Is Lipa Later Back?

⟹ 🚀 STARTUPS WATCH 🚀 ⟸

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

PawaPay is a pan-African payments platform simplifying mobile transactions for consumers and businesses across the continent. With a user-friendly, API-driven infrastructure, PawaPay enables fast, secure, and seamless payments across multiple African markets, helping businesses integrate local payment options effortlessly.

Focused on speed, security, and scalability, PawaPay offers real-time payment processing, supports diverse payment channels, and ensures smooth cross-border transactions. Their mission is to drive financial inclusion by making digital payments more accessible, reliable, and efficient for everyone in Africa..

⟹ 💼 💰️ VENTURE CAPITAL WATCH 💼 💰️ ⟸

🚀 This Week in African VC: Infra, Shutdowns & Strategic Capital.

3️⃣ | Lipa Later’s $24.5M Rescue Bid: Engage Capital Targets Distressed BNPL 🏦

Engage Capital is making a rare distressed acquisition offer, bidding $24.5M to acquire Lipa Later after its March 2025 collapse. With $16.6M raised but operational debts mounting, this deal aims to salvage assets and selectively take on liabilities, potentially setting a blueprint for distressed fintech recoveries in Africa.

💡 VC Lens: As liquidity tightens, smart capital is eyeing distressed assets, signaling a shift from pure growth plays to turnaround strategies with quick route-to-value opportunities.

2️⃣ | Stitch Tightens Its Grip on South African Payments 💳

With $107M in total funding, Stitch just acquired Efficacy Payments—securing full card acquiring capabilities as a rare Designated Clearing System Participant in SA. From online to in-person, Stitch is building Africa’s most integrated merchant payment stack.

💡 VC Lens: This is next-gen fintech consolidation, owning the full payment lifecycle, regulatory positioning, and product economics. It’s not just about market share, it’s about market depth.

1️⃣ | Village Capital’s $4M Bet on Local Ecosystem Builders 🌱

Village Capital, with FMO and RVO, just launched a $4M Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility, channeling capital through five grassroots partners in Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania.

It’s a bold shift to locally-informed capital deployment targeting startups solving climate resilience and economic mobility.

💡 VC Lens: Catalytic capital is getting smarter—backing ecosystem infrastructure, not just startups. This move reflects rising recognition that strong ESOs and localized decision-making can unlock better early-stage outcomes.

👀 Investor Spotlight: Villgro Africa 👀

📍 Nairobi, Kenya 🇰🇪 | Est. 2015

Villgro Africa is a healthcare-focused incubator and impact investor supporting early-stage startups transforming health outcomes across the continent. With $3.3M+ in seed funding deployed and $49M+ in follow-on capital catalyzed, Villgro is driving Africa’s healthcare innovation engine from incubation to scale.

🧠 Thesis:

Backing high-impact health and life science startups that improve quality of life in Africa. Villgro blends seed capital, personalized incubation, and advisory to de-risk and accelerate health ventures tackling affordability, accessibility, and innovation gaps.

🌍 Geographic Focus:

East Africa 🇰🇪 🇺🇬 🇹🇿 and Pan-Africa 🌍

💸 Check Size & Stage:

• Pre-seed to Seed Stage

• Focused on healthcare and life sciences

• Ticket sizes are flexible within early-stage seed brackets

🔗 Approach:

• Funding + Incubation + Advisory = Holistic Founder Support

• Deep sector knowledge, access to impact investor networks

• Hands-on business model development, regulatory guidance, and go-to-market support

• Network of technical partners and global health collaborators

💡 Vibe:

Mission-driven, founder-focused capital, hands-on operators nurturing Africa’s next generation of healthcare game-changers. Not just writing cheques, but building healthier communities across Africa.

⟹ 📺️ MEDIA WATCH 📺️  ⟸

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

1. Engage Capital bids $24.5 million to acquire struggling Lipa Later - Techcabal

2. Kenyan logistics startup Leta expands into Ghana in wake of $5m funding round - Disrupt Africa

3. Luno co-founder’s MoneyBadger raises $400,000 pre-seed  - Techcabal

4. SA payments infrastructure startup Stitch acquires card clearing platform Efficacy - Disrupt Africa

5. Egypt’s Nawy expands into GCC prop-tech market by acquiring Dubai’s SmartCrowd - 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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