To expand into more countries and offer additional content and technology, Afriwise has raised $1.1 milliion. The Africa-focused legal publishing and technology platform received funding from Jacques Emsens and Christophe de Limburg Stirum. They are two investors from Belgium, the country where the company’s head office is located.
“We are still at the beginning of our journey, however, this announcement of a significant capital injection by European investors is a sign that people are seeing possibilities for Afriwise to become a very big company,” Steven De Backer, Afriwise’s founder, said.
“With regulators and legislators expressing a growing appetite for levying fines for companies not complying with local legislation and regulations — for example in the fields of data protection and corporate house-keeping — accessing quality legal information and counsel has never been more important for businesses,” he added.
The new investment will help the company expand into further countries, including Botswana, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia, as well as provide more in-depth content.
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A Look At What The Startup Does
Afriwise has been around since the end of 2018 and was founded by Steven De Backer. The young company offers an online platform that brings together reference information on legislation, legal frameworks and the legal market in Africa, as well as information on companies and resources. Its clients are prestigious, such as Vodafone, DHL, MTN, the French logistics company Bolloré and the multinational healthcare company Roche.
De Backer ran a consulting firm called Afriwise Consult before founding Afriwise’s legaltech division. He has spent more than four years as co-head of Webber Wentzel’s Africa division and a partner in the firm’s Africa mining and energy projects practise in South Africa. De Backer was a senior associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Brussels before moving to Africa in 2004 with Mkono & Co Advocates in Tanzania and Burundi.
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The company claims to be partnering with over 100 law firms around the continent to keep the legal advice available on its website up to date.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer