds of the capital of its $75 Million funding round in the first close. This particular round represents the company’s sixth fund since it was established in 2015.

Operating out of Paris, the company has previously secured over EUR 550 million in its 9 years of operations. The VC currently boasts a portfolio of over 100 startup companies across 15 countries and manages over $700 million in assets.

The new Africa Seed 1 fund being raised by the company is its first mandate focusing on startups operating outside of Europe. As a result, the VC is simultaneously opening two new offices in Lagos and Cape Town which it has identified as key hubs in Africa’s tech ecosystem. These two new offices will join the company’s existing outlets in Paris, Barcelona, and London to further improve its reach.

Breega intends to invest the fund in startups across the big four African markets i.e Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Egypt. It has also expressed interest in Francophone African markets including Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and the DRC.