inDrive is fueling the flames of innovation.

The mobility platform has launched a new venture and merger and acquisition (M&A) arm, New Ventures Investments, with a dedicated fund of up to $100 million to invest in promising startups.

New Ventures will be led by investment professional, Andries Smit, who will be joining the company as the vice president.

The investment criteria: inDrive’s New Ventures unit will target post-seed/pre-Series A companies with proven product-market fit, rapid organic growth, healthy economics, and cash flow. The company will focus on rapid growth and reduce positive community impact with investments spread across companies tackling injustice and improving the lives of individuals and communities. 

In February this year, inDrive raised a $150 million debt funding round from General Catalyst to expand into new verticals and cities. The New Ventures division positions inDrive to further expand its impact in the global startup ecosystem.

Moniepoint has made it simple for your business to access payments while providing access to credit and other business tools. Open an account today here.

Celullant is expanding its African footprint.

The pan-African fintech has secured a licence as a Payment Service Provider and Payment Facilitator in Egypt.

Cellulant will empower global and regional merchants in Egypt to effortlessly manage B2B and B2C payments locally and internationally. The company’s solutions support mobile money, wallets, cash, cards, and direct bank transfers across multiple payment methods and currencies.

Empowering seamless transactions: Over the past three years, Cellulant has invested in its real-time payment solutions, including checkout, in-store, payouts, payment links, and a robust business dashboard, powered by its single API payment platform—Tingg.

Today, Cellulant operates in 35 markets, holding licences and physical offices in 18 countries. In November 2022, the fintech was granted a Payment Operator licence by the Bank of Uganda. It also got its licence renewed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in February 2023.

In August 2023, Paystack reduced payout time for ZAR payments in South Africa to just 2 working days. See what Paystack has been up to in 2023 →

Nigerian fintech startup Paystack is laying off 33 employees in Europe and UAE. The company’s CEO, Shola Akinlade said the company is doing this to reduce its operations outside Africa.

Side bar: This is the company’s first layoffs since the layoff wave started last year. However, Stripe, an American fintech which acquired Paystack for$200 million in 2020, laid off 14% of its workforce in November last year.

Why is this happening now? The African countries where Paystack primarily operates have seen devaluations. In Nigeria, the currency devalued by more than half since June this year. In Kenya, the fintech’s second market, the shilling has fallen by almost 20% from this time last year. The inflation in Ghana has been challenging too. 

What will happen to exiting employees? Paystack is offering all affected employees a sevrance package which includes four months of salaries, three months of health insurance, and accelerated equity vesting. The company is also helping them search for new roles by connecting the employees to its wide network.

In other news: The company is launching new products. In October, Paystack announced that it is launching virtual terminals that will enable merchants to accept payments with bank transfers for multi-person businesses. It also announced a direct debit product that will allow Nigerian businesses to charge customers’ bank accounts directly.

Tek Experts, a leading global provider of technical talent solutions through its cybersecurity brand, is set to hold a webinar themed “Ensuring Cybersecurity Resilience in Financial Services Companies in Nigeria”, to address cybersecurity challenges in the industry

Date: Wednesday, 22nd November, 2023 at 12:30 WAT. To register for free, please click here.

This week, Pineapple, a South African insurtech startup, raised $21.3 million in Series B funding. Futuregrowth, Talent10, and MIC led the funding round. It also received additional investment support from existing investors, including Old Mutual ESD, Lireas Holdings, ASISA ESD Fund, and E4E Africa.

Here are other deals for the week:

• Shekel Mobility, the Nigerian B2B trading platform for auto dealers in Africa, secured a $7 million seed in a round led by Ventures Platform and MaC VC.
• Akhdar, an Egyptian ed-tech startup, secured an undisclosed six-figure dollar funding round from Saudi Arabia-based venture studio, Value Maker Studio (VMS).

That’s it for this week!

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$37,556	+ 6.54%	+ 31.8%
Ether	$2,055	+ 3.91%	+ 29.2%
Kaspa	$0.13	+ 13.49%	+ 179.29%
Solana	$59.51	– 8.57%	+ 147.22%

* Data as of 06:20 AM WAT, November 17, 2023.

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South African fintech startup Paycorp has launched a new service that will allow users withdraw from crypto wallets at ATMs. TechCentral reports that Paycorp’s CryptoExpress integrates with various crypto wallets, allowing users to withdraw their cryptocurrency as cash at Cash Express ATMs operated by Paycorp subsidiary ATM Solutions across 3,000 different locations in South Africa.

Job openings

• Telesur Investment Holdings – UI/UX Designer– South Africa (Hybrid)
• Percona – Software Engineering Manager – EMEA (remote)
• Deel – Senior Product Manager – EMEA (Remote)
• Gruve – Junior Product Manager – Nigeria (Remote)
• TechCabal – Senior Reporters – Africa
• Big Cabal Media – Senior Product Manager – Africa

What else is happening in tech?

• Nepal has banned TikTok for “disrupting social harmony”
• NIGCOMSAT is leveraging broadband service to launch an edtech solution
• Female founders are imagining a world without investors
• MTN Fintech has appointed Patrick Attoungbre as CEO of Fintech Côte d’Ivoire

Written by – Mariam Muhammad & Ngozi Chukwu

Edited by – Timi Odueso

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