African startups have raised nearly $4 billion, according to the startup database “Africa: The Big Deal”, which breaks down the total funding raised by startups in Africa, for businesses worth US$100 or more, reveals Económia & Mercado Moçambique magazine.
Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Kenya are the four major markets for attracting investments in startups in Africa, where they were responsible for 80% of the total raised, with 35% of the capital raised in Nigeria alone. According to what the publication reveals, the continent's largest economy raised US$1,37 billion in 2021, followed by US$838 million in South Africa, US$588 million in Egypt and US$375 million in Kenya.
Ghana and Tunisia are the two other countries closest to the Top 4, which in the report accounted for 84,6% of financed start-up companies and 92,6% of total investment. Also noteworthy is Senegal, with 222 million dollars and Tanzania, with 96 million dollars, which also represents a big difference with the Top 4. In these last two countries, a single business represents more than 90% of the total raised in 2021.
Still talking about the numbers presented, highlight for the startup chipper cash, which raised a total of 250 million dollars, and last November, this fintech raised 30 million dollars in series B, led by Ribbit Capital, with the participation of Bezos Expeditios – Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' personal venture capital fund.
Chipper Cash is a fintech startup founded in 2018 in San Francisco by Ugandans Ham Serunjogi and Ghanaian Maijid Moujaled, where they offer P2P payment services in seven countries, free of charge and via a smartphone. The startup currently operates in Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa and Kenya.
Regarding the Chipper Cash service, it should also be noted that it has ChipperCheckout, which, according to what MenosFios has learned, is a payment service based on fees and centered on commerce that generates revenue to support the mobile money business free from Chipper Cash. It was from these same services that the startup was able to increase its user base to three million on its platform, a service that currently processes more than 80.000 daily transactions.
According to what the “founders” of Chipper Cash revealed, the company plans to expand its products and its geographic scope with business payment solutions, as well as cryptocurrency trading options and investment services.
"We will always be a financial transfer platform, but we have seen demand from users to offer other valuable services, such as buying assets in cryptocurrency and investing in shares” revealed Serunjogi in an interview with TechCrunch.
