Startups Funding News
The past month have been a remarkable one for growth and funding across the African startup ecosystem, with several companies achieving significant milestones. In this piece, we spotlight key updates, including Flutterwave’s new unicorn status, Kuda Bank’s impressive Series A raise, and major developments from Paystack’s acquirer, Stripe.
Flutterwave Attained Unicorn Status
On the 10th of March, Flutterwave announced that it raised a$170 million Series C funding round. The raise valued Flutterwave at over $1billion and makes the company Nigeria’s third unicorn after Interswitch and Jumia.
Kuda Bank Raised $25 Million in a Series A led by Valar Ventures
Nigerian fintech startup, Kuda Bank raised $25 million in a Series A round led by Valar Ventures, the firm co-founded and backed by PayPal's co-founder, Peter Thiel. The Series A follows Kuda’s $10million raise in November 2020, a feat cheered for being the largest seed round by an African startup.
Paystack’s acquirer, Stripe raised $600million
Stripe became a known name to many Africans after acquiring Paystack, a Nigerian payment startup, last year. Stripe's $600 million series H funding round valued the company at $95 billion making it the third biggest privately owned tech company in the world.
Bankly, a Nigerian Fintech Startup Secured a $2m Seed Funding Round
The round was led by co-investors including African payments unicorn, Flutterwave and Vault. This is one of the highest seed rounds raised by a woman-led startup in Africa.
Bolt is Launching a Food Delivery Service
Bolt, the popular ride-hailing company, is expanding its business model in Nigeria to include food delivery.
Announcement
We are pleased to announce that one of our clients, Sendbox, a logistics company founded by Emotu Balogun and Olusegun Afolahan in 2016, has been accepted into Y Combinator’s Winter 2021 cohort. Sendbox provides small and medium-sized businesses with affordable and reliable courier services, offering comprehensive solutions for both local and international shipping, from pickup to doorstep delivery. This achievement marks an exciting milestone in their journey toward transforming logistics for businesses.
Related publications
SEC Draft Regulatory Guide on Digital Assets
Just as many regulators around the globe have been at the heels of the paradigm shifting technology, Nigeria is not left behind in the quest to understand, utilize and maximize the offspring of blockchain technology. Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently shared guidelines that will regulate and serve as a regulatory framework for the issuance of digital assets and providers in the Nigerian terrain
Startups Funding News
The past month have been a remarkable one for growth and funding across the African startup ecosystem, with several companies achieving significant milestones. In this piece, we spotlight key updates, including Flutterwave’s new unicorn status, Kuda Bank’s impressive Series A raise, and major developments from Paystack’s acquirer, Stripe.
