While attention often focuses on mega-funding rounds and unicorn births, a significant portion of investment activity in Africa’s startup ecosystem occurs beneath the surface. These under-the-radar deals — encompassing pre-seed investments, angel rounds, and strategic acquisitions — play a crucial role in shaping the continent’s innovation landscape. Our African Startup Deal Tracker offers a window into this often-unreported deal flow, highlighting transactions that demonstrate the breadth and depth of investor confidence in African ventures.
This week’s tracker features investments across diverse sectors, from music tech to agri-tech and renewable energy, highlighting the dynamism of the African entrepreneurial spirit and the diverse challenges being tackled by local innovators. These deals, while not always making headline news, are vital indicators of the sustained growth and maturation of the African startup ecosystem.
Below are summaries of the latest deals tracked:
Deal Summaries:
- Muzikin (Democratic Republic of Congo)
- Sector: Music Technology
- Description: Muzikin is a Congolese startup focused on revolutionizing music distribution and royalty payments for African artists. The platform enables artists to distribute their music to global platforms like Spotify and YouTube and receive payments via mobile banking or wire transfer.
- Investment Details: Fuzé, in partnership with Digital Africa, has invested in Muzikin. The investment aims to scale Muzikin’s operations, expand its user base, and accelerate its path to profitability, ultimately empowering more African artists to monetize their talent globally.
- Quote: Winny Andromed, Founder & CEO of Muzikin, highlights the platform’s unique solution to the challenge of low content monetization in Africa, creating channels for independent artists to distribute music worldwide and directly collect royalties.
2. E-pineA (Benin)
- Sector: AgriTech
- Description: E-pineA is a Beninese AgriTech platform connecting local and international agribusinesses with farmers committed to sustainable farming practices. The platform utilizes production data and predictive algorithms to provide real-time visibility on product availability, enabling agribusinesses to place orders, track product traceability, and make secure payments.
- Investment Details: Fuzé, alongside Digital Africa, has invested in E-pineA. This funding is intended to transform the agricultural supply chain in Africa, reduce post-harvest losses, and accelerate the transition to sustainable farming, creating income opportunities for farmers and stimulating agribusiness growth.
- Quote: Ulrich Djido & Lucien Medjiko, Founders of E-pineA, emphasize the platform’s role in addressing the critical issue of access to the international agrifood market for farmers, acting as a trusted intermediary between farmers and manufacturers to meet quality standards and market access.
3. GI3 SAS (Green Innov Industry Investment) (Morocco)
- Sector: Renewable Energy (Solar Water Heaters Manufacturing)
- Description: GI3 SAS is a Moroccan company specializing in the manufacturing and commercialization of solar water heaters. The company is focused on local production of solar technology, aiming to substitute imports and serve the Moroccan market. GI3 is developing a solar water heater production plant in Tiflet, Morocco, with significant production capacity.
- Investment Details: CDG Invest SA, the investment arm of Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion (CDG), is acquiring a 29.4% stake in GI3 SAS. This investment signals confidence in Morocco’s renewable energy sector and GI3’s potential in the solar water heater market.
- Context: The investment by CDG Invest will integrate them into the round table of GI3. GI3’s project includes the “Mysol” low-cost solar water heater production plant. The company aims to manufacture solar wafers, photovoltaic cells, and modules “Made in Morocco.” The Competition Council of Morocco has received notification of this acquisition, and details are publicly available as per Moroccan law.
Note: This tracker is compiled from publicly available information and direct company announcements. Deal details are based on the latest information at the time of publication and are intended for informational purposes only.
To submit information on deals not listed, please contact us at support@launchbaseafrica.com or enquiry@launchbaseafrica.com