Ecosystem Insider

Issue #119: South African Pumpkn gets backed by Renew Capital, Farm to Feed also secures funding while EdVentures invests $400k in El Kheta

July 10, 2024

We noted three funding activities in the African startup ecosystem last week, two of which their details were not disclosed to the public. Only Egyptian Edtech, El Kheta, announced the details of its $400,000 investment provided by Edventures. Elsewhere, Nigerian customer ID management solution provider, Prembly, has joined forces with Kenyan Peleza to form Prembly Group and build a bigger business in East Africa.

Funding

Pumpkn

Funding round: Undisclosed

Investors: Renew Capital.

Founded: 2022, South Africa

Founders: Fazlur Pandor, Zaheer Dindar, Jérôme van Innis

Products: Pumpkn operates a data-driven solution designed to provide credit assessments for small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises. This enables it to facilitate easy access to financing for its client businesses while also enabling credit providers to make savvy investment decisions.

What Next?: Pumpkn aims to bridge the funding gap for agribusinesses and SMEs by providing access to financing. Fuelled by the new funding, the company is set to expand its credit financing solutions to more businesses across South Africa.

Farm to Feed

Funding round: Undisclosed

Investors: CityBlue Hotels

Founded: 2020, Kenya

Founders: Claire van Enk

Products: Farm 2 Feed operates a B2B platform that optimizes agri-produce delivery and logistics operations in Kenya. The company’s platform sources surplus produce from farmers and makes them easily available for customers. The platform is designed to tackle food wastage and revolutionize the way food is sourced and consumed in Kenya

What Next?: The funding will be channeled into fulfilling the company’s goal of revolutionizing food sourcing, distribution, and consumption in Kenya, and setting a new standard for food sustainability in the country

Elkheta

Funding round: Seed ($400,000)

Investors: EdVentures

Founded: 2018, Egypt

Founders: Mohamed Mahmoud, Khaled Ashoush,

Products: Elkheta operates a unique Educational platform that provides flexible learning experiences for students giving them access to supplementary lessons, and assisting them to prepare adequately for examinations based on the new Egyptian academic curricula.

What Next?: Fuelled by the Funding, El Kheta will further improve its solutions, and expand its reach across Egypt, assisting more students to have access to premium learning modules.

Merger

Nigerian ID Solutions Provider Prembly Merges With Kenya’s Peleza

Prembly has announced its transition and rebranding into the Prembly group after completing its merger with Kenyan startup Peleza. The YC-backed Nigerian customer identity solutions provider initiated this merger to further its goal of expanding its operations in East Africa and improving customer service offerings.

Prior to the merger, Peleza had been using Prembly’s solution for over a year. The established relationship made the merger frictionless. Meanwhile, both companies have declined to disclose the financial details of the merger.

The newly formed Prembly Group will leverage Peleza’s industry knowledge and established partnerships with e-hailing platforms including Bolt and Uber to develop a bigger business in East Africa. As a result of the merger, several of Peleza’s employees have been reassigned to new positions while a few are expected to be transitioned out of the company.