This week, like previous weeks, saw a lot of funding activity, with a total of nine funding rounds recorded. The majority of them were early stage investments, with five of them being seed or pre-seed investments.

Fastagger and Sendy raised undisclosed amounts while Yodawy raised the highest amount recorded in the week; $16 million in its Series B first close.

Pre-seed

Jendaya, a Nigerian luxury ecommerce startup, has raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding from Ada Ventures, Culture Capital, and a group of angel investors that includes Anu Adedoyin Adasolum, Maisie Williams, Bizzle Osikoya, and Asa Asika.

Founded in 2021 by Ayotunde Rufai, Kemi Adetu, Teni Sagoe, and David Elikwu, the startup serves as a portal for international luxury companies to the African continent and for consumers around the world to discover African brands.

The funds raised will be used to scale the company’s African-focused luxury e-commerce platform.

PressOne Africa, a Nigerian startup developing a cloud-based phone system for entrepreneurs, has raised $600,000 in a pre-seed round led by Ventures Platform, with participation from Voltron Capital and a couple of angel investors.

Founded in 2021 by Mayowa Okegbenle and Opeyemi Shokunbi, the startup provides world-class reporting and call monitoring to help entrepreneurs maximize the value of every client conversation.

With the PressOne app, business owners can monitor all client phone conversations made by staff or team members from anywhere, just like major corporations.

Seed

Sand to Green, a Moroccan agritech startup, has raised $1 million in seed funding from Norwegian Katapult and pre-Seed fund Catalyst.

Founded in 2021 by Benjamin Rombaut, Sand to Green, provides a long-term solution to the problems of desertification, land degradation, and food security.

The new funds will be used to accelerate Sand to Green’s operational development in preparation for the large-scale deployment of its Moroccan and African projects.

Senga, a Kenyan logistics startup, has received an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round led by EchoVC. Current investors also participated in the funding round.

Founded in 2016 by June Odongo, Senga operates an algorithm-powered logistics management platform that assists business owners in easily managing their delivery operations through logistics optimization that considers real-world constraints.

Gameball, an Egypt-based marketing CRM platform, has raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by 500 Global, P1 Ventures, and Launch Africa, with participation from  Seedra Ventures, Arzan Ventures, Propeller, and Core Vision.

Founded in 2020 by Ahmed Khairy, Ahmed El Assy, and Omar Alfar, Gameball is a customer intelligence and marketing platform that assists consumer brands in creating personalized customer engagement and monetising their customer base.

The funds will be used to accelerate product commercialization, enterprise customer acquisition, and strategic hiring.

Series A

Sendmarc, a South African cybersecurity company, has raised $7 million in a Series A round led by Atlantica Ventures and several other investors.

Founded in 2018 by Keith Thompson, Sacha Matulovich, and Sam Hutchinson, Sendmarc provides businesses and individuals with solutions to ensure email security and avoid identity theft.

The funding raised will be used to expand the company’s identity theft prevention capabilities.

Series B

Yodawy, an Egyptian healthtech startup, has raised $16 million in its Series B round’s first close. Delivery Hero Ventures and Global Ventures led the round, with AAIC Investment and returning investors MEVP, C-Ventures, and P1 Ventures also participating.

Founded in 2018 by Karim Khashaba, Yasser Abdel Gawad, and Sherief El-Feky, the healthtech startup provides a marketplace where patients can process prescriptions and place online orders for medicines. Yodawy also connects patients with medical laboratories and insurance providers.

The new funds will be used to expand the company’s signature Care Programme for chronic patients, continue to automate its operations, and support its regional expansion strategy.

Others

Chari, a B2B e-commerce startup based in Morocco, has raised $1 million from Orange Ventures.

According to the agreement, Grégoire de Padirac, Partner at Orange Ventures Middle East and Africa, will join Chari’s supervisory board.

Founded in 2020 by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj, Chari allows retailers to buy large quantities of inventory directly from suppliers.

Remember that Chari raised $1 million in a Series A round from Endeavour Catalyst last October to fund its expansion and acquisition of Axa Credit. Diago, an Ivorian B2B e-commerce startup, was also acquired by Tha startup.

Fastagger Inc, a Kenya-based artificial intelligence and blockchain startup, has announced an undisclosed investment from global blockchain investor CV VC.

Founded in 2019 by Mutembei Kariuki, Fastager uses blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies to help SMEs in emerging markets increase sales and access to finance.

The funds raised will be used to expand and scale the company’s cutting-edge technological expertise, which combines the power of Web 3 and AI.