Hey, Kaluka here,
Despite rising startup activity, one persistent issue keeps surfacing: early-stage African founders still struggle to access local funding. While international VCs dominate late-stage funding, there’s a growing gap at the pre-seed and seed levels. This is especially so for startups outside major hubs like Lagos, Nairobi and Cape Town.
Local capital brings contextual understanding, local networks, and long-term commitment. African governments, development banks and corporate players need to step up to fill this gap if we want to see truly inclusive innovation across the continent.
Are you seeing more local capital in your ecosystem? Reply and let me know!
If you’re a founder building something bold, now’s a good time to raise. If you have a startup you want featured on TechArena, let us know through this contact form here.
Startup Funding Rounds
Last week, we tracked 7 funding rounds across Africa that raised about $18.3 million.
🇳🇬 PaidHR Secured $1.8M Seed Funding tled by Zrosk Investment Management, Zedcrest Capital Limited, Chui Ventures and Accion Venture Lab.
🇬🇭 Complete Farmer, a digital agriculture value chain platform, has raised $2.5 million from EDFI Management Company.
🇪🇬 Egyptian fintech, AMAN, secured $13 million in debt financing from unknown investors.
🇪🇬 Roomz.rent, an Egyptian platform for co-living, raised an undisclosed amount from Stryde71 in a pre-seed funding round.
🇪🇬 Nowlun, an Egyptian online freight forwarding platform, got $600,000 in seed funding from Ingressive Capital.
🇰🇪 Kenya’s Apexloads, an online load board connecting cargo owners, transporters, and brokers, received $350,000 from Google for Startups.
🇳🇬 Nigerian marketplace, Shoptreo, raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round led by Rebel Seed Capital.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Chowdeck Acquired Mira.
Active Investors
We had 9 investors who took part in the funding rounds tracked last week:
Zrosk Investment Management.
Zedcrest Capital Limited.
Chui Ventures.
Accion Venture Lab.
Rebel Seed Capital.
EDFI Management Company.
Stryde71.
Google for Startups.
Ingressive Capital.
Appointments
Embed Financial Appointed Eric Mboma as CEO for Africa.
Founder Quote of the Week
“Accion Venture Lab was impressed with the maturity of PaidHR’s technology, which is comparable to that of Series B companies. And with zero churn last year, we’ve proven that clients stick with us once they come on board.”
— Seye Bandele, CEO of PaidHR, speaking to TechArena.
Ecosystem Spotlight
Kenya’s startup ecosystem is maturing. With Safaricom’s Spark Accelerator relaunch, renewed activity in cleantech and growing support from local universities and hubs like iBizAfrica. All these point to a noticeable shift toward deeper founder support.
Nairobi is still leading but regional towns like Eldoret and Kisumu are slowly catching investor attention. What’s missing? Stronger local angel networks and more early-stage funding to turn prototypes into real businesses.
Data Point of the Week
55% of venture-backed African startups in 2024 had at least one diaspora founder.
This trend reflects the growing impact of returning Africans who combine global exposure with local market insight. At the same time, it also highlights a gap in supporting homegrown talent with limited international reach.
Opportunities, Tools & Resources
Google Selected 15 Startups for Africa Accelerator Class 9.
SA startups invited to apply for Visa’s ‘She’s Next’ programme.
African startups invited to apply for Afreximbank Flagship Accelerator Programme.
African startups invited to apply for EY SDG Accelerator for Women Entrepreneurs.
Other Stories
Crypto platform Luno, relaunched in Kenya to make crypto easier and safer for everyone.
BURN and TDB Group launched an initiative to bring clean cooking to over 2 million people.
SA’s Peach Payments launched an enterprise POS terminal.
Nigerian B2B e-commerce startup Sabi lays off 20% of workforce as it pivots.
What We’re Reading
“Africa’s Booming Fintech Ecosystem: Key Players and Innovations to Watch” - kkbits.
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