Thursday, April 23, 2026Global tech, startups & capital — covered for Africans.
The African investment scene picked up pace this week as startups and investors ramped up activity across AI, fintech, and clean energy sectors. Major rounds and fund launches reflected growing confidence in the continent’s innovation depth, while strategic exits and a few shutdowns offered a balanced view of a maturing ecosystem. The week’s movements show […]
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The African investment scene picked up pace this week as startups and investors ramped up activity across AI, fintech, and clean energy sectors. Major rounds and fund launches reflected growing confidence in the continent’s innovation depth, while strategic exits and a few shutdowns offered a balanced view of a maturing ecosystem. The week’s movements show steady investor appetite and a sharper focus on scalable, infrastructure-driven growth.
Funding Round: $200 Million Series C
Investor(s): DPI, LeapFrog Investments, Lightrock, Google Africa Investment Fund, Visa, IFC, Proparco, Swedfund, Verod Capital
Founder(s): Tosin Eniolorunda, Felix Ike
Founded in: Nigeria (2015)
About Company: Moniepoint provides financial services across Africa for individuals and businesses. The company operates a payments and banking platform serving over 10 million customers and processes more than $250 billion in annual transactions. Its products include business banking, credit, and digital financial tools that support small merchants.
What’s Next: Moniepoint will use the new funding to expand into cross-border payments, strengthen SME credit access, and scale its “MonieWorld” remittance platform for diaspora users. The company plans to deploy additional POS terminals across Nigeria and expand operations into Ghana, Kenya, and the UK.
Funding Round: $700 Million Investment
Investor(s): NVIDIA
Founder(s): Strive Masiyiwa
Founded in: United Kingdom/Zimbabwe (2021)
About Company: operates Africa’s largest integrated digital infrastructure network through subsidiaries including Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Africa Data Centres, and Cassava.ai. The company provides connectivity, cloud, cybersecurity, and AI infrastructure solutions across more than 20 African markets. Its data-driven services support enterprises, governments, and digital innovators seeking reliable, scalable infrastructure on the continent.
What’s Next: The NVIDIA partnership will see Cassava deploy 15,000 GPUs by 2029 across South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and Morocco. This will expand local AI training capacity and reduce reliance on overseas computing resources. Cassava aims to strengthen Africa’s AI ecosystem through workforce development, local partnerships, and collaboration with the South African AI Association.
Funding Round: Undisclosed Investment
Investor(s): Tether
Founder(s): Felix Macharia, Samuel Kariuki, Jonathan Morgan, Brian Kimotho
Founded in: Kenya (2020)
About Company: Kotani Pay builds blockchain-based payment infrastructure that connects mobile money platforms such as M-Pesa with digital assets. Its platform enables seamless fiat-to-crypto conversion, giving users access to blockchain services without needing a bank account. The company’s solution also supports cross-border transactions and enterprise payments through stablecoin integrations across multiple African markets.
What’s Next: With Tether’s investment, Kotani Pay plans to expand its cross-border infrastructure and scale stablecoin payments for SMEs. The company targets deeper penetration across East and West Africa, aiming to lower remittance costs and increase blockchain adoption. Kotani Pay will also strengthen compliance systems and partnerships with regulators and telecoms to support financial inclusion.
Funding Round: €2.5 Million Pre-Series A Investor(s): Portugal Gateway Fund, ANZA Capital Founder(s): Ryno Goosen, Andrew McPherson Founded in: South Africa (2016)
About Company: Locstat develops a graph intelligence and event-stream analytics platform used by banks and fintechs to detect fraud, track transactions, and reveal hidden data relationships in real time. The system integrates graph databases with complex event processing to deliver actionable insights from large-scale, fast-moving datasets.
What’s Next: Locstat will expand its operations into the UK and European markets, focusing on enterprise data analytics and financial crime prevention. The company will invest in sales, partnerships, and technical hiring in South Africa to support its global rollout. Its strategy positions it as one of Africa’s leading graph AI providers in enterprise risk analytics.
Funding Round: $1.4 Million Convertible Bonds
Investor(s): CDC-CI Capital
Founder(s): Mathias Léopoldie, Charles Talbot
Founded in: Côte d’Ivoire (2018)
About Company: Julaya is a fintech platform providing digital payment and cash management tools for enterprises and public institutions. It integrates mobile money APIs to facilitate payroll, supplier payments, and treasury operations across Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Benin, and Togo. Julaya processes hundreds of thousands of business transactions monthly.
What’s Next: Julaya will expand its financing products for SMEs and strengthen its presence in Francophone Africa. The company plans to leverage its BCEAO payment license to deepen market access and roll out new features for corporate clients. Funding will also support scaling its Senegal operations, which recorded 37% growth in 2024.
Funding Round: $1.1 Million Seed
Investor(s): Ingressive Capital, Plus VC, A15, Beltone Venture Capital, Angel Investors
Founder(s): Mohamed Elshabrawy, Mostafa Tarek, Omar Shawky
Founded in: Egypt (2022)
About Company: SehaTech builds AI-driven tools to automate health insurance operations, including claims processing, billing, and fraud detection. Its platform reduces administrative overhead and increases transparency for insurers, hospitals, and patients. The company operates across Egypt’s growing digital health ecosystem and supports insurers modernising their workflows.
What’s Next: The funding will strengthen SehaTech’s AI platform, grow its technical team, and expand into MENA markets. The company aims to improve claims processing speed, fraud prevention, and coverage accessibility for underserved populations. SehaTech also plans to launch new partnerships with hospitals and insurers to scale adoption.
Funding Round: $100 Million Growth Investment
Investor(s): FEDA (Afreximbank)
Founder(s): Kaushik Burman
Founded in: Togo (2022)
About Company: Spiro operates Africa’s largest electric two-wheel mobility network. The company provides battery-swapping stations, leasing models, and EV maintenance services across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. Spiro’s infrastructure supports riders seeking cleaner, cheaper alternatives to fuel-powered motorcycles.
What’s Next: Spiro plans to deploy over 100,000 electric vehicles by 2025 and expand into Tanzania and Cameroon. The company will use the new funding to expand its battery-swapping network and manufacturing capacity. Its operations align with Africa’s decarbonization and local job creation strategies.
Funding Round: $12.9 Million Philanthropic Investment
Investor(s): The Shapiro Foundation
Founder(s): Johannes Haushofer
Founded in: Germany/Kenya (2021)
About Company: Malengo supports low-income students in East Africa through income-share agreements that finance higher education abroad. The organisation provides tuition, housing, and living support for students from Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda pursuing degrees in Europe. Graduates repay a portion of their income, recycling funds to future scholars.
What’s Next: Malengo will use the funding to support 700 additional students over three years, expand its refugee programs in Rwanda, and grow its team in East Africa. The organisation’s model creates sustainable access to education while improving long-term earnings for participants from underserved backgrounds.
Global Shop Group, a U.S. retail technology company, has acquired ANKA, the Ivorian e-commerce startup formerly known as Afrikrea, following the judicial liquidation of its French parent company, MANSAART. The sale was approved in October 2025 after MANSAART entered liquidation in July due to creditor defaults. Liquidator Marie-Hélène Montravers led the process that transferred ANKA’s assets to Global Shop Group.
Founded in 2016 by Moulaye Tabouré, Abdoul (Kadry) Diallo, and Luc Perussault-Diallo, ANKA built an export-focused marketplace connecting African sellers to buyers in 170 countries. The platform processed over $60 million in merchandise volume and raised $13 million from IFC, Proparco, and BPI France. Under the new ownership, CEO Matilda Ceesay will oversee integration to strengthen African fashion exports through improved logistics, payments, and global access. ANKA will retain its team and brand as Global Shop expands across Africa and diaspora markets.
Egypt’s BasharSoft, parent company of Wuzzuf and Forasna, has acquired iCareer, a career development and employability platform, to create Egypt’s first integrated HR tech group. The transaction includes Recruitera, iCareer’s applicant tracking system, which will merge into BasharSoft’s hiring platforms to offer AI-driven matching and analytics.
Founded in 2009 by Ameer Sherif and Mohamed El Garhy, BasharSoft connects nine million job seekers with 100,000 employers and has facilitated 1.4 million hires. The company aims to reach $25 million in revenue and expand into Saudi Arabia and the GCC. Sherif said the acquisition aligns with BasharSoft’s goal to empower 100 million people by 2030. iCareer’s training and coaching programs will complement BasharSoft’s recruitment tools, building a full employment lifecycle platform ahead of a potential IPO within three years.
Travel technology leader Wakanow Group has acquired NairaBox, a Nigerian digital ticketing and lifestyle platform. Founded in 2015, NairaBox manages digital ticketing for movies, concerts, and live events across Nigeria, pioneering barcode-based ticketing and processing over ten million tickets.
Wakanow said the deal extends its reach beyond travel and tourism, connecting its ecosystem to entertainment and lifestyle experiences. The company described the move as part of a strategy to diversify across “natural adjacencies.” NairaBox will operate under the Wakanow umbrella alongside Kalabash, RoomDe, and Onburd. Tobi Andero will lead the business, while CEO Ugochukwu Jay Chikezie said the partnership will scale access to digital entertainment across Africa. Though financial terms were undisclosed, analysts see the deal as a key step toward Wakanow’s integrated travel-to-leisure ecosystem.
Sanari Capital has exited its investment in Fernridge Solutions, a Johannesburg-based market intelligence and geospatial analytics firm, through an acquisition by Broll Property Group. The deal marks a notable private equity exit in Africa’s property data sector.
Sanari first invested under its 3S model, Sustainability, Scalability, and Saleability, helping Fernridge build proprietary datasets covering income and household data across 200 cities. The company evolved from static mapping to real-time, AI-driven analytics that support market insights for investors and developers.
Broll will use Fernridge’s analytics to strengthen its real estate intelligence and advisory operations. CEO Malcolm Horne said the acquisition advances Broll’s tech-driven strategy, while Sanari CEO Samantha Pokroy called it a milestone for scaling African data ventures. Fernridge’s leadership team remains in place to lead growth as part of Broll’s expanded data ecosystem.
Nigerian fintech startup Lidya has shut down operations after nine years, citing severe financial distress. The company confirmed the closure in an October 23 email to customers.
Founded in 2016 by Tunde Kehinde and Ercin Eksin, Lidya offered collateral-free SME loans and raised $16.5 million across three rounds, including a $6.9 million Series A and $8.3 million pre-Series B. At its peak, the company claimed $150 million in loans disbursed across Nigeria, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
Financial trouble escalated in 2024 following leadership exits and the collapse of its Portugal tech team. Customers later faced frozen wallets and unpaid balances. Lidya had already halted new lending and exited Europe. The shutdown leaves many unsure about fund recovery, marking one of Nigeria’s most significant fintech failures to date.
Madica has invested $400,000 in Tunisian video analytics startup Anavid and Moroccan influencer marketing platform Hypeo AI, expanding its early-stage AI portfolio. Each company received $200,000 and joined Madica’s 18-month growth program offering mentorship and global investor access.
Founded by Flourish Ventures in 2022, Madica focuses on underrepresented founders in emerging markets. Anavid, led by Ahmed Chaari and David Nilsson, uses AI-powered video analytics to detect theft and analyse in-store behaviour. Hypeo AI, founded by Meriam Bessa and Salah Eddine Mimouni, automates influencer campaign management. Madica also announced a partnership with the African Business Angel Network (ABAN) to increase co-investment opportunities across 37 countries.
Enko Capital has raised $100 million at first close for its Enko Impact Credit Fund (EICF), targeting a final close of $150 million. The fund will provide U.S. dollar-denominated private credit to mid-market firms across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Anchor investors include British International Investment (BII) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), alongside SICOM Global Fund and several African pension funds. The fund will support companies in agriculture, telecoms, manufacturing, renewable energy, and financial services. Enko, which manages $1.3 billion, said the fund aims to bridge Africa’s mid-market financing gap while delivering risk-adjusted returns and supporting job creation.
Sahara Impact Ventures has made a strategic investment in Ghana-based Medpharma Alliance International to support digital healthcare expansion across West Africa. Founded by Stephen Yaw Asamoah, Medpharma operates digital health platforms linking patients with doctors, diagnostics, and medication delivery.
The new capital will fund AI-driven health tools and logistics improvements for its platforms, including M-Care, PregCare, ChronicCare, and WestCare. Sahara said the deal aligns with its focus on SDG-linked investments in healthcare, clean energy, and food systems. The firm launched in 2023 to back scalable, impact-driven African ventures.
Rwanda has secured $17.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to launch the Rwanda AI Scaling Hub, hosted by the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) under the Ministry of ICT and Innovation.
The hub will advance AI deployment across health, agriculture, and education. Projects include AI telemedicine tools, ultrasound imaging for rural clinics, and crop intelligence systems for smallholder farmers. The initiative positions Rwanda as Africa’s leading AI development hub and a model for ethical innovation.
The International Finance Corporation plans to invest $25 million in the African Transition Acceleration Fund (ATAF), a Mauritius-based fund managed by African Fund Managers and advised by AIIM. ATAF aims to raise $200–250 million to back companies driving Africa’s energy transition.
The fund will target renewable power, biofuels, green hydrogen, and low-carbon mobility. IFC’s commitment, pending approval, is expected to anchor the first close at $100 million. AIIM, a subsidiary of Old Mutual Limited managing $3.4 billion, will support ATAF’s commercial and impact-driven approach. The initiative reinforces investor interest in Africa’s clean energy transformation.
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