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. Nigeria: mPharma acquires stake in Alta Semper backed HealthPlus
African technology-driven healthcare company mPharma has acquired a majority stake in HealthPlus, the leading pharmacy chain in Nigeria. mPharma and the former investor, private equity firm Alta Semper, have signed an agreement leading to the acquisition of a majority stake in the HealthPlus.
Powered by mPharma’s proprietary Bloom software, HealthPlus will provide patients access to affordable primary care services within its pharmacies, in addition to affordable and quality medications it currently retails across 12 states in Nigeria. The HealthPlus pharmacy chain will also launch Mutti, mPharma’s health membership programme, which will provide both existing and new customers with discounts, interest-free ’heal-now-pay-later’ plans, free health screenings, and other primary care services.
2. Janngo Capital fund reaches first close
The Janngo Capital Startup Fund has announced its first close at €34 million (approximately $36 million) in capital commitments. Backed by global financial institutions as well as private corporations, the fund management company plans to invest €60 million (approximately $63 million) in startups leveraging technology to leapfrog development and achieve SDGs in Africa.
The fund will provide up to €5 million seed and growth investments to early-stage tech and tech-enabled startups that (1) enable Africans to improve their access to essential goods and services such as healthcare, education or financial services, (2) enable African SMEs to improve their access to market and capital, or (3) create sustainable jobs at scale, with a focus on women and youth.
The fund is backed by Proparco, Burda Principal Investments and Muller Medien, among others, along with anchor investors EIB, AfDB and Boost Africa.
3. AfricInvest and Novastar lead venture financing for insurtech platform
Insurtech company Turaco has announced the close of a $10 million series A equity round led by AfricInvest, via the Cathay Africinvest Innovation Fund, and existing investor Novastar Ventures. The round also included participation from Enza Capital, Global Partnerships, Zephyr Acorn, Operator Stack, Asi Ventures Limited, and Push Ventures.
Founded in 2019, Turaco is a distributor, broker, and key customer interface between the underwriter and the end consumer. The insurtech company’s mission is to free people from the fear of financial shocks caused by unexpected health risks. Turaco is able to achieve this through a B2B and B2B2C business model, forming partnerships with top tech-enabled companies with a large pool of customers or staff in emerging markets, including some of the continent’s most trusted brands such as Sun King, One Acre Fund, Tugende, M-KOPA and VisionFund. Through its active partnerships, the insurtech has designed and delivered a suite of bespoke medical, life, asset, and vehicle insurance packages that have already covered over half a million lives across Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda.
4. EIB discloses proposed investment in Vantage fund
The European Investment Bank has disclosed a proposed equity investment of $50 million in the Vantage Mezzanine Fund IV, managed by Vantage Capital.
Vantage Mezzanine Fund IV is a generalist closed-end fund providing mezzanine finance to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-market growth companies active in Africa and has a target size of $350 million.
5. Nigeria: Kippa attracts $8.4m investment
Kippa, the financial management and payments platform for Nigerian small businesses, has raised $8.4 million in a new financing round. The start-up provides digital business and financial management solutions to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. It has garnered backing from international investors to develop products that will help SMEs grow their businesses.
Founded in June 2021, Kippa raised pre-seed funding of $3.2 million in November 2021 with the idea of onboarding merchants to a simple-to-use mobile bookkeeping app to help them digitise bookkeeping and recover customer debt. Today, the company has further expanded its offerings. It provides a suite of financial services that enable small-sized business owners to incorporate their businesses legally, open bank accounts, receive and send payments, build online web stores, and manage their entire business from one platform.
As part of the oversubscribed round, Kippa welcomed global investors, including Goodwater Capital, TEN13 VC, Rocketship VC, Saison Capital (the venture arm of Credit Saison), Crestone VC (led by Inanc Balci, co-founder and former CEO at Lazada), VentureSouq, Horizon Partners and Vibe Capital.