Monday, April 20, 2026Global tech, startups & capital — covered for Africans.
Last week’s funding landscape demonstrated the remarkable breadth of African innovation, with groundbreaking developments spanning biotechnology, renewable energy, and digital platforms. South African biotech pioneer Altera Biosciences led the charge with its revolutionary cell therapy research, while travel fintech TurnStay and solar energy provider Solarise Africa secured significant capital for continental expansion. Meanwhile, F6 Group’s […]
By AU-Startups
Last week’s funding landscape demonstrated the remarkable breadth of African innovation, with groundbreaking developments spanning biotechnology, renewable energy, and digital platforms. South African biotech pioneer Altera Biosciences led the charge with its revolutionary cell therapy research, while travel fintech TurnStay and solar energy provider Solarise Africa secured significant capital for continental expansion. Meanwhile, F6 Group’s launch of F6 Ventures with $90 million AUM signals growing institutional confidence in Africa’s startup ecosystem. Get the details below.
Funding Round: Series A ($3.4 Million) Investors: Mergence Investment Managers Founders: Patrik Huber, Jan Albert Valk, Sakkie van Wijk Founded: 2020, Kenya
About Company Solarise Africa is an energy leasing firm that provides African businesses with decentralised energy solutions and comprehensive full-service offerings for designing, building, financing, and managing renewable energy installations. The company addresses the continent’s energy challenges by making clean energy accessible through innovative financing models.
What’s Next? The new funds have been earmarked to accelerate the deployment of advanced solar PV and hybrid energy systems for Solarise Africa’s clients in South Africa, positioning the company to capitalise on the continent’s massive renewable energy opportunity.
Funding Round: Seed ($2 Million) Investors: First Circle Capital, TLCom Capital, Enza Capital, Incisive Ventures, CVVC, Equitable Ventures Founders: Alon Stern, James Hedley Founded: 2023, South Africa
About Company TurnStay is a fintech solutions provider for the travel and hospitality industry, operating payment infrastructure specifically designed for Africa’s tourism sector. The company has developed a unique merchant-of-record model that allows travellers to make payments and settle funds in their destination country with stablecoin payouts made from their home countries.
What’s Next? Armed with the new funding, TurnStay is set to commence expansion plans and scale operations across Africa, offering its innovative payment solutions to travel operators throughout the continent and tapping into Africa’s growing tourism market.
Funding Round: Pre-Series A ($2 Million) Investors: 4DX Ventures, Camel Ventures, Plus VC, Seedstars Founders: Gohar Said, Karim Selima, Ahmed ElMahdy Founded: 2022, Egypt
About Company Suplyd operates a digital procurement platform for restaurants and food chains across Egypt. The company has designed its solution to address inefficiencies plaguing Egypt’s hospitality and restaurant industry by directly connecting restaurants with suppliers, streamlining procurement processes, and tackling supply chain fragmentation.
What’s Next? The new funding will help Suplyd expand beyond procurement, develop new services, and deepen its footprint across Egypt’s restaurant ecosystem, potentially positioning itself as the backbone of the country’s food service supply chain.
Funding Round: Series A ($2 Million) Investors: Flat6Labs, MTF VC, Hub71, JIMCO (Abdul Latif Jameel’s VC arm), Purity Tech Founders: Ahmed Rostom, Mahmoud Metwaly Founded: 2019, Egypt
About Company Wuilt helps individuals and businesses create ready-made websites and e-stores with simple touches without needing complex coding knowledge. The platform democratises web development for small businesses and entrepreneurs across the MENA region.
What’s Next? The company recently pivoted to offer its core platform completely free in Egypt, eliminating all subscription fees and forgoing hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual recurring revenue to accelerate merchant adoption. Wuilt now monetises through value-added services such as Wuilt Shipments, Wuilt Pay, and Wuilt Wallet.
Funding Round: Pre-Seed ($1.6 Million) Investors: OneBio, E Squared Investments Founders: Alexandra Miszewski, Professor Michael Pepper Founded: 2024, South Africa
About Company Altera Biosciences is pioneering cell and gene therapy in Africa, building a universal donor cell platform that can transform treatments for cancer, diabetes, and organ transplants. The company is engineering donor cells using gene silencing technology so that patients’ immune systems do not reject transplanted organs.
What’s Next? The funding will foster the future of Africa’s biotech research as the company intends to funnel capital into advancing research on Africa’s genetic diversity and building globally relevant therapies that could revolutionise treatment options worldwide.
Funding Round: Undisclosed Investors: IFC, Sony Pictures Entertainment Founders: Founded: 2022, Nigeria
About Company Filmmakers Mart operates a digital platform designed to connect filmmakers with independent service providers who can offer location scouting, logistics, and production services. The platform addresses fragmentation in Nigeria’s rapidly growing film industry by creating a centralised marketplace for production needs.
What’s Next? This investment signals growing confidence in the African entertainment space, with Sony’s involvement bringing global expertise in content distribution and access to international networks, potentially opening doors for African content on global platforms.
F6 Group has officially launched F6 Ventures, a new seed-stage investment firm managing over $90 million in assets. This launch represents a strategic restructuring that integrates venture capital with startup support under one unified platform to advance innovation across the Middle East and Africa.
F6 Ventures was co-founded by Dina el-Shenoufy and Ramez El-Serafy, focusing on pre-seed and seed-stage startups in underserved ecosystems across these regions. The firm aims to fill critical funding gaps by providing both capital and strategic support to early-stage companies, particularly in sectors like fintech, digital health, education, and logistics.
F6 Ventures complements Flat6Labs, the well-established accelerator now operating under F6 Group, combining investment with founder support and accelerator programs. Headquartered in Cairo with regional offices in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Amman, Tunis, and Nairobi, F6 Ventures plans to grow its assets to $200 million and invest in over 200 startups over the next five years through new regional funds targeting Africa, the Gulf, and the Levant.
The creation of F6 Group and its dual arms F6 Ventures for investment and Flat6Labs for acceleration, marks a significant evolution from Flat6Labs’ 14-year legacy, designed to provide a full-stack approach to startup growth that combines capital, mentorship, and ecosystem-building expertise.
