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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 🌏️
If you haven't subscribed yet, now's the perfect time. Don't miss the opportunity to supercharge your understanding and stay ahead in this dynamic world.
📰 Important News
- Egypt unveiled itsnew Startup Charter, a five-year roadmap that aims to attract $5 billion in VC, support 5,000 startups, and create 500,000 jobs.
- Onafriq partnered with Conduit to leverage its infrastructure for stablecoin-based cross-border payments.
- Payaza secured a Payment System Operator license in Uganda, marking a major step in its expansion to build a regulated payment infrastructure.
- Egypt's FRA introduced regulatory frameworks allowing digital securities brokerage and the licensing of microinsurance companies.
- Nigerian cross-border paymentscompany Raenest launched its services in India and the Philippines to provide freelancers with multicurrency accounts.
💸 Top Funding Rounds
- Zambian neobank Lupiya closed an $11.25 million Series A funding round led by IDF Capital's Alitheia IDF Fund to enhance its technology.
- Spiro secured a $7 million loan from Nithio to support the expansion of its electric vehicle fleet and battery-swapping infrastructure.
- Talk360 raised $1.4 million in funding led byHAVAÍC to fund its next phase of product development and expansion, including the launch of Shop360.
- Tactful AI landed $1 million in a Pre-Series A round co-led byForas AI and M Empire to scale its agentic customer experience platform.
- Moroccan Justyol secured angel-backed bridge funding to enhance logistics and supply chain operations, preparing for its Series A round.
💰️ IPO and M&A Watch
- Beltone Holding completed its $235.2 million acquisition of Baobab Group, marking a significant pan-African expansion into seven Sub-Saharan nations.
- AfricInvest, through its FIVE fund, filed for regulatory approval to acquire joint control of Vantage Payment Systems alongside Equity Invest SA to drive digital payment growth.
🏦 About Investors
- Delta40 raised $20 million for Africa's first institutional venture studio and fund to de-risk and scale transformative startups.
- Aruwa Capital secured an $8 million commitment from the IFC for its second fund to support female-led SMEs across Nigeria and Ghana.
- FinDev Canada committed $25 million to Phatisa Food Fund 3, a private equity fund dedicated to strengthening Africa's food value chains.
📈 Deep Dive Bites
Africa’s lab-to-market gap reflects systemic barriers to research commercialization across the continent’s innovation ecosystem in 2025 and 2026. Drawing on insights from International University of Rabat and its Technology Transfer Office, Wacim Ben Yahya highlights weak GERD and BERD levels, dependence on ARIPO and OAPI patent systems, limited patient capital, and a nascent IP Marketplace signaling constrained industry engagement. Readers gain a clear diagnosis of funding, institutional, capital, and policy bottlenecks, so dive into the full article to explore actionable reforms that can unlock Africa’s deep tech potential.
🚀 Startup of the Week
Introducing our Startup of the Week 🏆
Spiro
Founded in 2022, Spiro has rapidly emerged as a leading force in Africa’s electric mobility transition, building and deploying electric motorcycles supported by a robust battery-swapping infrastructure across high-demand urban markets. Led by CEO Kaushik Burman, the company is scaling a capital-intensive, asset-backed model designed to lower operating costs for commercial riders through a scalable battery-as-a-service platform. Spiro has raised nearly $290 million to date, including a recent $7 million debt facility from Nithio and a $100 million round led by the Fund for Export Development in Africa. With strong institutional backing, Spiro is positioning itself at the forefront of Africa’s shift toward cleaner, commercially viable urban mobility.
💼 Investor of the Week
Introducing our Investor of the Week 🏆
Delta40
Delta40, founded in 2021 and based in Nairobi with a growing presence in Lagos, is reshaping Africa’s early‑stage ecosystem as a combined venture studio and VC fund that builds and backs transformative startups with hands‑on operational support and early capital. Led by founder and CEO Lyndsay Holley Handler, the platform blends initial seed investments with embedded expertise in product, fundraising, commercial strategy, and growth, writing checks of $100,000-$500,000 while co‑creating ventures across energy, agriculture, mobility, and fintech. In its latest milestone, Delta40 closed a $20 million institutional raise backed by 54 global investors, including development finance institutions and founder‑investors, to expand its portfolio and studio services across the continent.
🤑 Opportunities Expiring Soon
Scale Your Impact with Start it @KBC
- 📢 Organizer: KBC Group
- 🗂️ Category: Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Stage Agnostic
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Sector Agnostic
- 📅 Application Deadline: February 16, 2026
RIOT Startup Accelerator
- 📢 Organizer: RIOT
- 🗂️ Category: Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Stage Agnostic
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Sector Agnostic
- 📅 Application Deadline: February 20, 2026
gBETA Electrify Nevada Spring 2026
- 📢 Organizer: gener8tor
- 🗂️ Category: Accelerator, Training & Learning
- 🪜 Target Stages: Ideation, Pre-seed, Seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Energy & Environment, DeepTech
- 📅 Application Deadline: February 22, 2026
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