Startup Researcher - Africa: Week 36, 2025

This week on Startup Researcher Africa, we cut through the noise and recap the moves shaping the continent’s startup and VC landscape.

00:25 Important News
01:03 Top Funding Rounds
01:32 Notable Exits
01:40 About Investors
01:57 Startup of the Week
02:28 Investor of the Week
02:54 Opportunity Radar

Regulators took center stage as the Bank of Ghana suspended five remittance operators for one month over guideline breaches, while Egypt’s central bank rolled out new governance rules for payment institutions with a one-year compliance window. In South Africa, TymeBank partnered with the Department of Home Affairs to launch Smart ID and passport services via 1,450 kiosks, a clear play to embed financial services into everyday citizen touchpoints. Elsewhere, Raise Africa shut down after seven years, migrating customers to Carta, and TradeHub closed after missing product-market fit, returning funds to investors.

Funding stayed active across priority verticals. Egypt’s Intella secured 12.5 million dollars led by Prosus to scale Arabic AI speech technology. The Invigilator raised 11 million dollars from Kaltroco to expand remote proctoring across education and workforce testing. Nigeria’s Babban Gona landed 7.5 million dollars in debt from British International Investment to back smallholder farmers. MOPO drew 6.7 million dollars from Norfund for solar battery rentals that extend off-grid access, and Justyol raised 1 million dollars to streamline cross-border e-commerce. On exits and M\&A, Ora Technologies moved to acquire Cathedis in Morocco, tying digital payments to last-mile logistics pending regulatory approval.

On the ecosystem front, Oxford Saïd convened more than forty VC managers in its Africa Venture Finance Programme to drive inclusion and access. Tanzania’s Startup Association signed a three-year pact with Africapital to widen flexible financing and incubation support. Our Startup of the Week is PalmPay, the Lagos-founded fintech scaling a multi-product platform with more than a thousand employees. Backed by 140 million dollars from Transsion, AfricInvest, and GIC, PalmPay is profitable, eyeing a 50 to 100 million dollar Series B, and partnering with AfriGo to issue five million cards.

Investor of the Week is Afrimobility, the Akwa Group–backed VC writing 100 to 500 thousand dollar checks across Africa, Europe, and North America, with portfolio bets including Quantum Dice, Chari, CloudFret, and Cathedis.

We close with a call to founders in South Africa: applications are open for Google for Startups Accelerator South Africa Cohort 2025, an equity-free program running September to December with mentorship, global networks, and 57,300 dollars in support. Subscribe and follow for sharp, verified coverage of Africa’s startup economy.