2021 was a great year for African tech ventures who received up to $4bn in funding, as per numerous reports. Consequently, Africa Women CEO’s Network has compiled a list of some of women founders across the continent – several who belong to its networks – who received $1m or more of VC or other funding in 2021 and in the first month of 2022.
This is great news for women businesses yet Briter Bridges reports that women receive less than 3% of venture capital funding. More needs to be done to address underrepresentation in the entrepreneurial ecosystem sector. Women entrepreneurs and their ventures are innovative, contribute to economic advancement, societal development and wealth creation.
Here’s our list of 21 based on the startups and their funding rounds in 2021 and 2022.
Damilola Olokesusi, founder of Shuttlers, a transport and tech company that addresses the issue of inefficient transportation costs in Lagos raised $1.6m in seed funding.
Tebogo Mokwena, CEO of Akiba Digital, a data and tech company that provides financial intelligence solutions, raised over $1.1m in pre-seed funding to help it grow its market share.
Jihan Abass, CEO of Lami, an API insurance service platform that digitizes the entire insurance process, attracted $1.8m in seed money.
Jessica Anuna, founder of Klasha, a tech company that builds cross-border commerce solutions got $2.4m in seed to scale.
Cynthia Wandia and David Hwan, founders of Kwara got $4m in seed round to build Neobank for credit unions. Kwara secures delightful and affordable online & mobile banking experience for cooperative financial institutions.
Nelly Chatue-Diop, founder of Ejara, which recently raised $2 million to pioneer the usage of crypto and investment services in the region, is an App for Africa and its diaspora to access various investment offers.
Affiong Williams, Founder & CEO of ReelFruit, a premium dried fruit company known for its high-quality nutritious snacks, recently announced a Series A investment of $3m to expand production with a new factory.
Yanmo Omorogbe and Richmond Bassey, founders of Bamboo, an investment platform to build wealth through real-time access to global markets, recently raised $15m Series A investment to accelerate growth.
Fara Ashiru Jituboh and David Peterside, founders of Okra, an open finance infrastructure that enables developers and businesses, has raised $4.5m in two rounds.
Tomilola Adejana and Fredrick Adams, founders of Bankly, a Nigerian Fintech startup digitizing informal thrift collections systems closed a $2 million seed round.
Miishe Addy and Solomon Torgbor, founders of Jetstream, a data-driven vertical broker for cross-border trade in Africa landed $3m to build digital infrastructure for Africa’s trade corridors.
Honey Ogundeyi, CEO of Edukoya, an education tech company that provides real-time online education, recently received $3.5m in pre-seed funding.
Yvonne Johnson, MD & Co-founder of Indicina, a Nigerian start-up provider of automated tools for credit assessment, received $3.8m from investors.
Sara Menker, Founder & CEO of Gro Intelligence, an analytics start-up deploying artificial intelligence systems for food security and climate stability solutions closed an $85 million Series B round.
Ugwem Eneyo, Co-founder & CEO at SHYFT Power Solutions, which builds IoT and software to optimize distributed energy resource performance and operational efficiency in emerging markets announced an additional $3.1M in funding to bring its total seed round to $3.8M.
Anu Adasolum, CEO of Sabi a Nigerian B2B marketplace has received $6 million in a bridge funding round. Sabi enables merchants, (wholesalers, aggregators, distributors and manufacturers) to grow their businesses using its technology.
Tarneem Saeed, CEO of Alsoug, Sudanese classifieds and marketplace platform raised $5m in Series A funding.
Navalayo Osembo, Co-founder & CEO of Enda Athletic Inc a Kenya-based sports startup raised $1 million in Series A funding to offer the first made-in-Kenya running shoes to athletes around the world while boosting the local economy.
Sandra Chukwudozie, Founder & CEO, Salpha Energy Secures $1m Investment for Solar Home Systems Distribution in Nigeria.
Hilda Moraa, Founder & CEO of Pezesha, a digital financial infrastructure enabling SMEs and institutions in Africa secured an undisclosed seven-figure seed extension to expand its embedded credit infrastructure across the African continent.
Morgane Kablan, COO & Co-founder, Asilimia a startup that is building the digital infrastructure to connect African MSMEs to the formal financial economy secured $2 million to grow its team, deliver new services and expand into new markets in East Africa.
By Dr Anino Emuwa, Founder African Women CEOs Network
