Another month and the news that that a Kenya startup is struggling to stay afloat, this time its Copia. Copia Global has in 8 rounds of funding raised $123 million. However, in a memo to staff the company had warned that it could fail to pay salaries, adding that potential restructuring will see about 1,060 jobs cut across the company.
Days after sharing the memo, the startup revealed it had entered administration appointing Makenzi Muthusi and Julius Ngonga of KPMG, to manage the administration process. Further, on May 24th, Colmar announced that it will be working with an administrator to find funding for the Kenyan division.
In a case of being penny wise, the company is implementing cost cutting measures. Copia has ceased physical order processing and replaced it with an online fulfilment model through its mobile app. In addition, over 1000 employees are facing the chop.
“Under the mandate of the Administrator, the Copia Kenya management team will implement a plan with a lower burn rate, an accelerated path to profitability and a focus on the increasingly digital consumer,” said Copia.
With a workforce of 1,800 employees and a network of 50,000 agents at its zenith, Copia had a significant presence in Kenya and Uganda.
BuuPass acquires QuickBus, expanding into South Africa and Nigeria
There was good news in May as Kenyan mobility start-up, BuuPass announced its acquisition of QuickBus, a player in the bus ticketing sector. Through the acquisition of QuickBus, BuuPass gains access to two major African markets, adding a massive 5,000+ routes to their platform and significantly enhancing their offerings for African consumers.
Read: Bringing Convenience to Commuters; How BuuPass Does it Through APIs and Partnerships
BuuPass is a B2B2C mobility marketplace platform that digitises intercity bus and transportation operations in Africa. The company currently serves more than 650 localities in Kenya and over 80 in Uganda.
With its acquisition of QuickBus, BuuPass has made public plans to launch in 8 other new markets, after the recent new markets of Nigeria and South Africa.
“We have aggressive expansion plans to enter eight new markets by 2025, with Tanzania being our next target,” said co-founder Sonia Kabra.
GoBEBA Plans Expansion into New Cities
Kenyan startup GoBEBA plans to expand its utilities delivery service to four more Kenyan cities in the next two years, followed by expansion into East and Central Africa. GoBEBA uses a comprehensive tech stack to operate a network of micro-fulfilment hubs, with plans for further automation using AI and robotics.
Using a network of small micro-fulfilment stores backed by an inventory management system, the startup enables customers to order daily essentials and have them delivered to the doorstep in a short time.
READ: Logistics and E-commerce Platform GoBEBA Promises Under 1-Hour Deliveries
“In 2023, Africa experienced the highest growth rate in bottled water demand. But the infrastructure to distribute the unpiped utilities is broken. Customers endure high levels of inconvenience, unpredictable availability and growing safety concerns. GoBEBA addresses these concerns.”
Currently, GoBEBA operates only in Nairobi. The Kenya startup secured funding from investors like Madica and Praxis, as well as grants from DevelopPPP in 2023.
Farm to Feed Secures Funding to Expand Platform
Kenyan startup, Farm to Feed, secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Renew Capital, a pan-African investment firm focused on sustainable social impact. This investment will allow the Agri-tech startup founded in 2020, to expand its platform in Kenya. Farm to Feed solution aims to reduce food loss and waste by connecting farmers with surplus or “imperfect” produce to new markets.
This B2B platform uses technology to connect farmers and buyers, making it easier to manage supply and demand, optimize logistics, and improve communication.
“We’re committed to backing growth-oriented founders who possess a blend of skill, grit, and passion. Farm to Feed’s work in transforming Kenya’s food system aligns perfectly with these values,” said Esther Mwikali, Renew Capital’s investment and project manager for Kenya.
Kenya Startup MPost Launches e-P.O. Box System in Rwanda
Kenya’s digital postal service MPost officially launched its e-P.O. Box system in Rwanda. The startup that raised Series A funding back in 2019, turns mobile numbers into digital addresses, allowing users to receive mail notifications directly to their phones (currently available in Kenya).
“The virtual platform commits to reach over five million citizens within the next three years. By integrating the local postal services and leveraging the high mobile phone penetration in Rwanda,” said the company.
The news for Rwandan clients comes just months after MPost moved its headquarters from Nairobi, Kenya to Kigali, Rwanda.
Mastercard and Wowzi join forces to issue cards to creators in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mastercard signed a 5-year issuing agreement with the Kenyan-based fintech Wowzi Technologies. Wowzi, a participant in Mastercard’s startup engagement program, Start Path, assists brands in automating influencer marketing workflows and payments across Sub-Saharan Africa. To date, Wowzi claims to have facilitated payments to over 500,000 creators. Through this partnership with Mastercard, the Kenyan startup plans to issue cards to its expanding base of creators over the next five years.
E-Mobility Startups Receive US Government Loans
Kenyan E-mobility startups BasiGo and Roam each received $10 million direct loans from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). BasiGo’s loan is to finance the procurement of electric buses and batteries, a key component for e-mobility projects in the country. On its part, Roam’s loan is to support the design and development of electric motorcycles and buses as well as charging stations for motorcycles and buses throughout Kenya.
The third beneficiary in the mobility sector is Mogo Auto Kenya. DFC announced a $10 million loan to the financial company specializing in car loans. This financing initiative aims to expand access to affordable car loans, motorcycle taxi financing, and logbook loans in Kenya.
9 Startups Selected for Safaricom Spark Accelerator Program
Safaricom has launched the Spark Accelerator Program, designed to support the Kenya startup ecosystem by announcing the first cohort. This cohort has nine startups that are Chumz, BlackRhino, HealthX Africa, Nobuk, Chpter, Faidi HR, Churpy, VunaPay and Twiva.
Chpter stands out as its Cofounder Tesh Mbabu announced last month the closure of RejaReja, a B2B platform he also cofounded. The program provides a comprehensive package of training, mentorship, and go-to-market support, including access to markets, capital, technology, and product development assistance. It is a separate program from Safaricom’s Spark Venture Fund.
No Customer Funds Lost in Attempted Breach, Flutterwave
Flutterwave addressed concerning reports surrounding an attempted breach that was detected in April. The fintech claimed it was able to block the attempted network intrusion and has since reported the perpetrators to relevant authorities.
The company detected unusual activities limited to one of their platforms used by a small subset of their customers. Flutterwave successfully prevented a potential financial breach, protecting customer funds. It has further come forward to refute claims that customer data has been compromised in the attempted breach.
“We can assure our customers, members of the public and our stakeholders that no customer funds were lost or compromised, and the confidentiality of our customers’ data remains intact,” Flutterwave shared in a blog post.
iHub Selects Kenyan EdTech Startups for Mastercard Foundation Fellowship
Kenya startup incubator iHub, owned by Co-Creation Hub (CcHub, announced the 12 startups selected for the second edition of the Kenyan leg of the first Mastercard Foundation Ed-Tech Fellowship Programme. The program offers selected companies access to funding and other types of support. The accelerator program supports EdTech innovation in Kenya and Nigeria with $15 million from Mastercard Foundation.
Currently, second editions are already underway in Nigeria and South Africa. Joining the party are 12 firms by iHub from the kenya startup scene. They are Kuze.ai, SomaChat, Esoma Solutions, Kurasa, Recess, Ultratude Tech, NABU, SomaSiri Afrika, Fundis, eKitabu and Dals Learning.
“After the success of cohort one in 2023, we are excited about the second cohort’s potential to add to better education outcomes for learners in Kenya,” said Nissi Madu, managing partner at iHub Kenya.
Renda Secures Pre-Seed Funding
At the beginning of May, Renda closed its pre-seed round at $1.9m in equity and debt funding. The equity investment of $1.3m was led by Ingressive Capital, with participation from Techstars Toronto, Founders Factory Africa, Magic Fund, Golden Palm Investments, Reflect Ventures, and Vastly Valuable Ventures, while the debt funding investment of $600k was provided by Founders Factory Africa and SeedFi.
Renda offers a solution that integrates and provides infrastructure to optimize order fulfilment, allowing businesses to scale seamlessly and efficiently across Africa. With the Renda360 solution, businesses can access storage, monitor and manage their inventory, process and fulfil orders, handle deliveries and returns, and manage cash on delivery in real-time
The company founded by Ope Onaboye and Bimbo Onaboye intends to use the funds to technologically enhance Renda’s offerings and drive expansion to more cities in Nigeria and East Africa.
Chowdeck Secures $2.5 Million to Expand Food Delivery Across Nigeria
At the very end of April, food on-demand delivery service, Chowdeck, announced it had secured $2.5 million in seed funding. The seed funding round received investments from YCombinator, Goodwater Capital, FounderX Ventures, Hoaq Fund, Levare Ventures, True Culture Funds, and Haleakala Ventures.
Additionally, individual investors included Simon Borrero and Juan Pablo Ortega, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, Sudeep Ramani (Sportybet), Ayo Arikawe (Thrive Agric), and Karthik Ramakrishnan (Amazon).
Founded in October 2021 by Femi Aluko and Shola Akinlade, the seed funding will be used to optimize its operations and support expansion into more cities across the Nigeria. The Nigerian startup has grown its customer base to about 500,000 users and engages 3,000 delivery riders.
Paystack Acquires Brass in a Consortium Deal
Struggling with finances, Nigerian business banking startup Brass was recently acquired by a group of investors. This deal comes after Brass secured temporary funding to address cash flow problems. Brass has been acquired by an investment group led by Paystack, with participation from PiggyVest, Ventures Platform, P1 Ventures, and angel investors Oo Nwoye and Olumide Soyombo.
The founders of Brass, including CEO Sola Akindolu, CTO Emmanuel Okeke, and Head of Product Tolulope Saba, are all stepping down. A new leadership team will take over, but their identities haven’t been revealed yet.
HelloDuty Expands Globally and Adds AI-Powered Features
HelloDuty is a SaaS platform that helps businesses optimize their lead to cash processes, from marketing to sales to service. In May, the Kenyan startup launched Brief, an AI agent assistant, designed to summarize customer tickets and help users’ close tickets faster.
The company was also accepted into the Deepgram startup program. Due to this partnership, HelloDuty is adding real-time transcription to transcribe conversations and provide valuable insights. HelloDuty also expanded its partnership network by signing contracts in Nigeria, Uganda, Mexico, Ghana and the United States.
inDrive and Payrails team up to improve payment efficiency for drivers
Ride hailing service, inDrive has teamed up with Payrails to integrate various Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and Alternative Payment Methods (APMs) across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This partnership enables Payrails to provide a flexible payment system with dynamic routing and broader payment options.
The partnership aims to enhance global payment processing and operations, improve local payment experiences, and reduce costs. Payrails’ unified integration layer offers a Pay rails single API, increasing operational efficiency. Dynamic payment routing and personalized payment pages further enhance payment completion rates and user experience.
The partnership with Payrails has led to a significant 11% increase in card approval rates for inDrive, leading to faster conversion rates.
Humane AI Up for Sale After Product Flop
AI hardware startup, Humane AI, is looking to sell the company just a month after it started selling its poorly-received Ai Pin wearable. Since the launch of the wearable, the product has received harsh criticism from reviewers.
The startup is on the lookout for a potential buyer with the company in talks with a financial advisor to assist in the search. The process is still in its early stages, and the company is asking for a price between $750 million and $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
