Kenyan and Canadian-based solar energy platform, Solar Panda, has raised $8 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by investors Oikocredit and Electrification Financing Initiative. The pay-as-you-go solar home system was founded by Andy Keith in 2016, to help provide clean, affordable solar energy to rural communities in Africa. The platform has already provided more than 200,000 solar home systems to households across Kenya from its 37 retail branches. “We are excited to partner with leading global impact investors Oikocredit and EDFI ElectriFI and thankful that this
Uber’s rival, Bolt, has opened its first African headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The new office will serve as a regional hub for the top managers and staff running operations across the continent. Bolt, which Markus Villig founded in 2013, has more than 100 million customers in over 45 countries. The company operates in seven countries across Africa, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Tunisia. The famous ride-hailing company decided to open its first regional hub in Africa due to rapidly growing demand. The head office will be
TechLit Africa redistributes recycled technology to build computer labs in African schools. With 4,000 students and 20 teachers, the organization has built 10 computer labs in rural Kenya and is working on the next 100 computer labs. Nelly Cheboi, who grew up in a poor rural village in Kenya, landed a full scholarship to study computer science at Augustana College in Illinois and later built a school in Kenya, Zawadi, where she then started TechLit Africa. The program is unique because it teaches relevant classes; they hire local teachers to make
Kenya’s central bank has called on the public to share their views, before May 20th, on the possibility of adopting a digital currency, just one day after it emerged that Zambia is also testing its viability too. The Bank of Zambia is also carrying out research on digital currencies. Digital currency, unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, is developed by central banks and pegged on countries’ fiat currencies. The potential decision-making comes just a year after Nigeria became the first country in Africa to pilot its central bank digital currency . While Ghana
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
An African healthcare startup running several hospitals has secured $18 million in a Series A round. These funds will build its “tech-forward healthcare system” across Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. The funding round for Africal Health Holdings, led by Asia Pacific Land/Natural World Limited, saw the participation of several investors, including TRB Advisors, Breyer Capital, M3, Inc., Valiant Capital, Kepple Ventures, and SUNU Capital. Based in West Africa, Africa Health Holdings will use the new capital to expand its telemedicine service beyond Ghana to countries like Nigeria and Kenya. The startup’s MyCareMobile
A minority-owned platform that allows you to compare colleges, course options, and tuition fees all in one go has just managed to raise $1M in a pre-seed round that will go towards improving its search and recommendation technology. Craydel was launched earlier this year by co-founders Manish Sardana, John Nguru, and Shayne Aman Premji. It was inspired by the lack of a reliable portal in Africa to guide the big decisions on which college and course selection students will take. The trio then decided to bring to life a platform that would eliminate this
Electric vehicle startup BasiGo has today announced the launch of its operations in Nairobi, and the buses will come in 25 and 36-seater capacities, with a range of about 250 kilometers. The startup plans to sell locally assembled electric buses using parts from China’s EV maker BYD Automotive; the company said while announcing it had raised $1 million in pre-seed funding. It is also planning to enter other markets within the East Africa region after establishing ground in Kenya. BasiGo is backed by several investors, including Climate Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital
Twiga Foods has raised $50M in its Series C round to take its mission to expand food and retail distribution across the African continent. The firm, which launched in 2014, uses technology to build supply chains in food and retail distribution. It claims to simplify the supply chain between fresh food producers, FMCG manufacturers, and retailers through a B2B e-commerce platform and it currently has over 100,000 registered customers and delivers to 10,000 every day. Twiga now plans to use the funding to test out a model they’re developing “to reduce the
Bolt is set to roll out electric taxi options in South Africa four months after introducing e-bike food delivery services as part of its mission to expand across the continent rapidly. The move comes amid plans by Uber to test a carpooling and rideshare service in Nairobi, with ideas to also roll it out in Ghana and Nigeria. Bolt’s electric taxi option is part of the company’s “green category” initiative. The system lets riders only hail an electric or a hybrid vehicle – which is considered more environmentally friendly. The firm
