African eCommerce Round-up #4

This is a fortnightly round-up of news, events and investments that have happened in the African eCommerce and retail-tech space. This edition covers 14th to 28th July 2021.

💰Investments & Exits

South Africa 🇿🇦: Payment company Yoco raised an $83 million Series C investment round. Yoco had in the past specialised in offering offline payment processing via POS and PDQ solutions to SMEs in South Africa. It last year launched online payment processing for the same merchants to help them sell online. It has 150,000 SMEs using its products. While most fintech fight for mobile money and mobile money, Yoco understands that the bigger market is helping the 6 million SMEs in South Africa process cash and offline payments. Read the announcement here.

Côte d'Ivoire 🇨🇮: Julaya, a fintech startup that seeks to streamline mobile money payments for businesses in Francophone Africa, raised $2 million in pre-Series A funding. Anyone that has travelled to Cote d'Ivoire has experienced difficulties paying bills at restaurants, hotels and supermarkets. The over-reliance on cash and lack of small denominations in circulation creates the perfect storm for a nightmare at the till. All the best to Julaya; I am rooting for your success. Read the announcement here.

Kenya 🇰🇪: Influencer analytics and matching platform, AI-fluence raised $1 million seed investment. Though not strictly an eCommerce business, influencer marketing is one of the key ways brands and SMEs market themselves. Thus this could fall under the eCommerce enablement stack I discussed in this earlier post. You can read the announcement here.

Egypt 🇪🇬: Taager, a marketplace that connects potential resellers and wholesalers, raised $6.4 million in seed funding. They describe themselves as a social eCommerce platform. Social commerce is the latest buzzword in eCommerce. However, almost all eCommerce is social in some way, depending on what is highlighted. Read their announcement here.

Egypt 🇪🇬: Food delivery app Elmenus raises $10 million in pre-Series C financing, led by digital payments company Fawry, also based in Egypt. A case of Fawry investing in the Egyptian ecosystem to grow the volume and perhaps the value of online orders. Food and grocery delivery is a hot space at the moment, with Glovo, Uber, Bolt and Jumia all competing in multiple African markets against several other local competitors. Read the announcement here.

Morocco 🇲🇦: LNKO, an eCommerce eyewear retailer modelled around Warby Parker, raised $335,000 from CDG Invest. They have served about 10,000 customers and are looking to expand across MENA. Read the announcement here. A similar service is offered in Kenya & Côte d'Ivoire by Lapaire Glasses.

📚Reports & Resources

BFA Global has an interesting blog post looking at Mobile Money Providers (MMPs) opportunities in the digital commerce space. Their core argument is that if MMPs continue to depend on peer-to-peer transactions, they could be disrupted by over-the-top platforms like WhatsApp with WhatsApp Pay and fintech startups like Chipper Cash. It makes for a fascinating read. Check it out here.

📢 Announcements

Index Ventures, one of the big venture capital firms, most announced 3 new funds totalling $3 Billion and made a strong hint about making investments in Africa. Exciting times ahead. Read about it here.

🌎 Other Relevant News Worldwide

It is a fantastic post that tackles the sensitive yet recurring narrative of local Kenyan founders struggling to raise capital for ventures in their own country. The message cuts deep. It's a must-read. Read it here.

Bonus ⭐️: To learn more about the food delivery apps, especially DoorDash, Uber Eats, Postmates, and other U.S. food delivery apps, listen to these two podcasts - Land of the Giants: Delivery Wars and Business Wars: Food Delivery Wars.

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