While the spotlight often shines on headline-grabbing mega-rounds, the bedrock of Africa’s rapidly growing startup ecosystem lies in the consistent flow of smaller (or missed bigger rounds), yet equally vital, investments. This month’s edition of the African Startup Deal Tracker delves into these under-the-radar transactions, encompassing pre-seed funding, angel investments, and strategic acquisitions that collectively paint a picture of sustained growth and investor confidence across the continent. These deals, spanning diverse sectors from agri-tech to legal tech, highlight the ingenuity of African startup founders and the breadth of opportunities being seized.

Here’s a closer look at the notable under-the-radar investment activity we’re tracking this month:

Sabika

• Investment: A six-figure US dollar strategic investment.
• Investor(s): M-Empire Angels (lead investor).
• Sector/Focus: Fintech / Wealthtech. A Sharia-compliant digital platform that enables individuals and businesses to securely invest in gold and silver.
• Country of Operation: Egypt.
• Purpose: To fund platform enhancements, develop AI-driven features, and support expansion into Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf region.

OKO Finance

• Investment: A six-digit funding round.
• Investor(s): Catalyst Fund (lead investor) and existing investors.
• Sector/Focus: Agritech / Insurtech / Climate-tech. The company leverages satellite data and mobile technology to provide affordable climate and crop insurance to smallholder farmers.
• Country of Operation: Pan-African (currently active in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Uganda, Mozambique, and Angola).
• Purpose: To fuel expansion by embedding its climate insurance products directly into agricultural value chains through partnerships with banks, agritechs, and agro-industries.

REasy

• Investment: $1.8 million in a Pre-Seed funding round.
• Investor(s): Launch Africa Ventures (lead), 54 Collective, Ingressive Capital, Digital Africa, Cameroon Angels Network, Dakar Network Angels (DNA), Techmind, and international business angels.
• Sector/Focus: Fintech / B2B Payments. A platform that enables African Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to make international payments by connecting local payment systems (like Mobile Money) to global methods (like Alipay and WeChat Pay).
• Country of Operation: Cameroon but Pan-African, with a strong focus on Francophone Africa.
• Purpose: To scale its platform and continue its mission of simplifying cross-border payments, making it easier and safer for African SMEs to trade globally.

Startbutton Africa

• Investment: An undisclosed investment amount.
• Investor(s): Equitable Ventures.
• Sector/Focus: Fintech / Payments Infrastructure. A Merchant of Record (MoR) platform that offers a single, compliant API for digital businesses to operate and sell across multiple African markets, handling payments, compliance, and taxes.
• Country of Operation: Pan-African.
• Purpose: To support its mission of simplifying cross-border expansion for digital businesses operating in Africa.

PAYDAY Takaful

• Investment: An undisclosed Pre-Seed financing round, resulting in a 9 million Tunisian Dinar ($3 million USD) valuation.
• Investor(s): UGFS North Africa (United Gulf Financial Services) (lead investor), with participation from TALYS Group and BioProtection S.A.
• Sector/Focus: FinTech / InsurTech. Combines payroll-backed financing and micro-Takaful protection to promote financial well-being and inclusion.
• Country of Operation: Tunisia.
• Purpose: To develop services, ensure the scalability of the solution, and evolve into a regional financial and insurance aggregator serving businesses, employees, and individuals.

Kilimo Fresh Foods Africa LTD

• Investment: Investment through the #Fuzé portfolio (Specific amount undisclosed).
• Investor(s): Digital Africa (via its #Fuzé program).
• Sector/Focus: AgriTech / Logistics. A technology and logistics platform that efficiently aggregates produce from smallholder farmers and distributes it to B2B clients and informal retailers.
• Country of Operation: Tanzania (Africa).
• Purpose: To refine the growth strategy, scale tech-enabled fresh produce distribution, create more jobs, and unlock new market access for thousands of smallholder farmers across Tanzania.

Olive Finance

• Investment: An EGP 30 million ($629,000) credit facility.
• Investor(s): Suez Canal Bank.
• Sector/Focus: Fintech. The company is a licensed digital factoring service provider that offers fully digital invoice financing to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
• Country of Operation: Egypt.
• Purpose: To bridge the SME financing gap by enabling Olive to provide more small and medium-sized businesses with access to its digital factoring and invoice financing solutions.

Planet Solar

• Investment: €390,000 in additional financing.
• Investor(s): Proparco (utilizing resources from the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs).
• Sector/Focus: Renewable Energy / Infrastructure. The company develops and operates grid-connected solar power plants to expand Sierra Leone’s energy infrastructure.
• Country of Operation: Sierra Leone.
• Purpose: To support the grid connection for the local community of Makoth, enabling facilities like schools and public offices to receive grid-connected power for the first time.

Blademy

• Investment: An undisclosed amount of backing through an equity program.
• Investor(s): FasterCapital (via its EquityPilot program).
• Sector/Focus: Healthtech. A connected-health solution that bundles low-cost, Bluetooth-enabled medical devices with an offline-capable mobile app to help manage chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension.
• Country of Operation: West Africa.
• Purpose: To accelerate device procurement, finalize the development of its mobile platform, and deploy pilot programs.

You can submit any deals we may have missed to support@launchbaseafrica.com and we’ll get in touch for further details.