Startup News Updates

BMW said on Wednesday it will invest in lithium technology startup Lilac Solutions Inc to support more-efficient ways to produce the electric vehicle battery metal

DiCaprio has bought an unspecified stake in Aleph Farms and Mosa Meat, two companies developing protein products grown from cow cells - an emerging area in the growing alternative meat market.

Fawry , trading in Egypt's Exchange as FWRY.CA , the country's largest e-payment platform serving the banked and unbanked has finalized an investment in social commerce platform Brimore . The minority investment into Brimore will enable SME manufacturers to overcome existing go-to-market challenges through its nationwide distribution capability. The investment comes as part of Brimore's Series A in a funding round marking a strategic partnership with high-potential tech companies which generate profitable synergies furthering its objective of developing the country's digital ecosystem. In 2020, Disruptech's fintech fund invested $25 million in Brimore marking its first investment. This was part of a larger investment of $3.5 million by Algebra Ventures in a pre-series A round. A year prior, Brimore invested $800,000 in a seed funding round led by Endure Capital and Algebra. Mohamed Abdulaziz and Ahmed Sheikha founded Brimore in 2017. Both share extensive experience in the supply chain industry. The social commerce platform will then leverage its large network of associated freelance community distributors in selling and recommending products to their local communities using a variety of digital on-the-ground channels. The company's services allow small manufacturers to avoid making costly in-house investments in production and distribution in turn reducing the reliance on inefficient traditional distribution networks while helping consumers with high-quality products at affordable rates. SME manufacturers using Brimore receive unprecedented market access to markets while enjoying a level playing field with more established industry players. Fawry's management has identified several opportunities to foster synergy between Fawry and Brimore. Fawry is working to achieve the seamless integration of the company's payments and financial services solutions onto its platform. Eng. Ashraf Sabry, Fawry CEO pointed out how the company's access to financial and business services will enable the small and micro enterprises to play a bigger role in the country's economy. He revealed that Brimore has a strong merchant network of over 230,000. Mohamed Abdulaziz, Fawry co-founder, and CEO described the investment in Brimore as a vote of confidence in the company.

Ethiopia construction-tech startup ConDigital , has raised an undisclosed pre-seed funding round that will see it cement its presence domestically as it expands outwards in East Africa. ConDigital was launched in January 2019 by digitizing the process of construction project management targeting consultants, contractors, and their owners. Back in 2019, ConDigital raised a US$25,000 funding round led by The Baobab Network and is now accepted to the accelerator programme. Disrupt Africa reports of a US-based investor accompanied by several other East Africa, Asia, and Europe investors. The funding will help the startup establish its presence in Ethiopia as it expands across East Africa. As per the share in Shega, ConDigital has deployed two versions of three apps - light ConDigital projects focused on the engineering elements of all management construction projects that allow easy self-onboarding and use. The enterprise version covers all operational aspects of human capital management and other managing payments.

MultiChoice just launched the MultiChoice Accelerator to develop and connect 20 SA-based startups in collaboration with Galelo, C3, and DTIC, further connecting them with global investors at the Expo 2020 in Dubai. The accelerator programme is part of the MultiChoice Innovation Fund. To achieve this, MultiChoice has partnered with C3 (Companies Creating Change) to facilitate this program. C3 is a UAE-based social enterprise with a footprint spread across 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. C3's expert and trainer networks deliver an intensive Investor Readiness (IR) programme which culminates in a series of presentations to an audience of global start-up investors. The journey of the startups will be documented in a new docu-series expected to go live in November 2021. Newzroom Afrika, an SA news channel will cover their journey. The programme works in collaboration with Galelo Africa, an SA black-owned financial advisory firm managing the MultiChoice Innovation Fund. Galelo Africa will high-qualifying startups in South Africa for the MultiChoice Accelerator programme. Select businesses will receive support in their development of businesses particularly product and business development and financial management. The MultiChoice Accelerator conducted its opening ceremony on September 19. Among the stakeholders welcomed were C3, MultiChoice, and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, and 20 selected South African start-ups from different sectors including fintech, HealthTech, Creative Industries, Sustainability, Agri-Processing, and edtech. In the next few weeks entrepreneurs will be guided on the on critical business fundamentals while gaining exposure to other expansion and fundraising opportunities. This will include access to C3's ecosystem of over 4000 experts, 6000 entrepreneurs, and 100 investors. Of the 20 startups participating in the programme, 6 will make it to the weeks-long Expo 2020 in Dubai in January 2022. Medea Nocentini, C3 co-founder expressed excitement in partnering with " the MultiChoice Innovation Fund to support the 20 South-African start-ups." The unique C3 learning journey represented a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to acquire knowledge from subject experts and other founders in the cohort. C3 will provide all the support required to connect with a wider network of experts, investors, and bluechip partners spread across the Middle East and North Africa regions.

Casablanca-based DataPathology has raised $223K in a funding round led by WitaMax One (an investment firm jointly backed by Southbridge AI and AXXAM Family Office). The medtech startup will deploy the funds towards the transformation of pathological diagnosis systems while improving the services provided to patients and practitioners. DataPathology was founded by Dr. Hicham El Attar, pathologist, and Mr. Mohammed El Khannoussi in 2020. The company fights against the lack and delay of the Diagnosis of cancer patients in medically underserved countries. DataPathology looks to support multidisciplinary clinics, hospitals, and pathology clinics facing increased cancer cases and a lack of pathologists. This offers a complete solution that helps deliver quality pathological diagnosis quickly and efficiently. The team aspires to deliver pathological diagnoses in a quick and secure fashion to patients. A process that involves carrying out a biopsy, scanning, and transferring the patient's digital file in a secure and anonymous way to the medical team for diagnosis. We also shared how Witamax earlier invested in Moroccan fintech Lacaisse.ma

Local language edtech Ambani Africa has walked away with multiple top honours at the 2021 MTN Business App of the Year Awards. The app received the titles of Best Gaming Solution, Best Educational, and Best South African solution. It also walked away with R1 million in prize money for winning the title of Best App of the Year. "Congratulations to Ambani Africa," Chief Business Enterprise Officer of MTN Business, Wanda Matandela, said in a statement. "The combination of their innovative approach and the prize money should put them on the fast track to growth in their mission to solve the literacy gap faced by our country and encourage parents and kids to embrace their indigenous languages." The annual app awards attracted over 1 000 entries in 2021 with this year marking its tenth anniversary. The winning apps ranged from small startups to established brands such as Takealot and Afrihost. Ambani Africa offers language learning materials Available as a mobile app, Ambani Africa is an educational learning portal that caters to children who speak South Africa's indigenous languages. The app features games, series, and songs for learning for children aged two to eight. Children can learn several different languages including isiZulu, isiXhosa, Setswana, English, Sepedi, Tshivenda, and English. In addition, Ambani Africa offers online tutoring with conversational classes for children aged six and older. The Johannesburg-based company also offers a range of books that children can view through the app using Augmented Reality (AR). In July, Ambani Africa founder Mukundi Lambani was declared the winner of the third cohort of the I'M IN accelerator. Speaking to Ventureburn, Lambani said there was a lack of accessible digital resources for African language learning. Ambani Africa facilitates early learning by providing tech-enabled materials that help African learners in the primary school phase learn African languages," she explained. "Ambani is learner-centred and uses games to facilitate practice while helping parents and teachers to enable children to learn." The Ambani Africa app is available to download on the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, and Huawei AppGallery (isiZulu only).

Cape Town-based healthtech Aviro Health has secured an undisclosed amount of funding in a pre-series A funding round led by ASISA ESD Fund (managed by Edge Growth), Tuksnovation, and TIA. According to reports, the funding will be used to expand and improve the Aviro Pocket Clinic, a digital counselling service that is available through health providers in both the public and private sectors. In addition, the funding will enable the healthtech company to grow and expand its overall impact both in its HIV self-testing and into new use cases in HIV and a range of other diseases where digital support is needed to help patients in their treatment. Dr Musaed Abrahams, CEO Aviro Health expands on how the secured funding will assist the healthtech company. "COVID has highlighted and magnified the pre-existing urgency for health providers to find ways to effectively support patients in digital and semi-automated ways, reducing routine interactions and allowing health workers to serve 10x more patients while making accessing care friendly and easier for patients. This funding will allow us to expand the flexibility and scalability of our service, so that as we grow we are able to effectively and securely support multiple health providers and new care pathways." Aviro Founded in 2012 and based in Cape Town, the healthtech startup's clinic has reportedly assisted over 50 000 patients in accessing health services in both South Africa and Kenya. The Aviro Pocket Clinic aims to provide accessible counselling and linkage services via mobile phones or technology-based devices in private or public sector facilities. The innovative platform assists patients in achieving stable health outcomes by creating a crafted medical content plan which is delivered through various platforms either web, app or the WhatsApp chatbot. Phindile Tshabangu, Tuksnovation comments on the important work that the healthtech company does and their investment. "Tuksnovation is very pleased to see Aviro Health, one of our first investments from our seed fund and an early success story of our incubation programme, attract additional funding and support. We have established the seed fund as a technology de-risking instrument and a bridge builder for start-ups to the next fundable investment position and the results from this funding round validates our proposition. The impact of the Aviro Health technology on the health care system of our country and the job creation potential realised through the growth of Aviro Health underpins the social impact potential of the technology across the continent."

Definely a London-based legaltech operating in Nigeria has raised $3 million in pre-seed funding. The startup employs Artificial Intelligence (AI) to simplify drafting, reading, and understanding contracts. The round was jointly led by Microsoft's venture fund, M12 , and CRE Venture Capital . This investment round will go into speeding product development, expanding world-class teams, and drive further expansion into markets beyond the United Kingdom. Technext.ng reports a 500% Year-on-Year growth in its user base. The company has onboarded leading clients such as top law firms Allen Overy and Dentons, faced to grapple with laborious legal documents. Definely shortcuts the current processes by enabling lawyers to access and edit vital information much easily. The legaltech startup was launched in 2017 by Nnamdi Emelifeonwu (CEO) and Feargus MacDaeid - two former solicitors at Magic Circle. Sky News reports that MacDaeid is blind and had intended the services to target the visually impaired until realizing it could be attractive to the wider legal profession. Definely has garnered traction over the years, earning recognition as one of the most exciting early-stage scaleups across the UK in the 2021 Tech Nation Rising Stars competition. Definely was one of the six Nigerian-led startups picked at the inaugural batch of the Google for startups fund targeting Europe's black founders. They also clinched an award at the KPMG Black Entrepreneurs' Awards clinching the ' Most Promising Mature Business '.