Cairo-based Sylndr has raised $15.7 million as it expands beyond online used car sales into auto financing, servicing, and tools for dealers. Development Partners International’s Nclude Fund led the round. The company, which operates in Egypt’s fast-growing but under-digitized vehicle market, said the latest round includes both fresh equity and previously unannounced seed financing. Sylndr […]

VUZ, a startup known for offering immersive video experiences from red carpets and football stadiums, has raised $12 million as it doubles down on its presence in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as accelerates expansion into Africa, Asia, and the United States. The pre-Series C funding round, led by the International […]

Mercury co-founder and CEO Immad Akhund today announced the launch of a $26 million fund to back early-stage startups, a move that formalizes his extensive history of angel investing. Axios first reported this in February. Akhund has been an active angel investor since 2016, backing over 350 startups at their earliest stages. His portfolio includes […]

For decades, buying property in Egypt meant navigating a fragmented real estate market, relying on personal networks, dealing with commission-driven brokers, and facing developers more focused on selling than serving customer needs. In 2019, Mostafa El Beltagy co-founded Nawy to bring transparency and efficiency to the market. Now positioning itself as Africa’s largest proptech platform, […]

While most African digital lenders depend on working capital to fuel growth, MoneyFellows has quietly done what few others have: lend billions of Egyptian pounds with almost no debt or balance sheet exposure. Now, after raising $13 million in a pre-Series C round led by Casablanca-based Al Mada Ventures and DPI’s Nclude Fund, the Cairo-based […]

When Deepankar Rustagi last raised money for OmniRetail in 2022, excitement was high for African startups addressing the supply chain and operational challenges in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. At one point, these startups received more capital than all sectors, except fintech. Recently, though, the industry’s enthusiasm and venture capital’s interest have faded, as […]

A new venture firm aims to prove that the most successful startup ideas don’t have to be born or scaled in Silicon Valley. Fluent Ventures, a global early-stage fund, is backing founders replicating proven business models from Western markets in fintech, digital health, and commerce across emerging markets. The more cynical might describe this as […]

When Visa invested in Nigerian fintech Moniepoint earlier this year, it didn’t just validate the newly minted unicorn — it signaled a bold new direction. As part of that deal, the Nigerian fintech best known for building one of Africa’s largest business banking platforms, hinted at plans to integrate with Visa Direct, a move that […]

Demand for solar energy in power-starved Nigeria has soared in the last decade thanks to worsening grid reliability and rising fuel costs. That’s drawn investor interest to Arnergy, a clean tech startup meeting that need. The company just raised a $15 million Series B extension (on top of a $3 million B1 round last year), […]

Expanding into the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remains a costly and complex challenge for global businesses, thanks to fragmented regulations and banking systems. Dubai-based fintech Fuse aims to simplify that with a cross-border payments API and has raised $6.6 million in seed funding to make it happen. Founded in 2023 by CEO George […]

Djamo is one of several digital banking startups targeting Africa’s underbanked. But unlike many that focus on large markets like Nigeria, Egypt, or South Africa, Djamo has carved out a niche in Francophone West Africa, specifically the Ivory Coast and, more recently, Senegal. It now serves over 1 million customers across both countries. The Y […]

Last year, funding into African startups edged past $2 billion, returning to pre-pandemic levels and presenting a mixed bag as expected. Signs suggest 2025 will follow the cautious trends of the past two years. A sharp decline in mega-deals, mirroring global venture capital tightening since the boom of 2020-2021, pushed local and international investors to […]

Over the past decade, Dubai-based Network International has become one of the dominant payment processors across the Middle East and Africa, thanks in part to a pair of acquisitions. However, many large incumbents can fall prey to slower innovation, opening the door for smaller, faster-moving startups. The latest development is Enza, a fintech founded in […]

Debt collection in emerging markets often feels outdated and can be costly — damaging borrower trust. As consumer lending surges and regulators push for fairer practices, legacy collection outfits are struggling to maintain pace. ClearGrid aims to help modernize debt collection — and recovery — with AI. The Dubai-based startup, which is emerging from stealth […]

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Y Combinator-backed Nigerian food procurement startup Vendease has changed its employee pay structure and is seeking fresh capital, TechCrunch has learned. This is after laying off 44% of its workforce — around 120 employees —last month, marking its second round of job cuts in five months. In the latest development, the startup has now replaced […]

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African businesses pay up to four times the global average to transport goods. Nairobi-based logistics SaaS provider Leta wants to change that.

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African VC firm Equator has raised $55M for its first fund, which will back early-stage climate tech startups on the continent.

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One of Africa’s most active investors, known for early bets on unicorns like Flutterwave, Andela, and Wave, has secured fresh capital to invest in startups across the continent. This comes as funding deals and volumes in Africa saw only a slight dip last year, according to a report by VC firm Partech. LoftyInc Capital, which […]

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Since its launch in 2018 as a ride-hailing service in Togo, Gozem has steadily expanded across French-speaking West Africa, integrating a wide range of services as it sought to become a super-app. The company now offers ride-hailing, commerce, vehicle financing, and digital banking across Togo, Benin, Gabon, and Cameroon. Now, in a bid to scale […]

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Mercor, the AI recruiting startup founded by three 21-year-old Thiel Fellows, has raised $100 million in a Series B round, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. Menlo Park-based Felicis led the round, valuing Mercor at $2 billion — eight times its previous valuation, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. Existing investors Benchmark, General Catalyst, and DST […]

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