Since its launch, AfroSaúde has helped 2,000 patients to find and book consultations with nearly 1,000 black professionals in Brazil, including medical practitioners, dentists, and therapists. Payment for the consultations is made through the AfroSaúde platform, which takes a commission. Igor Leo Rocha, a journalist, who suffers from folliculitis, a bacterial condition whereby hair grows back into the skin when it is cut, causing painful inflammation, launched the platform in 2019 with his partner Arthur Lima. Their reasons? Rocha told the FT that many doctors he saw prescribed “strong medication
Bamboo, an investment platform that allows Nigerians to buy and trade US stocks in real-time from their mobile phones or computers, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round. Launched in January 2020 by CEO Richmond Bassey and COO Yanmo Omorogbe, the start-up has rapidly grown in popularity with retail investors, claiming over 300,000 accounts in Nigeria. Its users can access all equities available on the US stock exchanges, that is, the stocks of roughly 6,000 companies. Last year, the company launched Powered by Bamboo, it’s API solution that allows asset managers, fintech
The cohort includes 35 US creators who will get funding, training, and other resources through the program. The fund provides one year of support, including seed funding for channels, development programs, workshops, and networking opportunities. “Black creators have played an important role in shaping the culture on YouTube. From fashion and comedy to politics, learning, and wellness, Black creators have propelled our platform forward,” the company said in the announcement. A total of 26 African YouTube creators, including 10 Nigerian creators, were also picked. They were chosen to join a
NALA, a Tanzanian cross-border payments company that recently pivoted from local to international money transfers, has raised $10 million in a new fundraising round. It comes almost three years after NALA secured a seven-figure pre-seed round led by Accel in 2019. It received funds from an impressive group of angel investors — Jonas Templestein, co-founder and CTO of Monzo; Vladimir Tenev, Robinhood co-founder and CEO; Deel founder Alex Bouaziz; Laura Spiekerman, co-founder of Alloy; Peeyush Ranjan, the head of Google Payments and early employees at Revolut and TransferWise. Sheel Tyle,
DrugStoc co-founders Chibuzo Opara and Adham Yehia launched DrugStoc to serve as a tech-enabled solution that combats the continent’s broken pharmaceutical supply chains through connecting drug store companies with hospitals and pharmacies in Nigeria.
India had eight unicorns in 2018, nine in 2019, and 11 in 2020. Last year, the country celebrated 42. Similarly, it took China five years to reach five unicorns between 2010 and 2015, but then saw 21 unicorns in 2016 – and 91 unicorns in 2019. While Latin America has followed a similar trajectory, raising $14.8 billion in 2021 – more than it had raised between 2014-2020 combined – and minting nine of the region’s 17 unicorns. Now Africa, once a continent that was lagging behind in the investment race, is reportedly seeing $1
Usman Dalhatu, a 20-year-old mechanical engineer student at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, invented and built a local ventilator. At the time of building the invention – his country – Nigeria reportedly had just 500 ventilators across its 36 states. In partnership with other Nigerian innovators, Dalhatu, 20, built a local ventilator, which he later transformed into a portable ultra-modern E-vent automatic ventilator. Dalhatu named the equipment RESPIRE-19. He collaborated with Dr. Yunusa Muhammad Garba of the Human Anatomy Department, Gombe State University and Aliyu Hassan, a graduate of Mechatronics Engineering.
Sote, an African supply chain-focused company with a mission to build the digital logistics infrastructure to make trade affordable, has announced its recent round of funding. The company has raised a $4 million seed extension round, bringing its total raised to date to $8.4 million. The round was led by Social Capital, Chamath Palihapitiya’s fund, with Ray Ko, the growth partner joining Sote’s board. Other participating financiers include Harry Hurst, Founder/CEO at Pipe; MaC Venture Capital “doubling down,” per the press release; and K50 ventures. “Sote has always been about the people. A
Rapper Nas has joined US private equity firm Andreessen Horowitz and Alphabet Inc.’s Google in an investment round for Africa-focused mobile gaming platform – Carry1st. Carry1st, a South African publisher of social games and interactive content across Africa, has raised $20 million Series A from the investors. The startup, launched by Cordel Robbin-Coker, Lucy Hoffman and Tinotenda Mundangepfupfu in 2018, also received investments from Avenir and the founders of Chipper Cash, Sky Mavis and Yield Guild Games, took part. It wants to use this additional capital to scale interactive content across Africa, build the workforce and acquire new users. The
QED Investors announced today that they have hired Gbenga Ajayi, who will focus on Africa investments as part of QED’s international team. Gbenga, who joins as a partner, is the company’s first hire focused on fintech investments in Africa. He spent his career working across fintech and Africa in a variety of roles from product development and growth to marketing and partnerships. Before joining QED, he was co-founder of Kanza Ventures, a boutique seed investment, and advisory firm focused on fintech in Africa. Before that, he was product director for
