Monday, April 20, 2026Global tech, startups & capital — covered for Africans.
Despite recent slowdowns in overall funding activity, June is rounding out with a surge of investment into startups tackling real-world infrastructure and market inefficiencies, especially across the energy, mobility, and agritech spaces. This week featured five funding activities across Africa’s tech ecosystem involving Wetility, Open Access Energy, Octane, Winich Farms, and Peach Cars. This goes […]
By AU-Startups
Despite recent slowdowns in overall funding activity, June is rounding out with a surge of investment into startups tackling real-world infrastructure and market inefficiencies, especially across the energy, mobility, and agritech spaces. This week featured five funding activities across Africa’s tech ecosystem involving Wetility, Open Access Energy, Octane, Winich Farms, and Peach Cars. This goes to show that investors are betting on companies with clear value propositions and regional scalability.
Here’s a rundown of key funding and acquisitions across the African startup ecosystems this week:
Funding Round: Senior & Equity Capital ($27 million) Investors: Jaltech Founded: 2019, South Africa Founders: Vincent Maposa (CEO), Ikenna Oguguo
About the Company: Wetility is a “solar-as-a-service” startup focused on democratising clean electricity access across Africa. It offers flexible subscription plans for hybrid solar systems that include rooftop panels, inverters, and battery storage. The company’s core solutions include Pace (for households), Lift (for commercial use), Rise (for multi-unit spaces), Luxe (for informal retailers), and Flare (a financing platform for installers).
What’s Next: With fresh capital in hand, Wetility aims to accelerate deployment, enhance market reach, and secure a strong competitive edge in the region’s fast-growing solar sector.
Funding Round: Seed ($1.8 million) Investors: E3 Capital, Equator VC, Factor[e] Ventures Founded: South Africa
About the Company: OAE operates a digital infrastructure that powers real-time clean energy trading. Through its software tools Amptera and Energypro, OAE enables renewable energy producers and traders to wheel excess solar and wind energy through South Africa’s fragile grid system, improving power reliability and unlocking new revenue models.
What’s Next: The seed funding will be used to scale OAE’s digital tools, deploy advanced metering infrastructure, and expand throughout South Africa and the SADC region.
Funding Round: Series A ($11 million) Investors: Suzuki Global Ventures, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Gohgin Capital Founded: 2020 (Japan, operational base in Kenya) Founders: Kaoru Kaganoi, Zachary Petroni
About the Company: Peach Cars is reimagining the used car buying experience in Kenya with a tech-driven peer-to-peer platform that combines a proprietary smart engine check device, a 225-point inspection protocol, digital payments, and ownership transfer support. It offers a seamless process backed by Japanese automotive standards.
What’s Next: The new funds will fuel team growth and regional expansion for the company, starting with deeper penetration in Kenya and future market entries across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Funding Round: Seed ($5.2 million) Investors: Shorooq Partners, Algebra Ventures, SC Holding Founded: 2022, Egypt Founders: Amr Gamal, Ziad Eladawy
About the Company: Octane is an Egyptian energy-tech company helping businesses manage fleet fueling and maintenance via a secure AI-powered wallet. Its digital platform allows companies to track fuel spend, detect fraud, and optimise routes, claiming up to 35% in cost savings for clients.
What’s Next: The new capital will boost Octane’s AI capabilities, expand its merchant acceptance network, and push for regional growth in the fleet-tech sector.
Funding Round: Undisclosed Investors: DisrupTech Ventures Founded: 2020, Nigeria Founders: Riches and Winifred Riches
About the Company: Winich Farms is digitising smallholder farming in Nigeria by connecting farmers directly to buyers and helping them bypass exploitative supply chains. Its platform features inventory tools, real-time tracking, and debit cards for faster payouts.
What’s Next: Following its domestic success, Winich plans to scale across Africa and pursue strategic export partnerships in the MENA region.
In a major expansion move, Nigerian cross-border fintech LemFi has acquired UK-based credit startup Pillar. LemFi, known for enabling fast, affordable remittances through its multi-currency wallet, now moves into the credit space.
This acquisition brings Pillar’s credit scoring tech, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) license, and team into LemFi’s fold, empowering the company to offer tailored credit products for immigrants, starting in the UK. It’s a strategic bet on financial inclusion, aiming to help users build credit histories and access financial products in host countries.
As this week’s activity reveals, investors are shifting attention toward startups solving systemic gaps in energy access, digital payments, mobility, and agritech. With growing regulatory shifts, infrastructure challenges, and consumer demand across the continent, these ventures are well-positioned to define the next era of Africa’s innovation economy.
Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks as we continue to track the funding, partnerships, and policies shaping the African startup ecosystem.
