By Adedapo Adesanya

South African fintech, Tyme Group, has become Africa’s ninth unicorn after it raised $250 million in a Series D round at a $1.5 billion valuation.

The company now joins the club of African unicorns, with members like MNT-Halan, Interswitch, Flutterwave, Chipper, OPay, Wave, and most recently, Moniepoint, which hit the $1 billion valuation threshold in October.

Tyme plans for an initial public offering (IPO) by the end of 2028.

The funding round was led by Nu Holdings, the parent company of Nu Bank, Latin America’s most valuable fintech, which invested $150 million for a 10 per cent stake.

M&G Catalyst Fund and existing investors also participated in the round. The latest funding signals an investor return to investing in the continent after a slowdown in funding in the last two years.

Tyme Group operates through a hybrid model of online and physical banking, offering checking and savings accounts, debit cards, and buy-now-pay-later credit.

The fintech has 15 million customers and claims to have extended over $600 million in financing to small businesses in South Africa and the Philippines.

Tyme, which was founded by Mr Coen Jonker, remains majority-owned by Mr Patrice Motsepe, the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) through his African Rainbow Capital (ARC), which retains a 40 per cent stake in the company.

Nubank will be tapping the deal to extend its reach further outside of Latin America after it forayed into India in 2021.

According to Mr David Vélez, founder and CEO of Nubank, “Since the beginning of Nubank, we have believed that the future of financial services globally is of digitally-native companies. We have met dozens of teams across different geographies, and we think that Tyme Group is extremely well-positioned to be one of the digital bank leaders in Africa and Southeast Asia.

“We are excited to work with Tyme to share many of our learnings of scaling this model to hundreds of millions of customers,” he added.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

Entrepreneurs willing to partake in the Qualcomm Make in Africa 2025 programme can now begin to submit their entries, the organisers have disclosed.

The 2024 edition was won by Kenya’s Aurora Health Systems, getting the Wireless Reach Social Impact Fund after it beat the other nine finalists to the prize.

The finalists were drawn from six African countries, including Nigeria, which had Kitovu, founded by Nwachinemera Emeka.

Kitovu is revolutionizing agriculture with its WareGuard smart warehouse management solution, designed to reduce post-harvest losses and enhance food security for millions of farmers.

The 10 startup owners were chosen and supported because their products addressed challenges in healthcare, agriculture, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and industrial sectors.

The Make in Africa Startup Mentorship Program showcases the energy and innovation emerging from the African technology scene, demonstrating Qualcomm’s commitment to supporting startups as part of the broader Qualcomm Africa Innovation Platform.

The Wireless Reach Social Impact Fund is provided by Qualcomm through its Qualcomm Wireless Reach Initiative to supports startups in scaling their societal and market impact.

Aurora Health Systems was selected for its innovative wireless, portable ECG device with LTE connectivity.

This device assists patients with cardiovascular disease by enabling remote data transmission of ECG data to healthcare providers, even in rural areas.

The firm is the first in East Africa to train ECG AI models on locally sourced data, resulting in more accurate algorithms and improved AI-powered diagnostics.

“The Make in Africa startups are disrupting traditional industries and tackling socio-economic challenges, crafting innovative solutions with global market reach by using AI, advanced connectivity, and IoT,” the President of Qualcomm MEA, Wassim Chourbaji, stated.

“This startup mentorship program reflects Qualcomm’s commitment to supporting promising early-stage deep tech startups, empowering local talents, creating jobs and driving economic growth,” Chourbaji added.

Business Post reports that the 10 finalists for the 2024 edition were Aurora Health Systems which provides AI-based cardiovascular healthcare tools, CropScan from Kenya which uses solar-powered smart farming IoT devices, Cure Bionics from Tunisia which makes smart 3D printed prosthetic devices, DevisionX from Egypt which provides AI-based low-code computer vision tools, and Kalio from Cameroon which builds AI tools for Agricultural IoT.

Others were Kitovu from Nigeria which provides tools and software for smart agricultural warehouse management, NextAI Studios from Kenya which builds AI-based emotion detection into toys for children’s mental healthcare, RIM Nextgen from Kenya which uses smart tools for monitoring propane consumption, Sparcx from South Africa which uses AI for enhancing radar signal processing, and ViZmerald from Tunisia which works on AI-based textile industry inspection.

By Dipo Olowookere

To tackle the critical cash flow challenges faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across Africa, investors like P2Vest, Norrsken Accelerator, Afrinovation Ventures, Kaleo Ventures, and 54 Collective (formerly known as Founders Factory Africa), have invested about $1.6 million into Billboxx.

The integrated billing-to-payment platform, founded in 2023, successfully closed the pre-seed funding round, which is a mix of debt and equity, due to its innovative approach and commitment to building a more financially secure future for SMEs – the backbone of the African economy.

Manual invoicing and deferred payments often result in delayed payments, stifling many SMEs, but Billboxx’s integrated billing-to-payment platform streamlines billing processes, reduces inefficiencies from manual invoicing and mitigates the impact of deferred payments.

By providing automated billing and invoicing, secure payment facilitation, and tailored cash flow financing, Billboxx empowers businesses to achieve consistent cash flow and focus on growth.

Since its inception, the company has facilitated over $4 million in invoice payments through its MVP launched in May 2023.

The platform boasts strategic integrations with a leading commercial bank in Nigeria, a prominent African payment gateway, and multiple lending partners, enabling seamless payment facilitation via bank transfers, cards, and financing options.

“Cash flow difficulties are the leading cause of business failures in Africa, with delayed invoice payments being a major contributor.

“Billboxx is dedicated to solving these issues with an integrated platform that ensures consistent cash flow and financial resilience for businesses.

“This funding round enables us to expand our impact and empower more SMEs to thrive,” the co-founder and chief executive of BillBoxx, Mr Justus Obaoye, said.

Another co-founder and chief technical officer, Mr Abdulazeez Ogunjobi, noted that, “Delayed invoice payments pose a significant threat to SME growth and survival.

“Our platform not only streamlines the billing-to-payments workflows but also offers strategic embeddings to expedite payments. We aim to alleviate payment concerns and allow SMEs to focus on their core business.”

One of the investors, Bongani Sithole of 54 Collective, said, “We’re enthusiastic about the innovative work the Billboxx team is building. These 3x founders with successful exits under their belts are leveraging their leadership and business experience to tackle a massive pain point for SMEs across Africa.

“We invested in the company due to the large market size of the opportunity, impressive early traction gained from strong early partnerships with notable large corporates and startups, and the solid tech product the team has developed. We’re delighted to back Justus and Abdulazeez as they continue to scale Billboxx.”

Mr Obaoye and Mr Ogunjobi previously co-founded two startups: Charistouch (Carido), successfully acquired by Cars45, and Fixit45, a spin-off from Cars45.

Their leadership experience in large corporations and scaleups such as Schlumberger, Bolt, and OLX add to their strategic insight and entrepreneurial prowess.