The African startup market is going through certain growth pains: With unprecedented amounts of money pouring into African businesses, you would think the continent’s venture capital ecosystem is booming. Yes, things are wonderful, but they are not perfect.
While many agreements are being completed, TechCrunch discovered from a few investors that problems such as poor due diligence, which are affecting other markets, are also present in Africa. In addition, considering how active big checks have been elsewhere this year, African businesses may require more late-stage money, which caught us off guard.
MoviePass may resurrect, only a few firms genuinely deserve the title Icarus. Given how far it has soared and how quickly it has depleted its financial reserves, MoviePass might be one of them. However, Lazarus is a better parallel, as the brand may be making a comeback.
While the world waits for Nubank’s IPO to price and begins trading, investors continue to make bets on the challenger banking fintech area. According to TechCrunch, Oxygen, a neobank aimed towards freelancers and small businesses, is in discussions to fund $500 million.
What is the worth of recipes? Foody, a company is betting that they have genuine value – and that people would pay for it. For its food creator marketplace, the business has raised $1.5 million.
It is both true and outmoded that people will pay for recipes. People do pay for them, but mostly in the form of books. It is less obvious how that approach will adapt to the digital world.
Promoted.ai receives funds for improved marketplace search: It is possible that Foody may become a customer of Promoted.ai’s technology, which helps users locate exactly what they want to buy in digital marketplaces.
It was just funded with $2 million. Given the amount of money spent in marketplace businesses, it is not difficult to imagine a client list for what Promoted is developing.
Weflow seeks to make Salesforce more user-friendly: First, Weflow is not the same as Webflow. The latter is a company that helps people creates no-code websites and has garnered a lot of money.
Weflow is a technology that makes it easier for salespeople to maintain their CRM up to date. It has also not sought nine figures in capital, instead of putting $2.7 million into its own bank account this week.
Bellabeat’s new health wearable has a lot of potential: TechCrunch tried out the Ivy wearable today from the hardware side of things. The wristband device, according to our own Amanda Silberling, aims to measure “sleep patterns, heart rate, menstrual cycles, steps, hydration, exercise, mindfulness, and more.” However, the program, she writes, left us wanting more. In Africa, $3.4 million will spent on electric bikes. Zembo recently acquired money for its electric vehicle company from Toyota and others, demonstrating that not all startup activity in Africa is fintech-related. Zembo, which founded in France but focuses on Africa, sells its automobiles through a lease-to-own arrangement.
