Amitruck, a Kenyan tech-enabled logistics platform, has just raised $4 million in seed funding – bringing the total funds raised to date to $5 million. The most important purpose of this round is hiring, according to Amitruck founder and chief executive officer Mark Mwangi. The seed round was led by Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV), with the participation of Dynamo Ventures, Rackhouse Venture Capital, Flexport Inc, Knuru Capital, Launch Africa Ventures, Uncovered Fund and a number of angel investors. Launched in 2019 as a digital logistics marketplace, Amitruck connects shippers with transporters
Plug In South LA has announced its third tech accelerator program focused on Black and Latinx communities. The benefits of the tech accelerator will include potential grants of up to $40,000 and possible seed investments and pilot partnerships. Mentors in the program will include leaders and executives from the California Health Care Foundation, Courtside Ventures, RareBreed Ventures, and Zeal Capital Partners, among others. “We are keen to help Founders secure capital and investment plus help them leverage the LA start ecosystem to develop traction and momentum around their company,” notes Derek Smith, founder of
Nestcoin, a Black-owned company founded last November with a mission to build, operate, invest in web3 applications and make crypto accessible to everyone, has raised $6.45 million pre-seed. The company’s products cut across Decentralized Finance (DeFi), media, digital art, and gaming. Described by its founder as a venture collective, it launched its media arm called Breach last year to create bite-sized and informative crypto content for the average African. It also set up Metaverse Magna (MVM), a gaming guild that introduces users to the world of play-to-earn crypto-powered games like Axie
Nathaniel Wade studied to be an engineer before he dived into the entrepreneurial route. He first started off with a property investment business before going on to launch what he believes will be a leading platform for amplifying Black businesses. Wade, 30, launched Wakuda, also dubbed the ‘Amazon’ or ‘Etsy’ for Black businesses with his long-time friend Albert Larter back in September 2020 during the pandemic. This was a time when thousands in the UK were furloughed, some were let go and others were forced to close the doors to
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
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
PAPS, a Senegal-based logistics, and delivery company fills this gap in its region by offering customers various logistics services. First launched by Bamba Lo in 2016 to provide end-to-end logistics solutions for businesses with offline and online operations – the company has gone from strength to strength in the last few years. On Wednesday – it announced a $4.5 million pre-Series A round to expand its tech-enabled logistics solution across the Francophone region. The round was co-led by pan-African venture capital firm 4DX Ventures and regional telecom operator Orange. Also participating in
Speaking during his keynote speech at the Urban League of Hampton Roads’annual Martin Luther King, Jr. awards program on Monday singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams issued a call-to-action for businesses to pledge a more firm commitment to Black entrepreneurs. Although Williams applauded the “smart” companies that have already taken a stand and implanted different ways they can help founders of color, he didn’t hesitate to explain what more needs to be done. He said: “There’s much more work to be done to achieve anything that resembles equality, business — thank God businesses
