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. AfricInvest announces partnership with Kenyan healthcare group
AfricInvest – a pan-African asset management platform covering private equity, venture capital and private credit – has entered into a strategic partnership with Ruai Family Hospital Limited (trading as RFH Healthcare) through a facility provided by its debt vehicle, AfricInvest Private Credit (APC).
RFH Healthcare is backed by RFH Specialist Hospital, one of only twelve Level 5 facilities in Nairobi, and the only one in East of Nairobi. From humble beginnings in 2011 as an outpatient clinic in a one-bedroom apartment, the hospital – incorporated as Ruai Family Hospital Limited in 2012 – increased the scope of its services to include in-patient services starting with five beds. Today, the chain, which includes eight facilities, boasts services ranging from primary outpatient to highly-specialised and critical care services.
2. JUMO raises $120m led by Fidelity, Visa and Kingsway
JUMO, a technology company building next-generation financial services for emerging market entrepreneurs, announced the successful raise of $120 million from new and existing investors. The round is led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and represents their first investment in emerging markets fintech.
Andrew Watkins-Ball, JUMO founder and CEO said, “It’s exciting to be part of the wave of US capital being invested in payments and fintech on the continent – there are some great businesses being built and we are proud to play a role supporting capital providers to reach customers with great products. We are really grateful for the vote of confidence from our new investors and will continue to work hard to improve our products for our partners and customers.”
The latest funding round brings JUMO’s total funding raised to date to about $200 million. Prior investment rounds have included Leapfrog, Goldman Sachs, Finnfund, Proparco, Vostok Emerging Finance and Brook Asset Management.
3. Kibo Capital exits Kenyan logistics company
Kibo Capital Partners has sold its interest in the Kenyan logistics and distribution company, General Cargo Group (GCG), to majority shareholder Velogic, the logistics arm of Rogers Group. The divestment marks the second exit of Kibo’s sophomore fund Kibo II.
Kibo first backed GCG in 2016 when the company was a Mombasa-based clearing and transportation company. As a result of the investment and Kibo’s close partnership with Rogers Group, GCG transformed into a diversified logistics business with successful expansion into the technology and distribution services business.
4. AfricInvest, Goodwell and LUN Partners co-lead MFS Africa financing round
AfricInvest’s Financial Inclusion Vehicle (AfricInvest FIVE) has announced its investment in MFS Africa as part of the company’s $100 million equity and debt financing round.
MFS Africa is a pan-African digital payment hub that enables low-cost payments across Africa and beyond, connecting more than 320 million mobile money wallets through its platform. Partnering with mobile money operators, banks, money transfer operators, large corporations and a growing number of SMEs, MFS is helping to create a pan-African payment infrastructure that provides payment and other financial services to under- and unbanked people across the continent.
AfricInvest FIVE led the funding round together with existing shareholders Goodwell Investments and LUN Partners who acted as co-leads, alongside other investors including CommerzVentures, Allan Gray Ventures and Endeavour. The funding will enable MFS Africa to hire talent across the continent and beyond, boost the company’s growth strategy by supporting a number of strategic initiatives including MFS Africa’s expansion in Nigeria through the acquisition of super-agent, Baxi and the continuing work to support SMEs by building and expanding the China-Africa and US-Africa payment rails.
5. Rwanda fund, managed by Angaza Capital, invests in medical supplies company
The Rwanda Innovation Fund (RIF), managed by Angaza Capital, has made an investment in VIEBEG Technologies, a Rwandan-based tech company aiming to disrupt Africa’s medical supply chain.
Founded in 2018 by Tobias Reiter (chief executive officer) and Alex Musyoka (chief commercial officer), VIEBEG raised a total of $1 million, as it is set to realise the vast potential that technology and data science can have to make medical supplies more affordable and accessible to hundreds of millions. The company’s data-driven procurement platform ensures that healthcare facilities always have the right type and quantities of medical products in stock to properly treat patients.
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