This line-up of stories will help you discover the latest happenings around the tech world, today
1. African startups to benefit from Seedstars’ $20m investment
Seedstars International Ventures II (SIV II), has on Monday announced securing $20 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Visa Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Symbiotics.
Seedstars confirmed in a media release that the first close of $20 million is expected to total $30 million to be invested in no less than 100 pre-seed and seed-stage companies across Africa, Asia, Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America.
Ripples Nigeria gathered that the new funding comes after Seedstars has invested in 81 companies in over 30 emerging countries.
Seedstars, which is a VC focused on supporting scalable technology companies in emerging markets, solves major societal challenges like access to finance, health, or education, while working closely with entrepreneurs to scale their businesses.
Patricia Sosrodjojo, partner at Seedstars, said that the 9-year-old investment company is seeking to diversify and leverage on lessons learnt to invest in another market.
“For example, if we’ve invested in a B2B supply chain play in one country, we can take the learnings from that and apply it to another geography.
“We see that different trends can come in at different times in different markets, so it helps us to see the typical trajectory of a certain industry,” she added.
Seedstars further noted that the set goal is to invest in 100 more startups with the launch of its second emerging market seed-stage fund.
2. Egypt’s B2B e-commerce startup, Cartona, secures $12M in Series A funding
An Egyptian B2B e-commerce startup, Cartona, has secured a $12M in Series A funding to scale and expand its geographical footprint.
CEO Mahmoud Talaat confirmed in a press statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Monday that Silicon-based Badia led the round.
He noted that the funding also saw participation from the SANAD Fund and Sunny Side Ventures.
Cartona allows buyers to order inventory from a network of curated sellers via an app that provides a communication tool for promotions and a dashboard for market insights.
Mahmoud Abdelfattah, Mahmoud Talaat, and Rafik Zaher cofounded Cartona in 2019.
“We plan to cover all the cities in Egypt, focus a lot on technology and product,” said Talaat in the new funding.
Ripples Nigeria gathered that the founders seeks to build Cartona to become a better technology partner for these FMCG brands.
3. Dublin-based tax automation company, Fonoa, secures $60 million Series B funding.
A Dublin-based tax automation company, Fonoa, on Monday, announced securing $60 million in a Series B funding round led by Coatue.
The round, according to local media, saw participation from Dawn Capital, Index Ventures, OMERS Ventures, FJ Labs, Moving Capital, among others.
Fonoa CEO and co-founder, Davor Tremac, disclosed the new funding in a media release seen by Ripples Nigeria on Monday.
The cofounder said the fund will help expand its business footprint across the country.
The Ireland-based fintech claims to be an API-first company that automates the tax obligations of internet companies.
It was co-founded by Davor Tremac, Filip Sturman, and Ivan Ivankovic in 2019.
Tremac while commenting on the raiser and intent said: “As we’ve grown as a business, we’ve seen a number of companies wishing to reduce the cost of their operations and improve profitability when it comes to managing their indirect taxes.
“At the same time, we’ve seen countries across the globe try to close their VAT gaps through new regulations, and so there has been heightened demand for companies to increase their compliance.”
Source: ripplesnigeria.com
