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mehdibella

Ghanaian Agritech startup, Agrocenta raises $790k pre-series A - Techpoint Africa - 1 views

techpoint.africa/...agrocenta-raises-790k

ghana Fintech Agrocenta

shared by mehdibella on 12 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • In 2018, Agrocenta won the Seedstars World competition — an early-stage startup pitching competition –, receiving $500k in equity funding. By December of the same year, the company closed a seed round of equity and non-equity funding to scale its operations. 
  • Ghanaian Agritech startup, Agrocenta has raised $790,000 pre-series A funding. The investors that took part in the round include Shell Foundation, FCDO, AV Ventures and Rabo Foundation.
  • The latest funding takes Agrocenta’s total disclosed funding to $1.9 million.
  • ...5 more annotations...
    • nouhaila_zaki
      nouhaila_zaki on 12 Feb 21
       
      This article is important because it reflects the/some sources of funding, namely grants from competitions or series A equity, that AgroCenta is using to finance its operations.
  • “This is a significant milestone for AgroCenta, having the support of leading institutions, particularly with the COVID-19 backdrop, underlining the strength of AgroCenta and the importance of its mission.”
    • kenzabenessalah
      kenzabenessalah on 12 Feb 21
       
      I feel grateful to know that AgroCenta is being supported by leading institutions. During this pandemic, farmers need all the support they can get.
  • Ghanaian Agritech startup, Agrocenta has raised $790,000 pre-series A funding. The investors that took part in the round include Shell Foundation, FCDO, AV Ventures and Rabo
  • The company claims the registered farmers on its app, CropChain, has rapidly grown from 3,000 to 48,000. These farmers handle crops like maize, rice, soybean, cowpeas, and sorghum.
  • “This is a significant milestone for AgroCenta, having the support of leading institutions, particularly with the COVID-19 backdrop, underlining the strength of AgroCenta and the importance of its mission.”
    • mehdibella
      mehdibella on 13 Feb 21
       
      Ghanaian Agritech startup, Agrocenta has raised $790,000 pre-series A funding. The investors that took part in the round include Shell Foundation, FCDO, AV Ventures and Rabo
hichamachir

Prosocial Crowdlending in Kenya - 0 views

ideas.repec.org/...d-1166.html

Crowdlending Kenya KivaZip

shared by hichamachir on 12 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • The crowdfunding industry has emerged in the past few years as one of the most promising alternative financing options. Lending and donating operations accounted for 81% of the crowdfunding industry's $34.4 billion total funding volume in 2015. Kiva Zip, a prosocial program, created an online platform that provides 0% interest peer-to-peer loans and has features in common with lending and donating crowdfunding platforms.
  • hichamachir on 12 Feb 21
     
    I think that delivering a service with 0% interest rate is a brilliant idea from Kiva. Customers always look for cheap and efficient services and Kiva does provide these two components. Kiva has a brilliant future if they can control the social market because it's the future especially after this current pandemic.
mohammed_ab

MTN Group furthers financial inclusion - MTN Group - 0 views

www.mtn.com/p-furthers-financial-inclusion

MTN Financial inclusion Fintech

shared by mohammed_ab on 12 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Initially designed to facilitate the transfer of cash between mobile users, MTN’s MoMo offering is now much broader. The group works with numerous partners to offer services including loans, insurance, remittances and MoMo Pay, enabling customers to store money in their mobile wallets with which they can then pay for goods or services at registered merchants. Mobile money services have grown faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world. In 2020, the trend has quickened, and the value of transactions has increased, partly supported by MTN’s reduction in MoMo transaction fees in many operations to assist customers battling the impacts of the pandemic.
  • mohammed_ab on 12 Feb 21
     
    I like how MTN has developed its fintech service MoMo that was originally just for money transfer using mobile phones but has rapidly grown to other services like loans and remittance.
hibaerrai

How WorldRemit continues to lead the way in Nigeria | TechCabal - 0 views

techcabal.com/...ues-to-lead-the-way-in-nigeria

WorldRemit Remittance E-payments Nigeria

shared by hibaerrai on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • WorldRemit has the largest bank payout network for transfers to USD bank accounts in Nigeria, which includes Access Bank, FirstBank, Fidelity, GT Bank, UBA and FCMB, with ongoing plans for further expansion. Cash pickup in USD is also available from the following banks: Fidelity Bank, First Bank, Access Bank, Polaris Bank, FCMB, Zenith Bank and Union Bank. For added security and convenience, both senders and recipients automatically receive transaction and PIN numbers via SMS and email, for cash pick up. Recipients must present both numbers along with their ID at cash collection points. 
    • hibaerrai
      hibaerrai on 13 Feb 21
       
      WorldRemit took advantage of the pandemic and expanded their services to suit their customers. It made money transfers easier throughout this special period. It's transfers networks largened.
hibaerrai

Mukuru expands to more African countries - 0 views

www.iol.co.za/...4f-dd97-476e-9c2b-1d0b24c2d7ec

Mukuru Fintech Money transfer Africa Remittance

shared by hibaerrai on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • The remittances services were declared an essential service during the lockdown restrictions to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.South Africa moved to level 3 lockdown late in December after the country breached the one million mark of confirmed Covid-19 cases while Zimbabwe went into a hard lockdown as the entire country was declared a coronavirus hotspot as the infection rates drastically surged in all the country’s regions.“We remain cautiously optimistic we can continue in the year ahead to layer new products and services onto our platform to unlock value and move our customers up along the financial inclusion curve.“We will also constantly look to build our network and footprint across Africa and beyond, which will allow us to grow our business not only in terms of the breadth of relevant products and services we offer, but in the depth of customer markets we serve,” said Jury.
    • hibaerrai
      hibaerrai on 13 Feb 21
       
      Mukuru use increased in the Covid-19 as it is easier to transfer money online. This fintech needs thus to present new services that will make a difference from other fintechs in the country. Also associating with WorldRemit was very important to develop within the country.
mehdi-ezzaoui

The promise of unicorns | fDi Intelligence - Your source for foreign direct investment ... - 1 views

www.fdiintelligence.com/...79143

FAWRY Fintech Egypt e-payments

shared by mehdi-ezzaoui on 12 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Although Fawry, Egypt’s top e-payment platform and leading fintech, became Africa’s latest ‘unicorn’ this year via a listing on an African bourse, it will not be the last to emerge from the country’s burgeoning tech scene, according to the International Finance Corporation (IFC). “Egypt will produce further unicorns one day, absolutely,” says Walid Labadi, the IFC’s country manager for Egypt, Libya and Yemen. “We fundamentally believe in the power of the entrepreneurial spirit and its ability to address fundamental market needs, which will eventually create significant economic value and can become a driver for creating future entrepreneurs. Advertisement
  • Founded in 2008 by Ashraf Sabry and Mohamed Okasha, the company listed on the country’s main bourse, the Egyptian Exchange, in August 2019 and was valued at $275m. However, at the start of October this year, its valuation surpassed more than $1bn.It is the third African start-up to reach unicorn status and the first one to do so after going public on an African stock exchange.
    • ayachehbouni
      ayachehbouni on 13 Feb 21
       
      Fawry paved the way for other Egyptian companies and became a leading example to them just like Jumia, the first unicorn out of Africa, was for african companies.
  • Fawry offers an online payment gateway for business owners to transact with customers via cash, credit cards and e-wallets. It has helped to transform the Egyptian economy by reducing the reliance on cash, lowering costs and offering a more convenient way to pay. Its good fortune is partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic that prompted many people to place a high demand on its e-payment solutions. Its revenue for the first nine months of 2020 surged to E£892m ($57m), a 45% jump on the same period last year. 
  • hichamachir on 12 Feb 21
     
    Competition can be a problem for Fawry in the future. The world is heading towards digitalization and will create many opportunities for other companies. I suggest for Fawry to build a strategy that treat the future of digitalization in order to be always the top company in Egypt.
  • mehdi-ezzaoui on 13 Feb 21
     
    Fawry offers an online payment gateway for business owners to transact with customers via cash, credit cards and e-wallets. It has helped to transform the Egyptian economy by reducing the reliance on cash, lowering costs and offering a more convenient way to pay
kenza_abdelhaq

Egyptian fintech in 2020: A tale of crosswinds and tailwinds [Part One] - Wamda - 0 views

www.wamda.com/...2020-tale-crosswinds-tailwinds

Fawry Egypt Context Global Economic

shared by kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Fortunately, Egypt’s first Covid wave was milder than those in other countries. The country managed to get by without going into full lockdown and the country is now one of the few in the world with a positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth outlook for 2020. Despite the mild top-line hit, most startups still felt the impact of Covid-19, with a whopping 83.9 per cent indicating, in May, that they had been negatively impacted by the crisis. The same survey highlighted that 29 per cent of Egyptian startups had suspended operations – an alarming proportion that would have increased with the recent resurgence of the virus. It remains to be seen what the full impact of the second wave is.  
    • kenza_abdelhaq
      kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
       
      Egypt managed to have a positive GDP growth in 2020 even though the pandemic impacted negatively more than 80% of the startups.
  • If we look back on 2020, the largest funding rounds for Egyptian startups were not in fintech but healthcare and transport, with Vezeeta raising more than $40 million and Swvl more than $20 million. Yet, fintech still managed to make headlines on several occasions, including new regulations, high profile investment rounds and exciting launches. It was an eventful and exhilarating year for the fintech ecosystem in Egypt.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
      kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
       
      Even though more importance was given to healthcare and transport with regard to the largest funding rounds, fintech was still getting a lot of attention (making headlines, new regulations, etc).
  • Fawry’s success story has undoubtedly encouraged investments in other e-payments venture that will help dynamise this space in coming years. The industry is still massively underpenetrated as cash remains king but will remain as one of the more active areas within fintech in coming years.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
      kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
       
      Fawry being the leader of digital payments in Egypt definitely helped encourage investments in this field/industry.
  • kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
     
    "Fortunately, Egypt's first Covid wave was milder than those in other countries. The country managed to get by without going into full lockdown and the country is now one of the few in the world with a positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth outlook for 2020. Despite the mild top-line hit, most startups still felt the impact of Covid-19, with a whopping 83.9 per cent indicating, in May, that they had been negatively impacted by the crisis. The same survey highlighted that 29 per cent of Egyptian startups had suspended operations - an alarming proportion that would have increased with the recent resurgence of the virus. It remains to be seen what the full impact of the second wave is.  "
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