Startups and founders - Afrikan Heroes

6 Years After With $920K In Funding, Kenyan Ecommerce Startup Zumi Shuts Down

March 23, 2023

Zumi, a Kenyan e-commerce site that sold non-food items, has shut down after its funding ran out, adding to the increasing number of digital companies that have failed recently in Kenya.

William McCarren, the co-founder and CEO of the company, said on LinkedIn that the move would result in at least 150 people being let go due to fundraising challenges that threatened viability.

“With a heavy heart, I share the news that Zumi will be closing its doors. The current macro environment has made fundraising extremely difficult, and unfortunately, our business was not able to achieve sustainability in time to survive,” wrote McCarren.

According to Crunchbase data, Zumi has raised more than $920,000 (Sh120 million) in investment since its founding in 2016, and according to McCarren, the company had 5,000 clients and over $20 million (Sh2.6 billion) in revenue during that time.

Zumi ecommerce — *Source: Co-Creation Hub*

Zumi, which began as a women’s-focused digital magazine, withdrew from the media business and switched to e-commerce after experiencing difficulty generating enough cash from digital advertisements.

The company’s decision to shut down is part of an ongoing pattern in which promising digital firms have been going out of business one after another, with the majority of them claiming challenging market circumstances and financial challenges.

As Kune Foods, Notify Logistics, WeFarm, BRCK, and Sky-Garden closed their doors in the past year, hundreds of jobs were lost, making the latest shut down the seventh tech start-up with headquarters in Kenya.

Sendy, for its part, shut down Sendy Supply, a platform for trading between retailers and suppliers, and reduced its personnel by 20% in October.

Zumi ecommerce Zumi ecommerce

Tracking Layoffs And Shutdowns: Is Kenya The New Hotbed Of Failed Startups In Africa?

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

African Payment Startup Chipper Cash Exploring Sale Amid Silicon Valley Bank Crisis

March 15, 2023

According to Bloomberg, Chipper Cash, an African-focused fintech startup backed by Silicon Valley Bank and cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is considering several possibilities, such as exploring a sale or looking for new investors.

According to the news outlet quoting reliable sources, the corporation started thinking about the alternatives before SVB’s collapse last week. The report says Chipper Cash may decide against any option, they noted, and that no final decisions have been made on the matter.

In November 2021, Chipper Cash, which processes cross-border payments for customers, announced a $150 million Series C expansion round led by FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange platform created by Sam Bankman-Fried. The investment came only six months after it received a $100 million Series C funding from SVB Capital, Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group’s corporate venture capital arm.

Both the FTX and SVB Financial Group have now declared bankruptcy, thus ending their several years of business. And, of course, liquidating their assets, which include investments in tech startups such as Chipper Cash, although the startup has since denied substantial exposure to the bank’s current crisis.

Chipper Cash, founded in 2018, offers free, interoperable payments in and across various African nations, most notably Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Rwanda, and Nigeria; however the firm also has operations outside of Africa, including the United Kingdom.

Chipper Cash sale Chipper Cash sale

The African Startup Twice Hit By The Collapse Of FTX And Silicon Valley Bank

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

Newly Funded Fleet Management Startup Fleeti Expands To Morocco

March 14, 2023

Fleeti, a Senegal and France-based firm specialised in field operations management and digitization, has announced its entrance into Morocco.

The company, which provides innovative solutions to collect, centralise, and analyse data from field operations (vehicle fleet, machinery and equipment, cold chain, production chain, and so on), is expanding its international reach “to meet the growing demand of its customers in Morocco,” according to a press release from management.

According to Fleeti’s National Manager in Morocco, Omar Alami Idrissi: “Nowadays, a rising number of Moroccan businesses must reduce operational costs while also digitising their field activities. That’s where we come in! “.

Fleeti, formed in 2020 by Iban Olçomendy and Gabriel Delerue, raised €3 million in seed funding from investors including Newfund, Janngo Capital, PG Dev, and Proparco. Because of recent investments, the startup has already covered 9 countries. This funding will allow it to widen its expansion, namely in Africa, where it has already built a firm position in a critical region, allowing it to continue its worldwide development.

Fleeti has created an artificial intelligence-powered SaaS platform to increase the productivity, safety, and sustainability of its customers’ field operations. It provides various features such as geolocation, fuel consumption analysis, cold chain monitoring, car sharing, operational safety, and equipment maintenance management, which are easily integrated into customers’ daily software thanks to automated data sharing, allowing them to reduce fuel consumption by up to 20% and increase fleet productivity by an average of 15%.

Fleeti fleet management Fleeti fleet management

Senegalese Fleet Management Startup, Fleeti, Raises $3.1M To Accelerate Growth

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

African Payment Startup Chipper Cash Issues A Statement About Its Bankrupt Investor, Silicon Valley Bank

March 12, 2023

This past week has been one of the most chaotic and unraveling for the US technology and startup community. In the wake of both Silvergate Bank and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) being shut down within a few days of each other, I wanted to come out and share a few thoughts. The most important of which is to clearly state that fortunately Chipper Cash has had overall insignificant exposure to both these events.

Given the scale and complexity of our global operations, Chipper Cash maintains multiple banking relationships across the world — including multiple within the United States. As such, we had a very limited amount of money (only about $1M) held in our SVB account at the time the bank was taken over by the California regulator. We have already received confirmation from the FDIC that we can expect about half the funds back by Monday March 13th 2023. Furthermore, there was absolutely no impact on our customer operations around the world.

I also wanted to talk about the fact SVB was one of our many investors, and led our Series C round in 2021. This is a fact I am very proud of. SVB has been the most important banking partner to the entire Silicon Valley ecosystem; and for us at Chipper they have been incredible partners as investors. A little known fact is that 5 years ago when I was trying to open Chipper’s first bank account, SVB was the only bank that would accept us. I know there are countless other startups all doing very important work who would say the same thing. Therefore, it is quite sad to see such a pillar of our ecosystem brought to its knees.

However, it is important to clarify what SVB being an investor actually meant for us at Chipper, especially during a time like this. From a financial perspective, it doesn’t really change anything. SVB made their investment in Chipper in 2021 and we received those funds as soon as that round closed. What is happening now doesn’t change that. Additionally, SVB wasn’t the only investor in that round — we had several other new and existing investors participate in the $100m round — and SVB owns a very small part of Chipper ~2%. Chipper is very fortunate to have a very broad and supportive investor base that has supported us from our earliest days and continues to do so today.

The African Startup Twice Hit By The Collapse Of FTX And Silicon Valley Bank

Things appear to be heading south for Ugandan Ham Serunjogi and Ghanaian Maijid Moujaled (two college students brought together by their academic adventures at Grinnell College, Iowa, USA.) At a time when the 5-year-old payment startup should be gearing up for a big exit, it appears to have just begun life anew.

In November 2021, Chipper Cash, which processes cross-border payments for customers, announced a $150 million Series C expansion round led by FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange platform created by Sam Bankman-Fried. The investment came only six months after it received a $100 million Series C funding from SVB Capital, Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group’s corporate venture capital arm.

Now, both the FTX and SVB Financial Group have declared bankruptcy, thus ending their several years of business. And, of course, liquidating their assets, which include investments in tech startups such as Chipper Cash.

Two of the investment rounds for Chipper Cash included participation from SVB Capital as well as prior investors Deciens Capital, Ribbit Capital, Bezos Expeditions, One Way Ventures, and Tribe Capital, raising the company’s worth to over $1 billion.

Chipper Cash, founded in 2018, offers free, interoperable payments in and across various African nations, most notably Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Rwanda, and Nigeria; however the firm also has operations outside of Africa, including the United Kingdom.

For his part, Sam Bankman-Fried, the then CEO of FTX, claimed the investment in Chipper Cash was made with the intention of “making money transfer as simple as sending a text message and accelerating the adoption of cryptocurrencies throughout Africa and beyond.” Yet in light of FTX’s drowning, that objective suddenly also seems too flimsy. Chipper Cash recently denied reports that it had shut down its crypto department.

Silicon Valley Bank Africa — *The Silicon Valley Bank’s Santa Clara, California, headquarters. Image: Reuters*

The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has since been appointed as receiver and will be in charge of liquidating the assets of the Silicon Valley Financial Group Bank. This is the first FDIC-insured bank to shut this year, with Almena State Bank in Kansas closing on October 23, 2020.

Several tech employees whose salaries were dependent on SVB Financial Group Bank were concerned by the announcement. Chipper Cash just completed a second round of layoffs, barely 10 weeks after laying off around 12.5% of its workers (affecting its engineering team the most). The company’s vice president of revenue announced the news on LinkedIn, stating that “all sectors” of Chipper Cash’s marketplaces were affected this time. Numerous local news agencies reported that Chipper Cash laid off about one-third of its workers, or roughly 100 people in the latest round of retrenchment.

The FDIC has assured that all Silicon Valley Bank locations will reopen on March 13, and all insured depositors will have complete access to their insured savings by Monday morning.

Silicon Valley Bank Africa Silicon Valley Bank Africa

Three-year-old African Fintech Chipper Cash Raises $100m, Becomes A Unicorn

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

Why African Edtech Firm Andela Acquired Skills Assessment Platform Qualified

In order to find, qualify, and certify elite engineers, Andela, a worldwide network for remote technical talent, has acquired Qualified, the premier technical skills testing platform. With the acquisition of more than 3.6M engineering users from Codewars, a Qualified-powered online community that allows technical talent to compete and hone their practical coding abilities in gamified challenges, Andela’s worldwide talent network will also grow.

Jeremy Johnson, founder and CEO of Andela

“With the Qualified acquisition, Andela expands and accelerates our ability to source and expertly assess talent,” said Jeremy Johnson, founder and CEO of Andela. “Labor marketplaces are constrained by inefficiencies between supply, demand and quality — Qualified allows us to address those inefficiencies by providing the certified right talent at the right time. Companies will continue to trust that talent sourced through Andela has the needed skills regardless of where they live and work.”

Jake Hoffner, the Co-founder and CEO of Qualified, added, “The tech industry has historically relied on hiring practices that have proven to be ineffective. The expanded platform will allow companies to create hiring processes for software engineers that are predictive of their on-the-job performance. In addition, we provide companies and our growing tech community a bigger, broader, and better opportunity to connect globally.”

A global talent network, Andela links businesses with approved distant technical talent in developing economies. With a 96% match success rate, the Andela platform aids businesses in scaling their engineering teams up to 70% quicker than internal recruiting. Andela is trusted by hundreds of top companies, like GitHub, Cloudflare, and ViacomCBS, to help them rapidly and affordably create better teams. Andela is supported by investors such as Generation Investment Management, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Spark Capital, and Google Ventures and has a talent network in more than 170 nations.

The best platform in the world for evaluating software developers is called qualified.io. Leading businesses like Klarna, Facebook, and Zoom benefit from the advantages of talent assessment and training at scale thanks to the developer-focused platform of Qualified.io. Qualified.io was developed by the same team that created the developer community Codewars, and it has the support of financiers including Cornerstone OnDemand, Social Capital, and Dalus Capital. Qualified.io received transactional advice from Mark Miller, Managing Partner, GHP Advisors.

Why Startup Ecosystem in Africa’s French-Speaking Countries Is The Least Funded In Africa

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

Here’s Why Egyptian Transport Startup SWVL Again Risks Being Delisted From Nasdaq, Even After Meeting Requirements

March 10, 2023

A transport startup founded in Egypt, Swvl Holdings Corp (SWVL) (Nasdaq: SWVL), is presently in risk of having its shares removed from Nasdaq, one of the top American stock exchanges. The share price of SWVL is presently $1.58, down from the price of $3.85 it reached on January 25, 2023, when the company’s share consolidation plan — under which each of the company’s 25 issued Ordinary Shares was consolidated into one Share — went into effect.

On November 4, 2022, SWVL received a notice from NASDAQ outlining compliance issues as a result of the company’s shares trading for more than 30 straight days below $1.

Nasdaq Rule 5450(a)(1) hinted that SWVL had failed to maintain its listing on the exchange because the closing bid price for its Class A ordinary shares (the “Ordinary Shares”) had been below $1.00 per share for the past 30 consecutive business days. As a result, the company was in the risk of being delisted.

With a SPAC merger with Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital and an initial offer price of $9.95 per share, SWVL went public on the US NASDAQ in March of this year. The corporation was worth $1.5 billion at the time. However the firm struggled to maintain its original share price after failing to turn a profit in any of its markets. The company’s worth plummeted from $1.5 billion to $53 million in just six months after its first public offering (IPO), a fall of about 95% in share price.

Yet, SWVL also revealed in October 2022 that operations in 50% of the markets it served in August 2022 either became EBITDA positive or broke even.

“The drop in the company’s valuation is no flash in the pan, considering that revenues are not going up,” said Ayamn Khalaf, a financial markers technical analyst.

“Similar to other tech companies, a state of lingering high inflation coupled with a slowdown in venture capital has complicated the situation for SWVL. But, I think the model itself is not working well for the startup. To cope with losses, they had to raise their prices. So for users in Egypt for example, the model is poorly suited for their needs and no longer a viable alternative for public transport. This has resulted in a fall in its customer base and thereby revenues. Besides, It has not been strongly validated in some of the markers they expanded to,” he added.

Tracking Egypt’s Swvl Long After Its SPAC Outing. Three Hard Lessons For African Startups

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

Nigeria’s Flutterwave Goes To North Africa, Bags Payment Licenses In Egypt

February 9, 2023

Flutterwave has announced that it has obtained Payment Services Provider and Payments Facilitator licenses in Egypt.

The company which claims its vision is to connect all major parts of Africa through payments and further connect Africa to the world, says the new license will enable it provide first-class payment services and seamlessly connect businesses to their customers in the North African country.

Co-founder of Andela and Flutterwave, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji

Flutterwave, led by founder and CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, uses a single API to simplify cross-border financial transactions between small and large firms in Africa. The firm also assists companies from outside Africa in expanding their operations on the continent. Booking.com, Flywire, and Uber are some of its foreign clientele.

Flutterwave Egypt

Nigeria’s Flutterwave Becomes Africa’s Most Valued Startup After New $250m Funding

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

Kenyan Ecommerce Startup Copia Lays Off 50 Staff

January 27, 2023

Copia, an ecommerce platform aimed at low-income households, is reported to have laid off roughly 50 employees.

According to persons familiar with the matter, the company laid off the stated number of employees as the tech industry continues to witness tens of thousands of lay-offs worldwide.

Copia has been on an expansion route since raising USD 50 million in a Series C round in 2021, with plans to operate in Nigeria and Ghana. It has since expanded into the Ugandan market. Copia has also been looking into other commercial opportunities, such as the establishment of sugar and rice manufacturing plants. It has previously stated that the facilities will be critical to increasing its output of affordable sugar and rice for the Kenyan market.

No Previous History Of Financial Struggles

Copia has been performing well, according to earlier statements. It claimed it provides more than 4,000 goods, for instance, to the Kenyan and Ugandan markets. The company also claimed that it might be able to ship these goods to customers without incurring any logistics costs.

The business continues by stating that it has fulfilled over 13 million orders across the two regions. More than 38,000 agents make up its agent network. The majority of these intermediaries are store owners who act as delivery locations.

A formal certification from the Kenya Veterinary Board (KVB) has also been granted to the business, allowing it to provide a larger range of services to its expanding base of agricultural industry clients.

The nascent startup ecosystem in Kenya seems embattled. In a space of four months before October 2022, about six funded startups had, in full or in part, bitten the dust. Kune Food is one of them; the startup shut down after raising tens of millions of shillings. It had already let go of 70% of its workforce before leaving the company in June 2022. Sendy also disclosed that it has stopped providing supply services. The company had to fire 20% of its workforce as a result, thus this had a cost as well. It is now concentrating on providing fulfilment services. Twiga Foods also reduced staff. A total of 210 employees, or 21% of the workforce, were affected by the layoffs.

Copia ecommerce

Tracking Layoffs And Shutdowns: Is Kenya The New Hotbed Of Failed Startups In Africa?

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

Egypt’s Transport Startup Swvl Combines Each 25 Shares Into One To Avoid Delisting By Nasdaq

January 26, 2023

The Board of Directors of Swvl Holdings Corp (Nasdaq: SWVL), a provider of revolutionary tech-enabled mass transit solutions, approved a reverse stock split of the company’s Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Ordinary Shares”), at the ratio of one-for-25, so that every 25 issued Ordinary Shares would be combined into one Ordinary Share, with a par value of $0.0025 each, on January 4, 20 (the “Reverse Share Split”). The company’s board of directors also agreed to restate the company’s articles of association and revise them to reflect the reverse share split. According to the BVI Business Companies Act, no shareholder permission is needed for the reverse share split (as revised).

The reverse share split is anticipated to go into effect on January 25, 2023, after which the company’s ordinary shares will start trading on the Nasdaq Global Market (“Nasdaq”) on January 26, 2023, on a split-adjusted basis. As a result of the reverse share split, the exercise or conversion price of all outstanding options and warrants of the Company will be appropriately adjusted by multiplying the exercise or conversion price thereof by 25 and dividing the number of shares of the ordinary shares into which the options or warrants are convertible by 25.

The Company’s Ordinary Shares will now trade on the Nasdaq under the new CUSIP G86302125 instead of the previous symbol “SWVL.” The company anticipates that the reverse share split will enable it to once again meet the $1.00 minimum bid price criterion set forth by Nasdaq.

A Look At What Swvl Does

Intercity, intracity, B2B, and B2G mobility are all provided by Swvl, a global provider of innovative tech-enabled mass transit solutions. For those who cannot access or afford private services, the company’s network offers complementary semi-private transportation options in addition to public transportation. Swvl’s parallel mass transit systems enable people to travel whenever they want and anywhere they want, making mobility safer, more effective, and more accessible while also being more environmentally friendly. Customers can reserve rides on a user-friendly, in-house app with a variety of payment methods and access to high-end private buses and vans.

Tracking Egypt’s Swvl Long After Its SPAC Outing. Three Hard Lessons For African Startups

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard