This Week in African Tech ?? [August 11th]

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Welcome to our first Tech Safari Weekly - where we roundup everything that happened this week in African Tech.

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This week was big. Let's dive in:

Tech roundup

• Sendy is shutting down and finalizing an asset sale. The startup has been around for 8 years and raised $26.5 million. We are staying tuned to hear who the acquirer is, and articles indicate it could be sold to Sabi, Wasoko or Trella.

• Kenya’s Worldcoin saga continues. The government now says Worldcoin collected biometric data illegally. The country suspended Worldcoin last week amid safety and data privacy concerns. (I wrote more about it here). Kenyan authorities also raided a Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi, taking away equipment as they look into how the company gathers data.

• A group called Anonymous Sudan plots a cyberattack on Nigeria's digital service systems. The group claims the attacks are in response to Nigeria’s military intervention in coup-ridden Niger.

• Senegal arrests Starlink sellers for providing internet “illegally” following a country-wide internet shutdown.

• Uber finally integrates Mpesa into their app. Kenyans can now pay for rides using mobile money directly within the Uber app. This follows a similar addition on the Uber Eats platform a few weeks back.

• Nigeria’s Autocheck expands to South Africa, three years after launch. The company uses tech to change how Africans buy and sell cars. They’ve made a one-stop place where you can find, finance, and get support for your car needs.

• Moove, the African Mobility fintech, raises $76M equity, debt from Mubadala and BlackRock at a $550M valuation. Moove has raised $325 million ($150 million in equity and over $175 million in debt) to date.

Deal roundup

• Knife Capital closes a $50 million series B fund to invest in growth-stage B2B startups in South Africa. The fund will also back similar companies in other African countries. Congrats to the Knife Capital Team ????

• Edencare becomes the first Rwandan company to join Y Combinator. The health-focused insurtech is taking part in YC’s summer batch.

• VaultPay from DRC and Chow Central from Nigeria have also joined Rwanda’s Edencare in Y Combinator’s S23 batch. VaultPay makes banking easier by connecting banks and Telcos, while Chowcentral is creating a delivery chain of cool restaurants in African cities.

• Antler, an early-stage venture capital firm, is rolling out a $60 million fund to back startups across the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan (MENAP) region.

• REdimension Capital, a South African venture capital firm, has raised more than $10 million for its first fund. Growthpoint Properties, Rand Merchant Bank, and Investec Property Fund led the funding round. The fund will focus on PropTech startups in Africa.

• Moove has raised $76 million in funding from Mubadala and BlackRock through a mix of equity and debt. Moove is a Nigerian vehicle-financing startup. Moove has raised $325 million ($150 million in equity and over $175 million in debt) to date. This raise puts them at a $550 million valuation.

• Talents Arena, an AI recruitment startup from Egypt, raises pre-seed funding of $750,000 for its expansion into Saudi Arabia. The round was led by UI Investment alongside unnamed Saudi angel investors.

Events and Opportunities

In this week's newsletter we have 7 events and opportunities in African Tech. From conferences to startup programs to tech mixers.

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