From PayTic’s $4.4M Raise to Trump’s $51M Pullback 🇺🇸💸

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⟹ 🚀 STARTUPS WATCH 🚀 ⟸

Here are the 5 top startups in the African ecosystem I think you need to know:

Paylend is a Kenyan fintech platform offering instant, flexible credit access to individuals and businesses through innovative, indigenous solutions. Whether it’s buying goods on credit, funding community causes, or managing business finances, Paylend makes financial inclusion simple and accessible for everyone—no paperwork, just a tap away.

With products like Okoa Services, Changisha, Inua Biz, and Pata Voucher, Paylend empowers users to manage spending, crowdsource for causes, and access low-interest loans. Available via mobile app and USSD (483800#), Paylend bridges financial gaps for underserved communities across East Africa.

Sava is a South African fintech platform redefining how businesses manage expenses, budgets, and financial operations. With over R812M in transactions and 3,200+ active cards, Sava offers smart corporate cards, real-time spend visibility, and seamless accounting integrations—empowering companies to close books up to 5x faster each month.

Backed by Mastercard and operating across Africa, Sava delivers AI-driven insights, automated reconciliation, and fraud-resistant tools to help SMEs scale efficiently and stay financially agile.

Shekel Mobility is a B2B marketplace and management platform built to empower auto dealerships across Africa. With tools for credit access, inventory trading, payments, and operational automation, Shekel simplifies how dealers buy, sell, and manage vehicles—all from a mobile device.

From financing through Shekel Credit to seamless operations with Shekel Pay and Shekel Business, the platform enables smarter, faster growth for car dealers—creating an inclusive ecosystem for Africa’s auto industry.

⟹ 💼 💰️ VENTURE CAPITAL WATCH 💼 💰️ ⟸

🔹 PayTic lands $4.4M in equity funding to expand its no-code SaaS platform for banks and fintechs across MENA and Africa. Led by AfricInvest, with backing from Axian Venture Lab, Mistral VC, and existing investors like CDG Invest, this round brings PayTic’s total to $7.4M. As operational automation becomes mission-critical for scaling financial infrastructure, PayTic’s backend play may outlast flashier front-end bets.

🔹 Umba secures a $5M debt facility from Star Strong Capital to grow its secured lending—specifically vehicle and SME loans—in Kenya. This non-dilutive capital signals a pivot from fast, unsecured digital credit to deeper, asset-backed finance. Umba is betting that embedded fintech inside real economies, not neobank buzzwords, will win this cycle.

🔹 Purple Elephant Ventures tops up to $5M, adding $500K from Dutch family office Alphatron Group. The Nairobi-based tourism venture studio is a case study in vertical thesis execution—building in a climate-sensitive, undercapitalized vertical (tourism) with tech-enabled models. Slow, intentional capital—but with long-term impact potential.

🔹 ADVA exits to Maseera, the Abu Dhabi-based fintech investor. The Egyptian BNPL startup will now serve as the AI + data analytics hub for North Africa. The acquisition comes just as ADVA applies for Egypt’s first digital consumer finance license, positioning Maseera to lead regulatory and infrastructure reform in the region.

🔹 USADF slashes $51M in grant capital for African startups, affecting over 400 SMEs in Kenya and Nigeria. While not VC per se, the funding vacuum left by this and USAID’s $100M pullout is already reshaping early-stage dynamics, especially for rural and women-led businesses that depend on risk-tolerant, non-dilutive capital.

🔍 LP Takeaways

• Debt is back: With equity markets cool, venture debt (like Umba’s) is quietly fueling real growth, particularly where there’s collateral and revenue traction.

• Acqui-hires & rollups: Strategic M&A (like ADVA/Maseera) is emerging as a key exit path, especially in highly regulated fintech segments.

• The grant era is fading: DFI and aid-driven capital is shrinking. Expect local family offices, operator angels, and domestic funds to play a bigger role.

• Niche is the new scale: Sector-focused builders like PEV show that capital discipline and vertical depth are winning over “scale at any cost.”

As the dust settles post-2021 boom, the capital is quieter—but smarter. Execution, defensibility, and sector-specific insight are the new currency. Investors paying attention aren’t chasing heat—they’re buying resilience.

👀 This week’s featured investor is Breega 👀

Breega is a Paris- and London-based venture capital firm built by founders, for founders—backing bold ideas from pre-seed to Series B across Europe and Africa.

Since launching in 2015, Breega has grown to manage over €700 million AUM, ranking among the top 10% best-performing funds globally. With a team of ex-operators, every partner at Breega has built or scaled a startup, ensuring hands-on guidance from people who’ve been in the trenches.

Their full-stack VC model combines capital + operational expertise, with a dedicated scaling team to help startups optimize, grow, and go global. Their tagline? “We’re partners, not passengers.”

💡 Focus Areas:

Digital Tech | Deep Tech | Climate Tech | Fintech | HR Tech | Logistics | Consumer SaaS

💸 Typical Investment Range: €500K – €5M

📍 Geography: Europe & Africa, with active presence in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Francophone Africa.

🌍 Portfolio Highlights:

• Sava – Spend management platform for African entrepreneurs

• Socium – HR software built for African businesses

• Alice & Bob – Fixing quantum errors

• Carbon Maps – Climate impact for the food industry

• Exotec – Robotics for warehouse logistics

• Moneybox – Wealth building through smarter saving

• Coverflex – Employee benefits for SMEs

• Gojob – Flexible work with fairness at its core

Whether they’re building with entrepreneurs in Lagos or Lisbon, Breega brings more than capital—they bring a mission to back bold founders reshaping the future, one startup at a time.

🧠 Breega isn’t watching from the sidelines—they’re building with you.

⟹ 📺️ MEDIA WATCH 📺️  ⟸

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

1. Kenya’s Umba raises $5m debt financing to expand digital banking operations - Disrupt Africa

2. PayTic raises $4.4 million to scale SaaS platform for payment operations - Techcabal

3. Kenyan tourism-focused venture studio Purple Elephant Ventures tops up seed round to $5m - Disrupt Africa

4. US investors flag corruption, IP and digital tax risks in Kenya and Nigeria - Techcabal

5. Egyptian fintech startup ADVA acquired by Abu Dhabi-based Maseera - Disrupt Africa

And that’s your weekly dosage of the African startup ecosystem! If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email. We are always looking to hear from our community.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Gitonga, the Stoic Founder at StartupHub.Africa 🚀

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