The 5 most popular stories on Africa Private Equity News this week
Here are summaries of the five most widely read stories this week on Africa Private Equity News.
1. EXEO Capital investment vehicle backs South African cheese company
Pan-African alternative investment firm EXEO Capital’s new food sector investment vehicle, Nurture Foods, this week announced its recent investment in The Fairview Cheese Company.
Nurture Foods was established by EXEO Capital through its food and agribusiness fund, Agri-Vie Fund II, as a vehicle to drive longer-term investing in the growing convenience and functional food sector. Using EXEO’s 13 years’ investment experience in the food sector in sub-Saharan Africa, Nurture Foods will be partnering with seasoned food-entrepreneurs to build a platform of synergistic businesses that will grow and develop this highly differentiated sub-sector.
2. Pearl Capital Partners in poultry deal
The Yield Uganda Investment Fund has announced the investment of UGX 6.79 billion ($1.8 million) in Sekajja Agro Farms (SAF), in a blend of equity and long term debt. This marks the fund’s tenth investment in the Ugandan agribusiness sector.
The Yield Fund is an agribusiness impact fund set up by the European Union (EU), through the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), the Open Society Foundation (OSF) and FCA Investments. The fund is managed by Pearl Capital Partners.
SAF is a Kampala based company whose primary business is the rearing of day-old-chicks until maturity and the distribution of the mature birds as live birds and dressed chicken in the informal and formal markets, respectively. The business also operates a feed mill, an abattoir, a cold chain and branded retail outlets.
3. Agri-Business Capital Fund in West African deal
The Agri-Business Capital Fund (ABC Fund) has invested $1.8 million in the Union Nationale des Caisses Rurales d’Epargne et de Prêt (UNACREP), a microfinance institution in Benin, West Africa.
UNACREP provides short- and long-term loans and microcredits to its members, collects deposits and savings from its members and clients and trains and builds capacity of its members. Over the past two decades, it has built a network of over 130,000 members. It is headquartered in Porto Novo, the administrative capital city of Benin, and has 65 branches and outlets spread around the country.
4. Vehicle financing platform Autochek secures $13.1m seed funding
Autochek, the automotive technology company facilitating auto financing across Africa, has secured $13.1 million in seed funding. Co-led by follow-on investors, TLcom Capital and 4DX Ventures, the round also included participation from existing investors, Golden Palm Investments, Enza Capital, Lateral Capital as well as new participants, ASK Capital and Mobility 54 Investment SAS (the venture capital arm of Toyota Tsusho Corporation / CFAO Group).
With the new funding secured just under a year after Autochek’s $3.4 million pre-seed raise, the round was preempted by Autochek’s lead investors – TLcom Capital and 4DX Ventures. As part of Autochek’s growth strategy, the capital will be deployed to bolster its core auto loan processing platform and deepen its footprint in West Africa, starting with its recent entry into Cote d’Ivoire. Additionally, the company is rapidly expanding its footprint across East Africa, following its recent acquisition of Cheki Kenya and Cheki Uganda, East Africa’s leading online auto marketplace. As part of the investment by Mobility54, Autochek will be leveraging Toyota Tsusho’s vast retail network across 46 African countries to further deepen its expansion.
5. ARCH Emerging Markets Partners signs new LP for cold chain fund
The board of directors of the African Development Bank has approved an equity investment of $10 million in the ARCH Cold Chain Solutions East Africa Fund (CCSEAF) to support the development, construction and operation of greenfield cold storage, temperature-controlled solutions and distribution facilities in East Africa.
The investment will advance the fund toward its targeted final close of $100 million by the second quarter of 2022. The fund’s first close of $30 million occurred in November 2019.
In partnership with conglomerates in the region, the fund will develop and operate as many as eight cold chain operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Rwanda to reduce post-harvest losses, and the spoilage of processed food and medicines caused by a lack of temperature-controlled solutions.
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