Tage Kene-Okafor, Author at TechCrunch

Altos Ventures, an early backer of Coupang and Roblox, raises $500M fund

Tage Kene-Okafor — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 17:01:28 +0000

Altos Ventures, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has backed the likes of Roblox, Coupang, PandaDoc, and Quizlet, has secured $500 million for its latest fund, according to SEC filings. The firm has been around for almost three decades and this is its largest fund to date. Altos Ventures declined to comment on the […]

African ‘gender equal’ VC Janngo Capital closes second fund at $78M

Tage Kene-Okafor — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 06:05:00 +0000

African venture capital firm Janngo Capital has closed its second fund at €73 million (about $78 million), 20% more than its initial target of €60 million (about $63 million). The firm marked the first close of the fund at €34 million in 2022, roping in limited partners such as the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) […]

Google and DPI back African fintech Moniepoint in $110M round

Tage Kene-Okafor — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 08:33:01 +0000

African fintech Moniepoint just closed $110 million in new financing, and it has landed Google’s Africa Investment Fund as a new investor. The Series C round was led by Development Partners International’s African Development Partners (ADP) III fund. Other investors, including African private equity firm Verod Capital and existing investor Lightrock, also participated. Moniepoint, also […]

African crypto startup Yellow Card raises $33M led by Blockchain Capital to scale its B2B pivot

Tage Kene-Okafor — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 16:36:58 +0000

Africa’s blockchain and crypto space is receiving a much-needed venture boost during a tough time for startups, some of which have retreated from specific markets or completely shut down due to issues like harsh regulatory environment, macros, or downright mismanagement. The boost involves Yellow Card, the U.S.-founded crypto platform launched in Nigeria in 2019, which […]

‘Where we are today in biology AI is similar to GPT in 2020’: An interview with the CEO of Africa’s biggest AI startup

Tage Kene-Okafor — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

In January last year, German biotech company BioNTech acquired African AI startup InstaDeep for over $550 million, a deal finalized in July of the same year. InstaDeep, whose exit is currently the largest from Africa, has been operating under the German pharma umbrella for just over a year. Now is a good time to look […]

Flutterwave’s chief on the company’s executive hires, product focus, and IPO plans

Tage Kene-Okafor — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 10:13:24 +0000

Flutterwave CEO GB discusses the company's recent product and administration changes and their implications for the company as it scales.

Paymob, started by three college friends, lands another $22M and is profitable in Egypt

Tage Kene-Okafor — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 08:00:00 +0000

Paymob has evolved into an omnichannel gateway offering over 50 methods for offline and online payments to more than 350,000+ merchants.

Ziina banks $22M as growth explodes for the UAE-based fintech for small businesses

Tage Kene-Okafor — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 06:30:00 +0000

The Dubai-based startup, which now counts 50,000 retail and business customers in the UAE, has netted $22 million led by Altos Ventures.

Payroll startup Cercli inks $4M to build the ‘Rippling for the Middle East and North Africa’

Tage Kene-Okafor — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 04:04:00 +0000

The potential of Cercli's payroll platform has attracted investor interest, leading to $4 million in seed funding.

From InstaDeep to Paystack: Here are Africa’s biggest startup exits and how much they raised

Tage Kene-Okafor — Sun, 01 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000

As we continue to monitor the growth of Africa's tech ecosystem, it’s essential to highlight and analyze the biggest disclosed acquisitions.

African B2B e-commerce startups Wasoko and MaxAB complete merger: Interview with co-CEO Daniel Yu

Tage Kene-Okafor — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 08:30:00 +0000

Two of Africa's largest B2B e-commerce platforms, Wasoko and MaxAB, have finally completed the continent’s much-talked-about merger.

Kenyan HR and payroll startup Workpay lands Visa as investor in $5M round

Tage Kene-Okafor — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 09:10:50 +0000

Workpay provides cloud-based HR, payroll, and benefits solutions for businesses with employees across Africa.

Waza comes out of stealth with $8M to power global trade for African businesses

Tage Kene-Okafor — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 08:00:00 +0000

In May, the African fintech processed up to $70 million in monthly payment volume.

African e-commerce company Jumia completes sale of secondary shares at $99.6M

Tage Kene-Okafor — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 15:18:58 +0000

Almost two weeks ago, TechCrunch reported that African e-commerce giant Jumia was planning to sell 20 million American depositary shares (ADSs) and raise more than $100 million, given its share price of around $5.70 at the time. The e-tailer has now completed the at-the-market transaction offering of 20,227,736 ADSs. Jumia sold the shares at an […]

Conduit’s cross-border payments expand from LatAm into Africa with $6M round

Tage Kene-Okafor — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 09:58:24 +0000

Cross-border payments for businesses in emerging markets remain significantly untapped, despite small to large businesses using banks and legacy fintechs to transact trillions of dollars in transaction volume annually. A report by Airwallex forecasts that the value of cross-border payments will grow by 60%, reaching $250 trillion by 2027. Between 2018 and 2022, the value […]

Jumia plans to raise more than $100 million in secondary shares to drive stalled user growth

Tage Kene-Okafor — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 23:00:38 +0000

African e-commerce company Jumia is selling 20 million American depositary shares over the next couple of weeks, TechCrunch has learned. The at-the-market transaction is to take advantage of strong results despite a volatile market. Given Jumia’s share price of around $5.70 when the stock market opened on Tuesday, the e-commerce company could potentially raise approximately […]

Egypt’s Cartona raises $8.1M even as investors pull back from B2B e-commerce in Africa

Tage Kene-Okafor — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 08:00:00 +0000

When Egyptian B2B e-commerce platform Cartona last raised money in 2022, global and local investors were eager to invest in African startups solving the supply chain and operational challenges for retailers and suppliers in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. Two years on, investors aren’t as enthused anymore as the business models of such startups, […]

Egypt’s MNT-Halan banks $157.5M, gobbles up a fintech in Turkey to expand

Tage Kene-Okafor — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 07:31:39 +0000

MNT-Halan, a fintech unicorn out of Egypt, is on a consolidation march. The microfinance and payments startup has raised $157.5 million in funding and is using the money in part to fund the acquisition of another fintech, Tam Finans, to expand into Turkey. Tam Finans provides financing to micro-enterprises and SMEs. It currently operates 39 […]

Endeavor CEO says long-term capital needs to be prioritized in emerging ecosystems

Tage Kene-Okafor — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 13:34:30 +0000

Venture capital has become a more global industry as the tech sector slowly decentralizes. In 2022, more than 50% of VC deployed globally was invested in startups outside the U.S., according to data available from the National Science Foundation (NSF) — a stark contrast to 20 years ago, when nearly 80% of the world’s venture […]

Digital banking startup Mercury abruptly shuttered service for startups in Ukraine, Nigeria, other countries

Christine Hall, Mary Ann Azevedo, Tage Kene-Okafor — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 17:19:53 +0000

Digital banking startup Mercury informed some founders that it is no longer serving customers in certain countries, including Ukraine.