Last week’s funding activities saw a couple of big-money investments and a few more respectable funding rounds. Rwandan e-mobility startup Ampersand obtained $19.5 million to scale its EV charging solutions, while agri-food tech Koa had a series B funding round of $15 million. In addition, Cloudline raised seed funding of $6 million, iSchool secured $4.5 million, and health tech company Chefaa received $5.25 million.
Funding
Cloudline
Funding round: Seed ($6 Million)
Investors: Schmidt Futures, Raba Partnership, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, 4Di,
Founded: 2016, South Africa
Founders: Spencer Horne
Products: Cloudline operates an aerospace technology that allows for comprehensive data capture. Through its autonomous airships, the company brings real-time data capture to hard-to-reach locations
What Next? : Fuelled by the funding, cloudline aims to lead the global frontier of carbon emissions-free autonomous flight
iSchool
Funding round: $4.5Million
Investors: VentureWave Capital, OneStop Capital UK, Webit Investment Network, and Oraseya Capital
Founded: 2018, Egypt
Founders: Muhammad Gawish, Ebrahim Youssef, Mustafa Abdelmoneim, and Osama Ghareb
Products: iSchool is an Edtech that implements advanced technology to provide highly interactive, gamified learning modules for students seeking to gain coding and programming skills. It offers a curriculum that covers AI, VR, App Dev, game dev and web development.
What Next? : Buoyed by the funding, iSchool aims to expand its operations into six additional countries in the MENA region. The capital infusion will also support technological scaling for the company’s learning platform and extending its service throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ampersand
Funding round: Debt and Equity ($19.5Million)
Investors: Africa Go Green Fund,
Founded: 2016, Rwanda
Founders: Josh Whale, Alp Tilev
Products: Ampersand develops electric vehicles and electric vehicle fueling solutions, including electric bikes, cars and battery swap stations.
What Next? Ampersand will utilize the equity funds to expedite product development, ramping up battery production as well as expanding swap stations and accelerating Research and development on battery tech.
Chefaa
Funding round: $5.25 Million
Investors: Newtown Partners, Global Brain, GMS Capital Partners, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures and M3, Inc.
Founded: 2017, Egypt
Founders: Rasha Rady, Doaa Aref
Products: Chefaa operates an e-pharmacy platform that provides end-to-end healthcare experience for customers in MENA.
What Next? : The company intends to strengthen its presence in Saudi Arabia and scale its business models to improve healthcare supply chain digitization in MENA
Koa
Funding round: Series B ($15 Million)
Investors: Zebra Impact, Haltra Group, Mirova, IDH, Landscape Resilience Fund
Founded: 2017, Ghana
Founders: Benjamin Kuschnik, Anian Schreiber
Products: KOA offers a variety of food and beverage products predominantly produced from upcycled cocoa fruits. It uses the often discarded cocoa pulp to develop innovative products. Through its solutions, Koa reduces on-farm food waste and generates additional income for farmers.
What Next? : Koa intends to share its upcycling technologies with smallholder cocoa farmers, addressing the challenges of food waste and fostering sustainability within the cocoa industry.
Opportunities
Chat for Women’s Livelihoods Accelerator 2024
CcHub/Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship Program 2024 (Cohort 2)
Just IMAGINE if… Research Grant 2024 For Budding Entrepreneurs
