The past week has been eventful for the African startup funding scene, with several innovative companies securing significant investments to scale their operations and expand their impact. Notable among these are Hydrobox, which raised $9 million to drive sustainable energy solutions, and HUB2, securing $8.5 million to enhance financial infrastructure in Africa. Other startups like LAfricaMobile, Biomassters, Konnect, and Sylndr also garnered funding to fuel their ambitious growth plans. Here’s a closer look at the startups that raised funds last week and their plans for the future.

Funding 

The Good People Data Company (TGPDC) 

Funding round: Undisclosed

Investors:  REdimension Capital

Founded:  2018, South Africa

Founders: JK Du Toit

Products: TGPDC offers a suite of digital solutions to businesses and organizations seeking to achieve digital transformation. Its product offerings include digital workflow automation, verification systems, and compliance solutions.

What Next?: The capital will help fuel TGPDC’s growth efforts, enabling the company to scale its operations to serve even more customers.

LAfricaMobile

Funding round: Series A Extension ($2.2 Million)

Investors: Bpifrance,  Janngo Caital, Southbridge Investments, and Ciwara Capital

Founded:  2014, Senegal

Founders: Malick Diouf

Products: LAfricaMobile’s solutions revolve around a digital infrastructure designed to enable businesses to easily connect with their customers through a wide range of mobile technologies, including SMS, USSD, voice messaging, WhatsApp, and text-to-speech functionalities.

What Next?: Fueled by the funding, LAfricaMobile will continue its expansion efforts, scaling its AI communication solutions and operations to serve other parts of Africa and even markets on other continents.

Tunzaa HQ

Funding round: Undisclosed

Investors:  Warioba Ventures, Andrew Kudoja, and Irene Madeje Mlola

Founded:  2021, Tanzania

Founders: Ng’winula Kingamkono

Products: Tunzaa’s fintech solution is designed to encourage users to save towards specific goals, such as rent, gadget purchases, or educational needs. It incorporates gamified incentives to achieve this goal, enabling users to achieve their financial goals sustainably and conveniently.

What Next?: As the investment aligns with the startup’s goal of fostering a saving culture in Africa, Tunzaa is set to double down on its efforts, with the funding providing the necessary support for this mission.

HUB2

Funding round: Series A ($8.5 million) 

Investors:  TLcom Capital, FMO, Enza Capital, Bpifrance, and Eric Barbier

Founded:  2021, Ivory Coast

Founders: Ashley Gaüzère

Products: HUB2 has developed a unified API tailored to banks and financial services providers. This digital infrastructure provides a platform for payment companies, neobanks, remittance services, and cryptocurrency providers to facilitate bank transfers, mobile money, and cryptocurrency exchange transactions.

What Next?: HUB2 intends to utilize the newly acquired funds to improve its tech infrastructure as well as bolster its marketing and sales efforts to expand its client base, further reinforcing its position as a leading payment solution provider in Africa.

Enakl

Funding round: Pre-seed ($1.4 million)

Investors:  Catalyst Fund, Renew Capital, Digital Africa, Station F, and others

Founded:  2022, Morocco

Founders: Samir Bennani and Charles Pommarede

Products: The urban mobility startup leverages Transport-as-a-Service technologies integrated with traditional transport options to provide a “collective transport solution” tailored to emerging markets. Its solution includes route optimization, carpooling options, and ride-sharing services.

What Next?: Enakl intends to funnel the funds into strengthening its presence in Algeria, broadening its reach, and scaling its technology to improve urban mobility in the country.

Konnect

Funding round: Undisclosed

Investors:  Renew Capital

Founded:  2021, Tunisian

Founders: Amin Ben Abderrahman

Products: The fintech company operates a digital financial platform designed to simplify financial management for users, particularly unbanked individuals in rural communities, with the aim of addressing barriers to financial access in those areas.

What Next?: The funding will enable Konnect to scale its operations and expand its services to bring financial inclusion to underserved areas in North Africa.

Premium Technology & Services PTS

Funding round: ($500,000)

Investors:  BMCE Capital Investments

Founded:  2020, Morocco

Founders: Samir Younes

Products: As the name suggests, PTS provides premium technology services to businesses, specifically advanced digital tools for digitizing traditional banking and integrating banking systems for financial institutions and businesses. Among its key offerings is SIMP Console, a digital platform designed to simplify complex banking protocols.

What Next?: PTS intends to invest the funds into advancing its technology, scaling its operations, and strengthening its position as a leading fintech in Morocco. 

Sylndr

Funding round: ($7.46 million)

Investors:  

Founded:  2021, Algeria

Founders: Amr Mazen and Omar El Defrawy

Products: The company operates a digital marketplace for people seeking to buy, sell, or finance used cars.

What Next?: Sylndr intends to invest the newly raised funds into improving its customer service, diversifying inventory options, and broadening its financing solutions.

Biomassters

Funding round:  Undisclosed

Investors:  Acumen

Founded:  2022, Rwanda

Founders: Claudia Muench and Jan de Graaf 

Products: Biomassters is a cleantech startup that produces modern, low-carbon pellet fuel solutions for urban and peri-urban households in Rwanda. The company uses waste materials to produce its pellet fuels, aiming to reduce the use of traditional charcoal for cooking.

What Next?: Biomassters operates with a vision to develop a low-carbon cooking value chain in Africa. The company is well on its way to fulfilling this mission, fueled by this fund injection.

Nowlun

Funding round: Seed ($1.7 million) 

Investors:  Nama ventures, A15, Sanabil 500 Global and others

Founded:  2021, Egypt

Founders: Moataz Khamis, Mahmoud Khaled, and Ahmed Emara

Products: Nowlun operates a digital freight forwarding platform that enables customers to obtain pricing options from 30 shipping lines without having to go through the harrowing process of obtaining quotations from each line individually.

What Next?: The funding will enable Nowlun to scale its platform and expand its operations, thereby reaching more businesses and moving closer to achieving its goal of revolutionizing the freight industry.

Hydrobox

Funding round: ($9 million)

Investors:  FMO

Founded:  2018, Kenya

Founders: Thoma Poelmans

Products: The energy startup designs hydro-powered mini-grid solutions for rural areas. It leverages containerized hydropower plants integrated with IoT technology for remote monitoring, reducing construction costs and grid deployment time.

What Next?: The new investment will contribute to Hydrobox’s drive to provide affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy solutions to foster development across the country.. 

Stima

Funding round: Undisclosed

Investors:  Renew Capital

Founded:  2020, Kenya

Founders: Jason Gras and Emile Fulcheri

Products: Stima offers a SaaS solution for mobility and logistics businesses with large fleets. The solution is tailored to help fleet operators optimize operations, implement predictive maintenance, and manage warranty claims within the supply chain.

What Next?:  The new investment will help bolster Stima’s mission to support the transition of about 15 million motorbikes to electric two-wheelers, promoting sustainable transportation in Sub-Saharan Africa.