The Capital Quest | Africa’s Ramani, Djamo, Grinta, Leta, Pivo, Smartprof get VC funding

On Nov 25, 2022

Tanzanian startup Ramani, which provides inventory management systems, procurement and point of sale software to its network of micro-distribution centres in the consumer-packaged goods sector, has raised $32 million in a Series A debt and equity round.

The equity portion was raised from Flexcap Ventures and Jared Schreiber. It comes after a previously undisclosed seed funding secured last year.

The startup was founded three years ago by Martin Kibet (COO) and Usiri siblings, Iain (CEO) and Calvin (CTO). It recently received its lending license from the Bank of Tanzania.

Djamo

Two-year-old Ivory Coast-based fintech startup Djamo has raised $14 million in funding lead by Enza Capital, Oikocredit and Partech Africa, with participation from Janngo Capital, P1 Ventures, Axian, Launch Africa and Y Combinator. This is arguably the largest equity funding round for a startup in the country.

Floated by Régis Bamba and Hassan Bourgi, Djamo provides financial services for the underbanked and unbanked population with a focus on Francophone Africa.

Djamo offers a Visa-powered debit card that lets users make online purchases. In addition, it allows virtual accounts for P2P transactions among others. It claims to have over 500,000 registered customers and has processed over $400 million since inception.

Grinta

Egyptian B2B pharma marketplace Grinta has secured $8 million in a seed funding round co-led by Raed Ventures and Nclude, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst and 500 Global, taking its total funding to date to $9.5 million.

Founded last year by Mohamed Azab, Yosra Badr, Ali Youssef and Hamza Mohamed, Grinta gives pharmacies access to pharmaceutical and medical products from multiple vendors in addition to providing fulfilment, demand planning and inventory financing.

The funds will be invested to scale up its tech platform, expand its team and accelerate its growth across the Egyptian market.

The company is looking to leverage the business opportunity where the country has few large local manufacturers, three large distributors and more than 3,000 wholesalers all targeting 60,000 fragmented retail pharmacies that are yet to be digitised.

Mohamed Azab, co-founder and CEO of Grinta said, “Since inception in 2021, Grinta has acquired two companies, PH Store, a similar digital platform in northern Egypt, and EME, a software development company with a solid tech team. As a result, the company has expanded aggressively across seven governorates in Egypt, with over 14,000 registered pharmacies on its platform, 20,000+ SKUs and has delivered more than 100,000 orders over the last year.”

Leta

Leta, a one-year-old Kenyan B2B supply chain and logistics SaaS provider, has secured $3 million pre-seed funding from 4Di Capital, Chandaria Capital, Chui Ventures, PANI, Samurai Incubate, and Verdant Frontiers Fintech besides some angel investors.

The startup seeks to optimize fleet management and is currently present across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with plans to enter West Africa, in particular Ghana and Nigeria.

Founded and led by Nick Joshi, a former executive with Delivery.com in the US, Leta claims it has optimized over 500,000 deliveries and managed 2,000 vehicles.

Pivo

Nigerian supply chain fintech startup Pivo, co-founded by Nkiru Amadi-Emina and Ijeoma Akwiwu in July 2021, has closed a $2 million seed round from Precursor Ventures, Vested World, Y Combinator, FoundersX and existing investor, Mercy Corp Ventures.

Pivo said it plans to use the money to build new products to improve transaction management and payment reconciliation for supply chains. It will also upgrade existing products and expand geographically to more locations in Nigeria and in East Africa.

It launched operations a year with a credit product, Pivo Capital. Since then, it has launched Pivo Business which offers business accounts with features like invoicing and bulk payments to help SMEs manage their cash flow better.

Smartprof

Moroccan edtech Smartprof has received a $110,000 pre-seed investment from UM6P Ventures, Plug and Play, alongside other investment angels. This includes $50,000 raised early this year.

Founded in 2020 by Mustapha Faiz, Hamza Faiz and Ali Faouzi, Smartprof is an on-demand private tutoring platform that provides one-on-one or group live interactive sessions. It intends to use the money to extend its footprint in Morocco and West Africa, and hire further developers to improve the product’s quality.