🚨 eBee’s Big Fall? Kenya’s eBee Just Slashed 90% of Its Team.

⟹ 🚀 STARTUPS WATCH 🚀 ⟸

Here are the 3 top startups in the African ecosystem I think you need to know:

Nureab is Africa and the Middle East’s first rehabilitation robotics manufacturer, pioneering medical innovation from its base in Cairo, Egypt. With patented products like the Hand Rehabilitation Robot, Nureab delivers tech-enabled physiotherapy tools that accelerate motor recovery, reduce pain, and restore mobility for patients with hand injuries and other motor impairments.

Designed with doctors and patients in mind, Nureab’s devices combine precision robotics with intuitive software — offering affordable, research-backed solutions that speed up healing by over 50%. As the regional leader in rehab robotics, Nureab is redefining how physical therapy is delivered across emerging health systems.

⟹ 💼 💰️ VENTURE CAPITAL WATCH 💼 💰️ ⟸

🚀 This Week in African VC: Studio Collapse, Local Rounds & Savings Reinvented

3️⃣ | $10M Raise Incoming: AyaHQ bets big on Web3 community building 🇬🇭

Ghana-based AyaHQ is raising $10M to fund a dual strategy: a Web3 founder campus in Accra and a $5M microfund for early-stage crypto startups across Africa. With 50+ ventures already incubated and a radical equity-sharing model, Aya is pioneering a collective-first approach to crypto in emerging markets.

📊 Strategic Angle: The raise will fund tech campuses in Accra and Kilifi, a blockchain dev platform (AyaLabs), and startup investments via equity-backed residencies.

🔍 Investor Insight: AyaHQ is not building another DAO — it’s building the infrastructure layer for talent, trust, and tokenized ownership in Africa’s next crypto cycle.

2️⃣ | $20M Fund Launch: Japan’s Uncovered & Monex partner on Africa/MENA VC 🇯🇵

Japanese VC Uncovered Fund and Monex Group have teamed up to launch the Uncovered Monex Africa Investment Partnership (UMAIP) — a $20M fund targeting 30 early-stage startups in Africa and the Middle East.

With $100K–$2M tickets and debt financing in play, the fund brings Japanese tech, capital, and M&A interest into Africa’s startup game.

📈 Market Signal: Japan is shifting from aid to de-risked, strategic capital — with fintech, logistics, retail, and climate tech at the forefront.

💡 Investor Insight: UMAIP isn’t just money; it’s a pipeline to Japanese distribution, exits, and IP transfer. Expect more LPs from Asia to follow.

1️⃣ | Undisclosed Round: Hypeo AI scales automated influencer campaigns 🇲🇦

Morocco’s Hypeo AI closed an undisclosed funding round from Renew Capital to power its AI-powered influencer marketing engine. The platform auto-matches brands with human and AI creators in under 15 minutes, streamlining everything from pricing to performance tracking across MENA.

📊 Creator Economy Trend: Influencer marketing in Africa is growing fast — but still fragmented. Hypeo is betting that automation beats agencies.

🔍 Investor Insight: As social commerce scales, smart tooling is king. Hypeo’s speed-to-campaign and AI focus make it a middleware play for the MENA creator stack.

👀 Investor Spotlight: LeapFrog Investments 👀

📍London, United Kingdom 🇬🇧 | Est. 2007

LeapFrog is the global kingpin of Profit with Purpose — backing high-growth businesses across Africa and Asia to deliver exponential growth and deep social impact. With over 559M lives reached, $7.1B in portfolio revenue, and 33M jobs supported, LeapFrog is showing the world that emerging market investing doesn’t have to trade off impact for returns.

🧠 Thesis:

Invests in “essential services at scale” — financial inclusion, healthcare access, and now climate solutions — for the next billion consumers. Focused on companies that can deliver affordability, access, and exponential scale in underserved markets. Think MSME lenders, solar distributors, inclusive insurtech, and diagnostics.

🌍 Geographic Focus:

Africa 🌍 + Asia 🌏 | 30+ countries and counting

Key markets: India 🇮🇳, Kenya 🇰🇪, Nigeria 🇳🇬, Egypt 🇪🇬, Indonesia 🇮🇩

💸 Check Size & Stage:

• Growth-stage and mature-stage equity, typically $10M–$50M+

• Full buyouts (e.g., Goodlife Pharmacy), strategic exits (e.g., Fincare, Northern Arc), and large GP-led secondaries

• Deep follow-on capital to scale proven models

🔗 Approach:

• ESG + impact baked in — with real-time impact metrics at the portfolio level

• Builds operating leverage and governance depth to unlock hypergrowth

• LPs include IFC, Temasek, Prudential, AXA — major institutional firepower behind their funds

💡 Vibe:

Big-ticket, big-picture, bold impact.

LeapFrog isn’t dabbling in impact — it’s defining the category. This is where pension capital, insurance LPs, and DFIs converge to build the future of inclusive capitalism.

⟹ 📺️ MEDIA WATCH 📺️  ⟸

Here are the 5 key things in the news this week that you need to know:

1. eBee lays off employees across all departments in major restructuring - Techcabal

2. Egyptian quick-commerce startup Breadfast raises $10m Series B2 funding - Disrupt Africa

3. AyaHQ is raising $10 million to build a Web3 talent ecosystem  - Techcabal

4. REdimension Capital closes $10.5m fund to shake up SA’s prop-tech scene - Disrupt Africa

5. Moroccan influencer marketing startup Hypeo Ai secures funding - Disrupt Africa

And that’s your weekly dosage of the African startup ecosystem; thanks for reading.

Have a lovely rest of the week.

Gitonga, the Stoic Founder at StartupHub.Africa 🚀

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