Welcome to another Friday of tracking activities in the vibrant and ever-evolving African start-up ecosystem.
Here’s what happened in that space between July 10 and 14, 2023.
Flutterwave Launched Tuition for Easy Tuition Payments
Last week, Nigerian FinTech company and one of Africa’s unicorns, Flutterwave, launched Tuition to help Africans pay several fees to secondary schools, universities, colleges, and other edtech platforms in their local currencies on the continent and abroad.
Tuition aims to tackle several challenges in the financial landscape, including high transaction costs, limited accessibility to banking services, lack of transparency, security concerns, and exchange rate fluctuations while ensuring that transactions are simple.
Currently, the product is only available in Nigeria with over 40 institutions in the UK supported. The company plans to expand to schools in other African countries, the UK, the US, Canada, France and Germany.
Anglo-American Foundation & Grindstone Launched South African Accelerator
Last week, the Anglo-American Foundation (AAF) partnered with Grindstone, an accelerator known for engineering high-growth entrepreneurship, to launch a South African accelerator supporting and empowering entrepreneurs in the green sector.
The 2023 Grindstone accelerator will run as a six-month program designed specifically for post-seed to Series A green sector startups. Grindstone will leverage the ecosystem and strategic partners to recruit 15 high-growth and innovation-driven green start-ups for this year’s accelerator.
The selected startups will receive dedicated funding readiness support, including a comprehensive gap assessment; workshops covering strategy and people, marketing and sales, and funding and valuation; and monthly in-depth coaching sessions.
Nigerian HR Tech Start-up, Propel, Raised $2.74 M Seed Funding to Scale
Nigerian-based HR tech startup, Propel, recorded the highest funding round of the previous week. The HR tech company raised $2.74 M (€2.5 million) in seed funding to speed up the adoption and roll-out of its community-as-a-service platform.
Propel is a start-up that plans to help multinational corporations reduce the risk of hiring remote workers from emerging markets, particularly Africa. The start-up serves as a pipeline for talent in these tech communities, introducing them to a network of companies.
The round was led by No Such Ventures with participation from APX, Golden Egg Check, and Future of Learning Fund.
Deal Street Wrap-Up
• Egyptian start-up Exits MENA, a FinTech investment banking marketplace, extended its seed round to $1.25m with investment from Silicon Valley-based venture firm, Practical VC.
• Egypt-based FinTech, Menthum, raised pre-seed funding from Acasia Ventures along with A15 and other angel investors
And that is all for now.
We’ll bring more African VC news on Friday next week.
Source: weetracker.com
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