Africa-focused VC, Oui Capital, closed its $300 million second fund, Capital Mentors Fund II, targeted at supporting pre-seed and seed stage businesses. The funding round included investors, D Global ventures, Angur Nagpal’s Vibe Capital, One Way Ventures, and Ground Squirrel Ventures. Oui Capital, founded by Olu Oyinsan and Francesco Andreoli, launched its first $10 million fund in 2018. The investment firm aims to bridge the gap between high-growth technology startups in sub-Saharan Africa. It is on a mission to become the first “yeses” entrepreneurs hear as they embark on their startup
Black-owned startup, Qwili, raises $1.2 million in seed funding. The funding round, led by South African venture firm E4E Africa also included Strat-Tech, Next Chymia, Untapped Global, and Codec Ventures. Angel investors Ashwin Ravichandran and Kanyi Maqubela also participated in the funding round. Qwili, co-founded in 2020 by Luyolo Sijake, Thandwefika Radebe, and Tapfuma Masunzambwa, works as a hybrid sales platform to support micro and small merchants in South Africa. The company, which aims to address the lack of access to digital products and services within the African market, has developed a quality and
Vice President Harris has announced new public and private sector that aims to align the government with a coalition of companies and foundations to address economic disparities. The initiative, spearheaded by solutions firm Next Street, will see a community of investors make significant contributions to BIPOC businesses by connecting them with investments made by the Biden-Harris administration. A collective commitment The EOC consists of executive leaders from giant companies, including Bank of America, Capital One, Goldman Sachs, Google, Mastercard, Netflix, PayPal, and more. In addition, the community has already invested
Black-owned serverless startup, Baselime, has raised $1.5M in pre-seed funding. The funding round, which Sequoia Capital led, also included venture capital firms Antler, Forward Partners, and Octopus Ventures. The London-based company, founded in 2021 by Boris Tane, works to reduce the challenges developers often experience. Businesses can embrace automated observability ecosystems through their platform, which is highly beneficial for remote teams. The platform also claims to offer highly flexible technology at a reduced cost by encouraging developers to run applications and manage servers on behalf of customers without needing to
Africa-focused investment firm, Persistent Energy, has raised $10 million in its Series C funding to help support the renewable energy sector in Africa. The funding round, led by Kyuden International Corporation and FSD Africa Investments, also saw private investors Kotaro Tamura, BK Ventures BV, and DPI Energy Ventures participate. Persistent Energy, founded over a decade ago, is a pioneer investor in Africa’s renewable sector. The investment firm works to support and build businesses that can “scale sustainably.” They provide financial capital for startups and allow their team members to work
Award-winning African spirits group, Spearhead, has raised $3 million in investment from venture capital firm Pendulum to help deliver their products to the world’s bars. Spearhead, co-founded by UK-based entrepreneurs Chris Federick and Damola Timeyin in 2021, is a multi-award-winning business with an extensive portfolio working with premium brands. The company launched to challenge the cultural basis and the lack of African representation in the spirits industry. Their award-winning Premium African Spirits, Vusa Vodka and Bayab Gin, are made solely from African products and capture Africa’s premium craft and creativity.
Black Ambition, owned by world-renowned singer and producer Pharrell Williams, recently announced its $3 million investment in content curator platform Trend. The pre-seed funding round was led by venture capital firm Flybridge and included a range of investors, including Techstars Ventures, live-streaming service Twitch, famous anime brand Crunchyroll, and reviewer platform Rotten Tomatoes. The investment firm, Black Ambition, which was founded by Pharrell in 2020, is dedicated to supporting Black and Latinx business owners. The non-profit organization aims to bridge the gap to success for entrepreneurs of color working in
How do you allow — and make it easier for — anyone to start a company? That’s the question driving Pulley, the cap table and equity management platform that has just raised $40 million in Series B investment funding. The new investment brings Pulley’s total funding to $50 million to date. The funding round was led by Keith Rabois at Founders Fund, including investors Stripe and Elad Gil. The latest investment fund comes a year after the company’s rapid growth, supporting over 1,600 companies across 80 countries. The serial investor
Black-owned investment accelerator, 1863, has unveiled its investment strategy for “New Majority” entrepreneurs, a term that they use to describe Black and Brown business owners who have been historically marginalized. The investment funding will go towards helping early-stage entrepreneurs develop their businesses to achieve generational wealth and hit their target goals. 1863, founded by Melissa Bradley in 2020, is a business development program designed to bridge the gap between entrepreneurship and equity. The platform works with marginalized entrepreneurs to help accelerate them from high potential to high growth. The firm
Carbon transformation company Twelve has raised $130 million in Series B funding to further support the engineering and manufacturing industries. The funding round was led by DCVC and included Series A investors Capricorn Technology Impact Fund and Carbon Direct Capital Management. Breakout Ventures, Munich Re Ventures, Elementum Ventures, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, and other investors participated in the funding round. The new funding will deploy the world’s first carbon transformation product. The product, designed to create a wide range of products with a lower carbon footprint, will use transformative technology
