Hey, Kaluka here,
After months of big-ticket fundraising across the continent, this past week saw a noticeable dip in total funding. The total funding that we tracked was less than $10 million, down from over $52 million the week before. You can track the funding report from our previous newsletter.
At first glance, that might seem like a slowdown. But a closer look suggests something else: a shift in strategy. This has been happening for a while and if you follow startup funding news closely, you may have noticed the shift over the last 6 months or so. Instead of chasing scale at all costs, investors appear to be focusing on startups solving real problems. This is especially in areas like clean energy, financial access and mobility.
One standout from the week prior was Sylndr, an Egyptian mobility startup, that landed $15.7 million in funding from Development Partners International (DPI) Venture Capital via the Nclude Fund. The funding will fuel expansion across Egypt’s governorates and accelerate the launch of new verticals, including Sylndr Swift (digital auto-financing), Sylndr Plus (after-sales & servicing), and Al-Ajans (dealers' marketplace).
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Thoughts?
What we’re seeing isn’t a retreat, it is more of a recalibration. With fewer flashy rounds and more meaningful bets, the funding scene is starting to reflect a deeper, longer-term view of what it takes to build sustainable startups in Africa.
What are your thoughts? Reply and let me know!
Startup Funding Rounds
We had 7 major startup funding rounds last week, more half of them from Nigeria. The startups are:
🇳🇬 Nigerian construction materials marketplace, Cutstruct, closed a $1.5 million seed round led by CRE Venture Capital, E3 Capital and Techstars.
🇳🇬 Nigerian digital lending startup Carrot raised $4.2m seed funding round led by MaC Venture Capital, Partech Africa and Authentic Ventures.
🇳🇬 TravullSAFE, a Nigerian AI-powered SecurityTech company protecting intercity travelers with real-time trip tracking, raised $5,000 in a pre-seed round.
🇳🇬 Tespire, a Nigerian Ed-Tech company, received a $100,000 grant from the MasterCard Foundation and received an undisclosed amount in debt financing from the Alternative Bank.
🇳🇬 Owei and Makky, an agribusiness startup, raised an undisclosed amount from Fastercapital in a seed round.
🇪🇹 Beemi, Ethiopia’s live-entertainment platform, raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round led by Renew Capital.
🇿🇦 Cosmiq Broadband from South Africa raised an undisclosed funding in a seed funding round.
Active Investors
We had quite a number of undisclosed investors who took part in the 7 funding rounds. The ones who publicly revealed their participation include CRE Venture Capital, E3 Capital, Techstars, Alternative Bank, MasterCard Foundation, Fastercapital, Renew Capital, MaC Venture Capital, Partech Africa and Authentic Ventures.
Appointments
Victoria Kleinbort Named Head of Business Development at Servercore.
Opportunities and jobs
Qualcomm Selects 10 Startups for 2025 Make in Africa Incubation Program.
13 African Startups Set to Pitch at Africa Tech Summit London
Other Stories
How Safaricom Is Shaping FinTech 2.0 in Africa.
Equity Bank’s Digital Platforms Now Process 87% of Transactions.
NCBA Bank Adds Instant Digital Account Opening on NCBA Now App.
Microsoft Launches ARC Cybersecurity Initiative With Kenya’s NC4.
Safaricom Advocates for Shared Infrastructure to Drive Africa’s Digital Growth at Connected Africa 2025.
straitPay Raises £1M in Pre-Seed Round to Boost Financial Access Across Africa.
Keep in Touch
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