MPharma, a Ghanaian health tech startup is set to open 100 virtual centers across seven markets in Africa over the next six months. The company, founded by CEO Gregory Rockson, has the goal to deliver quality primary care in the communities they serve by providing medical examinations. MPharma already provides about 10,000 physician consultations to patients at the startup’s network of pharmacies. Its also managed to raise over $50 million since inception; this includes a Series C round of $17 million, led by U.K.’s development arm CDC Group last year. Other existing investors include
An African startup that helps connect consumers’ bank accounts to financial applications has raised a $15 million Series A round. Tiger Global led Mono’s round. The firm also had participation from new investors Target Global, General Catalyst, and SBI Investment. New investors were joined by existing ones, including Entree Capital, Lateral Capital, Golden Palm Investments, Acuity VC, and Ingressive Capital, bringing Mono’s total raise to a little over $17.5 million since launching last year, reported TechCrunch. Launched in August 2020, the company streamlines various financial data in a single API for companies
Ejara, a one-year-old company founded by Nelly Chatue-Diop, has raised $2 million to pioneer the use of crypto and investment services in Cameroon. CoinShares Ventures and Anthemis Group led the round. They are joined by Mercy Corps Ventures, Lateral Capital, LoftyInc Capital, and NetX Fund. In addition, two angel investors — Pascal Gauthier of Ledger and Jason Yanowitz of Blockworks — and a syndicate social fund participated. Ejara has more than 8,000 users from Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, and Senegal, as well as French-speaking Africans in the diaspora (Europe, Asia, and
Google has announced the launch of a $50 million “Africa Investment Fund,” which will be invested in African startups. The tech giant made its plans known at a virtual event, where CEO Sundar Pichai announced its intentions to commit $1 billion over the next five years in tech-led initiatives on the continent. Chosen companies will also be provided access to Google’s employees, network, and technologies to help them build products. In three years, the accelerator program has supported more than 80 startups in seed to Series A stages, providing equity-free mentorship and
A Facebook-backed subsea communications cable is set to become the world’s longest – directly connecting three continents — Africa, Europe, and Asia. On Tuesday, the major tech firm announced that the 2Africa cable would now extend more than 45,000 kilometers (27,960 miles) once it’s completed. The 8,000-kilometer extension will see 2Africa become the most extended subsea cable system in the world upon completion, Facebook said. This means it will also beat the current record set by the SEA-ME-WE 3 line that stretches 39,000 km and connects 33 countries across South East Asia,
Yellow Card, an African Bitcoin exchange that recently announced a $15 million Series A funding, is one of the continent’s leading trailblazers in cryptocurrency. Its most recent round was led by Valar Ventures, Third Prime, and Castle Island Ventures. Square, Coinbase Ventures, and Blockchain.com Ventures. Now Yellow Card plans to use its funding to grow its team, launch new products, and expand to more African countries across the continent. According to Forbes, the announcement makes it the most considerable funding by a B2C crypto exchange in Africa. The firm was first launched in 2018 in Nigeria
Nigeria and San Francisco-based start-up, Klasha, has just announced its partnership with OpenCart, an all-in-one e-commerce builder that provides businesses with the tools to create and launch an online store. Klasha, first launched in 2018 by Jess Anuna and Kemi Oritsejafor, specializes in helping merchants worldwide sell online to Africa and receive payments in local currency. The new partnership means that OpenCart merchants can now sell more and accept payments online from customers across the continent while enjoying “superfast last-mile delivery to customers across the continent within 10 days.” Merchants who
Netflix Inc has launched a free mobile plan in Kenya as part of its strategy to spark growth in the East African nation, home to over 20 million internet users. The plan will be rolled out to all users in the country; it will be available on Android mobile phones and will not have any ads. Some shows will not be included in the free plan, and they will be marked with a lock icon. Clicking on one of those titles will encourage the user to sign up for a
African genomics startup 54gene has been at the forefront of bridging the divide in the global genomics market, where less than 3% of genetic material used in research is from the continent. This figure is quite shocking since Africans and people of African descent are more genetically diverse than any other population. But 54gene, which was first launched in 2018, is on a mission to radically change this picture, and the $25 million it secured in Series B funding will bolster its efforts. The milestone round came after founder Dr. Abasi Ene-Obong raised
Nigeria’s one-click checkout platform OurPass has raised $1Million during its pre-seed round to help it scale its business across the country. The West Africa e-commerce market is still heavily reliant on cash on delivery, according to a recent survey conducted by Jumia. As of 2019, 70% of Nigerians said they prefer cash on delivery options to make online payments. But for those who do try to buy online – yearly, about 75% of shopping carts are abandoned because of how difficult the checkout experience can be with long forms and
