African startups Talk360, Spleet, Chari, Tanda, CardoO raise VC funding

South African international voice calling app Talk360, which secured $4 million in a seed round earlier this year, has topped it up with an additional $3 million.

The latest round of funding includes new South African investors like Allan Gray E2 Ventures (AGEV), Kalon Venture Partners, E4E Africa, Endeavor, existing lead investor HAVAÍC as well as angel investors and TymeBank co-founders Tjaart van der Walt and Coenraad Jonker.

The funds will help the company grow its market share in South Africa, drive its growth on the rest of the continent and launch its first pan-African payment platform in 2023.

Talk360 enables people around the world to make calls to any landline or mobile phone worldwide and is now preparing to launch a pan-African payment platform. The platform aims to address the continued issue of inaccessibility by providing users with the option to buy products and services using any currency and more than 160 payment methods. It will also be opened to other service providers.

The startup was founded in 2016 by South African venture builder Dean Hiine and Dutch entrepreneurs Hans Osnabrugge and Jorne Schamp. It has offices in South Africa, the Netherlands, India and Nigeria. It says it connected more than 2.3 million people so far in 2022 compared to 2 million in while of 2021.

Spleet

Nigerian proptech venture Spleet, which secured $625,000 in an oversubscribed pre-seed round led by MetaProp VC earlier this year, has raised $2.6 million in a seed round led by MaC Venture Capital.

Other investors include Noemis Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Assembly Fund, Ajim Capital, Francis Fund and angel investors. Existing investors from Spleet’s pre-seed round, Metaprop VC and HoaQ Fund, also participated in this round.

Founded by Tola Adesanmi in 2018, Spleet enables property owners to rent to vetted individuals, while simultaneously helping tenants to find places to stay.

Chari

Moroccan B2B e-commerce and fintech startup Chari is on course for Series A funding and has scooped up $1 million from Endeavor Catalyst as part of the new round.

Endeavor Catalyst is the co-investment fund of the global network Endeavor.

Previously, Chari raised an undisclosed amount in the bridge round at a valuation of $100 million. This is a mark-up of more than 40% over the post-money valuation of $70 million at which it had raised a record seed cheque of $5 million in October 2021.

The bridge round was led by Saudi Arabia-based venture capital fund Khwarizmi Ventures. AirAngels (Airbnb Alumni Investors) and Afri Mobility, the venture capital arm of AKWA Group, also took part in the round.

Chari was founded in 2020 by entrepreneur couple Sophia Alj and Ismael Belkhayat. It aims to digitise the FMCG sector in French-speaking Africa by providing convenience stores with the ability to order the products they need.

Tanda

Cape Town-headquartered venture capital firm HAVAÍC said Tuesday it has completed its third investment in Kenyan fintech Tanda. The undisclosed investment from the VC firm’s $20 million HAVAÍC Universum Core African Fund is part of an ongoing pre-Series A round in partnership with three other investors, including DFS Lab.

Tanda was founded by Geoffrey Mulei in 2018. Over the past four years, the company has processed over 4 million transactions and served more than 30,000 businesses.

The investment will enable the company to invest in key strategic partners, accelerate product development, and scale in Kenya and East Africa over the next 15 months.

The investment is preceded by two prior rounds in 2020 and 2019, when HAVAÍC was the first investor to back Tanda.

The announcement follows HAVAÍC’s recent investments in FinAccess, ShopEx, and Talk360, joining the VC’s thriving portfolio of 17 early-stage, high-potential African technology companies.

HAVAÍC’s portfolio companies now serve a combined 5 million customers in over 180 countries across the globe. In 2021, the portfolio raised $110 million in fresh capital and increased revenue by 160%. To date, HAVAÍC has achieved four international exits, delivering annualised returns far exceeding its 30% annual target.

CardoO

Egyptian IoT devices manufacturer CardoO has raised a $660,000 Seed funding round led by The Alexandria Angels, with the participation of Sofico Investments, angel investors from Saudi Arabia, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Founded in 2018 by Ahmed Adel, CardoO provides its users with smart devices enhanced by IoT technology such as VR or virtual reality simulator, smart watch, wireless airpods, mobile game joysticks, tablet for writing and drawing besides smart scale.

The new investment will allow CardoO to improve its products, as well as enable local manufacturers to produce consumer electronics provided with IoT under the brand name CardoO.

Cryptyd

Egyptian games developer Cryptyd has secured an undisclosed amount in a new round of funding from existing and new investors. The firm did not share the name of its backers.

Founded in 2015 by Ahmed Alaa, Cryptyd develops games that boost native artwork with a focus on gamifying the user experience and introducing cultural elements to attract users and foster a social and competitive gaming experience.

The fresh money raised will be used to support the marketing costs of the company’s flagship product Baloot Quest, targeting GCC markets, as well as the pre-production phases of the new IP secured by the company for its next game targeting global markets.