Story of the Week: From Summit Declarations to Startup Action - The Policy Momentum Must Deliver

Hey, Kaluka here,

Last week, following the second Africa Climate Summit and Africa Climate Week, the lull of rhetoric is giving way to urgency. Leaders across the continent didn’t just promise more climate funding, they are laying the groundwork for startup-friendly policy, regulatory alignment and green innovation that can scale. We did cover that in our previous newsletter which you can check out here. It’s no longer enough to talk about Paris agreements or net-zero pledges. What matters now is how investments, laws and frameworks support founders bringing solutions in climate resilience, clean energy, food security and tech infrastructure.

Africa’s ambition is backed by big numbers, a $100 billion green energy investment pledge from commercial and development banks, the establishment of the Africa Climate Innovation Compact and calls for predictable financing, not ad hoc grants. These aren’t just policy wins on paper; they raise the stakes for startups. Founders known for roadblocks like unclear licensing, weak IP protection or slow regulatory approvals will be watching closely.

What do you think? Are these summit outcomes going to translate into real startup-friendly changes in your country / sector? I would like to hear from you.

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.

Last week, we tracked 7 funding rounds across Africa that raised about $27,350,000 million.

🇹🇿 MazaoHub - Raised $1.5m in pre-seed funding led by Catalyst Fund with participation from Nordic Impact Fund, Mercy Corps Ventures, elea Foundation, Impacc, and DOB Equity and an additional grant of $500K from Livelihood Impact Fund.

🇳🇬 cNGN – Raised an undisclosed amount in a Seed round from DeFi Technologies, Coinabase ventures and Adaverse. cNGN is a naira backed stablecoin issued by Wrapped CBDC Ltd.

🇲🇦 Alya - Closed a seed funding round raising an undisclosed amount. Alya is a finTech providing instalments & payment solutions in Africa.

🇲🇦 Done - Raised $2.1M in a Seed round from unnamed investors. Done is an online platform for food and grocery delivery.

🇳🇬 Payskul - Raised $1M in a pre-seed round led by FasterCapital. Payskul offers a platform for financial inclusion, enabling parents to manage school fees and support students' education.

🇰🇪 Hydragravity Energy Limited - Closed a $250K Pre-seed funding round led by FasterCapital. Hydragravity Energy Limited is a clean energy start-up that has developed a breakthrough gravity-driven hydraulic energy system.

🇳🇬 Kredete Raised $22M in Series A round from AfricInvest through its Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund.

We had 11 investors participate in last week’s rounds:

Total disclosed funding: $27,350,000 million across 7 rounds.

Fintechs to Watch: Strong Traction + High Expectations

Bloomberg’s “Top 25 African Startups to Watch in 2025” list dropped last week, and among those are four fintechs gaining attention: Anda (Angola), eShandi (Zambia), iiDENTIFii (South Africa), and Klasha. These are companies working in regtech, cross-border payments, asset financing, etc., and their inclusion points to what investors are watching: real impact, cross-border potential, and business models that solve persistent friction points.

If policy, regulation, and funding environments improve (especially in riskier markets), these fintechs could be among those to scale fast.

Want to connect or suggest something for the newsletter?

That’s it for this week’s issue of Africa Startup Weekly. If you enjoyed the look into telecom-eCommerce synergy, share it with someone building at the intersection of tech and infrastructure.

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