African startups Blnk, Brotinni, CutStruct, Sendy raise venture funding

Blnk, an Egyptian fintech startup that enables instant consumer credit in its home country, has raised $23.7 million in equity and debt funding, and $8.3 million in securitized bond issuance to develop its AI-powered lending infrastructure and the financing of the company’s fast-growing portfolio of customers.

The combined pre-seed and seed funding rounds of $12.5 million was led by Abu Dhabi’s Emirates International Investment Company (EIIC) and Egypt-based venture capital firm Sawari Ventures. Several local and international angel investors also joined the round.

EIIC is the strategic investment vehicle of National Holding, an Abu Dhabi-based group with strategic investments across the UAE and MENA region.

The $11.2 million debt funding was secured from a number of local banks. The $8.3 million securitised bond issuance was underwritten by National Bank of Egypt and Banque du Caire, making Blnk the youngest Egyptian startup to securitize its loan book.

Blnk has developed a digital lending platform that empowers merchants of all sizes to instantly underwrite and finance their customers’ purchases at the point of sale. Co-founded in 2021 by Amr Sultan and Tarek Elsheikh Blnk says it has disbursed more than $20 million in loans to date.

Brotinni

Egypt-based foodtech startup Brotinni has raised a $600,000 seed round led by Innlife investments.

The two-year-old startup, founded by Dalia Abou Omar, offers a platform where customers can order meat and poultry products with same-day delivery. It claims its products are sourced directly from farmers it partners with.

It recently launched a “dark butcher’s” concept, which acts as fulfilment centres for its e-commerce platform. It plans to use the fresh funds to expand its dark butcher’s network, expand its logistics team and invest in its technology.

CutStruct

Nigerian startup CutStruct has raised a $$600,000 pre-seed funding round led by Zedcrest Capital, DFS Lab and LoftyInc, with the participation of angel investors including Kola Aina, to develop and scale up its B2B construction procurement product LiveVend.

Founded by John Oamen and Tayo Odunsi, CutStruct’s LiveVend allows clients like real estate developers and contractors to engage vetted vendors while availing other ancillary services such as transportation, goods-in-transit insurance and trade credit.

Sendy

Kenyan fulfillment and logistics enabler Sendy has raised an undisclosed round from MOL PLUS, the corporate VC arm of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, as part of a bigger round to scale up its fulfilment services in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast.

Born in Kenya, the venture and has expanded to Uganda, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria, with plans to expand across Africa in the near future.

“We believe our financial and operational partnership with MOL PLUS and MOL Logistics will drive a huge impact not only for the growth of Sendy and its fulfillment network but also for the merchants we serve as we continue to offer more value add and solutions to help them grow and trade more,” said Mesh Alloys, founder and CEO of Sendy.

“We will work with MOL Logistics to leverage their strengths and expertise in logistics and cross-border fulfillment, to grow our services and network of businesses we serve,” Alloys said.