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Welcome to another edition of 🔍 Startup Researcher - Africa, your essential digest delivering the latest news and premium insights on startups and venture capital across the region 🌍
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📰 Important News
- Revolut named Yacine Faqir as CEO Morocco to lead its entry and licensing in Morocco, driving the neobank’s expansion into the local fintech market.
- TymeBank appointed founding member Cheslyn Jacobs as CEO, effective January 2026 to lead its next phase of sustainable growth and IPO preparation.
- Flutterwave and Payful partnered to streamline high-value African cross border payments, enabling local collection and global settlement via one API.
- Mukuru and JUMO launched Fast Loan in South Africa, offering underbanked users instant, transparent AI mobile short-term loans.
- Chowdeck surpassed one million orders in October, showing stronger unit economics and scale as it expands services, cities, and partners.
💸 Top Funding Rounds
- nextProtein closed a $20.7 million Series B co-led by SWEN Capital Partners and BII to scale insect protein production and open a second Tunisia site.
- Anda raised $3.4 million seed led by Breega and Speedinvest to scale drive-to-own, expand e-motorbike pilots, and formalize two-wheeler transport.
- Sawa Energy obtained $2.8 million from ElectriFI to expand solar and battery storage for businesses, cutting diesel use and improving power reliability.
- Farm to Feed secured a $1.5 million seed round led by Delta40 to scale a marketplace routing surplus produce from smallholders to institutional buyers.
- FroggyTalk raised $344,577 seed led by SI3 Fund to scale AI tools for African diaspora, moving from low cost calls to integration services.
💰️ Notable Exits
- Zid acquired Egypt’s Zammit, marking its official entry into North Africa and combining technology and local expertise to accelerate e-commerce growth and regional expansion.
- KCB Group is acquiring a minority stake in Kenya’s digital payments firm Pesapal to strengthen its fintech pivot and build a full stack financial services platform across East Africa.
🏦 About Investors
- Ventures Platform raised $64 million for VP Pan-African Fund II toward a $75 million target to back seed-to-Series A startups across key sectors.
- Standard Bank invested $43.3 million in Airnergize Capital, taking an equity stake to scale distributed solar and battery projects across Africa.
- EIB announced a pre-first close commitment to Adenia Entrepreneurial Fund to back African SMEs and renew a 20-year partnership.
- LLH Capital is planning a $200 million AI-focused Africa fund, leveraging its Optasia exit to back fintech, telecoms, and data infrastructure.
🚀Startup of the Week
Introducing our Startup of the Week 🏆
Kuunda
Kuunda, founded in 2018 in Forbach, Mauritius, began as an agent liquidity enabler and has evolved into a B2B embedded finance and Lending as a Service platform delivering overdrafts and working capital inside banks, mobile money operators, and digital platforms. Its rails and proprietary scoring have processed 560 million+ loans across Africa and Pakistan. The company raised $7.5 million in a pre Series A, bringing total funding to about $9.75 million from Accion Venture Lab, Seedstars, 4Di Capital, Nedbank, E4E Africa, FINCA Ventures, and Launch Africa. Co-CEOs Andrew Milne and Morné van der Westhuizen and CPO Samuel Brawerman are driving an Egypt-first MENA expansion to make real time, responsible liquidity standard across everyday financial services.
💼 Investor of the Week
Introducing our Investor of the Week 🏆
First Circle Capital
First Circle Capital, founded in 2021 in Casablanca, is a female-led VC backing early fintech infrastructure across Africa. The firm invests at pre-seed and seed with initial checks of $250,000 to $700,000 and an Africa-wide reach. A 30–40 company portfolio spans payments, lending, embedded finance, and rails, with Traction Apps as an early exit. Recent momentum includes an IFC commitment of up to $6 million to Africa Fund I and the addition of Samantha Ghiotti and Andi Dervishi as independent investment committee members. Led by Selma Ribica and Agnes Aistleitner Kisuule with Ming S. Kwan as Head of Portfolio, the fund mobilizes smart capital to advance inclusion and scale category-defining fintech.
🤑Opportunity Radar
Call for Applications: The Y Combinator Winter 2026
Y Combinator is now accepting applications for its Winter 2026 Batch, running January to March in San Francisco. Early-stage founders can gain access to funding, expert mentorship from YC General Partners, and an unparalleled global startup network. Applications are due by November 10 at 8 PM PT, with decisions provided by December 10. Apply now to join this immersive program and accelerate your startup’s growth.
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