Lateral Frontiers VC

This is exciting news from Octavia Carbon on securing an 'A' rating from BeZero Carbon. A great milestone and a win for Octavia and sustainability. Onward ???? https://lnkd.in/eyc7GtZe

While cross-border trade in Africa faces many challenges, illiquid currency pairs are the biggest issue. Our currencies are hard to deal with since they are rarely traded in global markets, are illiquid, and tend to be volatile. Trading in these currencies can result in prohibitively high fees. Better trading African currencies would need greater economic and political stability, more liquid financial markets, and improved infrastructure, among other factors. We are unlikely to see these changes happen simultaneously across the continent in the next decade. In the meantime, there needs to be some innovation to ease the problem. This is where fintechs come in. If fintechs are going to tackle cross-border payments, at the very least, the solution will be 3-fold: create liquidity pools, payment integrations & transaction speeds.

WEEKLY DEALS 1.??????M&A Qatar Airways has acquired a 25% stake in South Africa’s Airlink, deepening its investment in Africa. The transaction value of the deal remains undisclosed. BIDCORO Africa Ltd. (Bidco) has been approved by the Competition Authority of Kenya to fully acquire Suntory Beverage & Food Kenya, the manufacturer of Ribena and Lucozade brands. The deal is due to help improve the acquired brands by leveraging Bidco’s production and commercialization expertise. The transaction details remain undisclosed. 2.??????Capital Raising British International Investment together with ports and logistics operator, DP World, has committed up to USD 35m towards developing the first deepwater container port in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Provider of energy-as-a-service for African businesses, Solarise Africa has secured ZAR 160m (USD 8.9m) in investment funding from Mergence Investment Managers to advance its deployment of commercial and industrial-scale renewable energy solutions across South Africa. To expand into new markets, Waza (YC W23), a payment and liquidity platform currently operating in Nigeria and Ghana has raised USD 8m in seed equity and debt funding. Investors for the round include Byld Ventures, Norrsken East Africa, Y Combinator, Heirloom Ventures, Plug and Play Tech Center, Olive Tree Capital, and Timon Capital. Sea Gardener Inc., a company specializing in the export of shellfish from North Africa to the rest of the world, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from the Climate Resilient Africa Fund (CRAF) to help reimagine North Africa’s shellfish export industry. Kenya-based potato processor, Gaea Foods Ltd has received an undisclosed amount of venture debt from #Pepea_Fund to enable its continuous growth and source from more smallholder farmers. Wattnow Energy, a Tunisia-based energy management startup has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Lateral Frontiers VC to expand its energy management platform, enabling global sustainability efforts. 3.??????VC/PE Raising #Helios_Investors_V_Fund, managed by Helios Investment Partners is set to receive USD 75m commitments from the European Investment Bank (EIB) as the latter disclosed. The fund will focus on the Global Gateaway priorities. To support energy efficiency and captivate renewable energy initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa’s commercial and industrial sectors, Camco’s Spark, a climate and impact fund, closes its initial senior debt funding round with USD 9m commitments from Symbiotics Investments and Triple Jump's Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund.

'To complete a transaction from Kenya to Zambia, my bank needs to convert my Kenyan Shillings (KES) to USD and send it to the counterparty bank in Zambia. The merchant’s bank then converts the USD to Zambian Kwacha (ZK).' This example illustrates one of the biggest challenges companies face when transacting within Africa. In this entry of Lateral Thinking, one of our associates, Shreyas Mishra, has canvassed some of the challenges facing cross-border payments on the continent. The inefficiencies in the system are not only a significant expense for individual companies, they are a huge obstacle for intracontinental trade. In his article, Shreyas has also explored a few solutions that may alleviate some of the challenges. Be sure to read his article on the link below. I'm sure he would love to hear your thoughts. ?? https://lnkd.in/eT3Fh7Ph

Excited to announce our investment in Wattnow!?? Wattnow is transforming energy management with an IoT solution that helps businesses reduce energy waste, cut costs, and lower carbon footprints?. With a strong customer base and a scalable approach, Wattnow is set to lead in both emerging and developed markets. Their innovative platform offers real-time analytics, predictive maintenance, and seamless expansion into new markets. With our first investment from Fund II, we are thrilled to support Issam Smaali and his team in their mission to drive global energy efficiency and sustainability! Here is the story of why we invested https://lnkd.in/ekA93wPf

Recently, Shannon Stroud and the Milken Institute announced the launch of the Africa Leaders Business Council! Our focus at Lateral is to partner with ambitious founders on a quest to solve real problems in real economies and hopefully pioneer the Africa's future tech and startup ecosystems. Milken also believes in Africa's potential and is bringing together thought leaders, entrepreneurs and investors?to help realise it. We look forward to supporting our partner Rob Eloff as a member of the Council, and the Milken team in fostering growth and innovation across the continent. #AfricaBusiness #Innovation #MilkenInstitute #MIGlobal

One of our associates, Ebby M. has published an entry of Lateral Thinking where she unravels the ins of the cleantech space in emerging markets, giving a great framework on how to analyse cleantech. At the end, she gives her outlook on the industry and some of the opportunities investors and founders can take advantage of. If you are trying to play in this industry, this is a must read! https://lnkd.in/dFcpjdX4

?? Happy to share our 2024 first issue of Life at the Frontiers by one of our partners, Rob Eloff . A glimpse into our work in Africa, with a touch of poetry. https://lnkd.in/d9gyx7KY #Venture Capital

Loud applause for one of our highest conviction founding teams Zone on their announced $8.5m seed round led by our friends at Flourish Ventures and TLcom Capital LLP. We were fortunate to meet Obi Emetarom, Emeka Emetarom and Wale Onawunmi back in 2018 which led to?Rob Eloff ?missing a flight out of Lagos because we simply couldn't cut the meeting short. This is one of the most seasoned and innovative teams in African Fintech and we are fortunate to be on this ride with them for a product launch that led to a spin out standalone company. https://lnkd.in/dAstFTkv Onwards and upwards. #fintech #defi #fintechinnovation

Loud applause for one of our highest conviction founding teams Zone on their announced $8.5m seed round led by our friends at Flourish Ventures and TLcom Capital LLP. We were fortunate to meet Obi Emetarom, Emeka Emetarom and Wale Onawunmi back in 2018 which led to?Rob Eloff ?missing a flight out of Lagos because we simply couldn't cut the meeting short. This is one of the most seasoned and innovative teams in African Fintech and we are fortunate to be on this ride with them for a product launch that led to a spin out standalone company. https://lnkd.in/dAstFTkv Onwards and upwards. #fintech #defi #fintechinnovation