DealMakers AFRICA

Nigerian agritech platform, Babban Gona, has secured a US$7,5 million debt investment from British International Investment to boost food security and climate resilience for smallholder farmers in Northern Nigeria.

Moroccan e-commerce platform, Justyol, has raised US$1 million in funding and financing, consists of S$400,000 in equity investment from an angel investor and US$600,000 in inventory financing from Turkey’s Danis Group. The cross-border e-commerce platform focuses on connecting Turkish fashion and lifestyle products with target consumers in North Africa, particularly Morocco.

Africa-focused renewable energy refrigeration company Koolboks has closed an US$11 million Series A debt and equity funding round. The round was led by KawiSafi Ventures and Aruwa Capital (who is making a follow-on investment). All On also participated in the equity round with FCMB, FFEM, and bpifrance providing debt funding. The raise was further backed by grants from FFEM/AFD, PREO, Efficiency for Access, and Innovate UK, as well as Results-Based Financing partners including BGFA (Uganda), CEI Africa, and Shell Foundation. Part of the funding will support the setup of the company’s first local assembly plant in Nigeria aimed at job creation and cost reduction for end users.

AgDevCo, a specialist impact investor operating exclusively in the agriculture sector in Africa, has announced a follow-on investment in EFAfrica Group, headquartered in Mauritius, with operations in Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia. EFAfrica is an equipment leasing company focused on small and medium-sized enterprises and farmers in Africa. This latest investment is structured as a long-term loan totalling US$7,2 million, which will allow EFAfrica to offer larger leases to agribusiness corporates and farming services providers.

Egyptian fintech, Munify, has raised a US$3 million seed round led by Y Combinator, with participation from BYLD and Digital Currency Group. Munify is building a cross-border digital bank tailored to Egyptians abroad. Its platform offers instant, low-cost remittances to Egypt, the ability to open U.S. bank accounts, issue debit cards, and tools to hedge against local currency volatility.

Planting Naturals, a producer of sustainable organic palm oil in Sierra Leone has received a US$7 million investment from specialist impact investor, AgDevCo. Planting Naturals operates a vertically integrated model, sourcing fruits from both its own plantations and a growing network of smallholder farmers, to produce organic crude palm oil and palm kernel oil for export.

DealMakers AFRICA is the continent’s quarterly M&A publication
www.dealmakersafrica.com