The Africa B2B Tech Report
Issue No. 85. Africa-Middle East B2B tech news & insights for 5 September 2024.
Sponsored Message
This edition of the Africa B2B Tech Report is supported by Local Knowledge
Are you claiming and managing your own Google Maps listings?
Meet Local Knowledge, the Leader in “We Do It For You” Digital Location Management and Local SEO Services.
The Africa B2B Tech News Digest
B2B Tech News & Insights for 26th August 2024
The Saudi fintech and buy now pay later platform Tabby has agreed to acquire Tweeq, a Saudi digital wallet startup. This was announced at the Saudi event 24 Fintech, according to a summary from FOO CRO Houssam Kayal on LinkedIn.
Riyadh-based Tweeq (founded in 2020) said this about the acquisition (also on LinkedIn).
“Tweeq will continue to operate independently, and together, we’ll keep building best-in-class financial products designed to empower you to do even more with your money when you spend, send, or save.”
The deal is a marriage of complementary services and gives each side access to the other’s partners to expand their respective reach.
Tabby was founded in 2019 by Housam Arab. The company offers a buy now, pay later service (BNPL is very popular in the GCC) and currently works with more than 40,000 merchants. The company is reportedly valued at $1.5 billion.
In his post, Kayal noted, “This agreement is a significant step towards the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, and will drive the expansion of digital financial services.”
Chpter, a Kenyan eCommerce startup whose founder team includes leaders of the troubled B2B eCommerce platform MarketForce, has raised a $1.2 million seed round.
Chpter describes itself as a conversational commerce startup that helps businesses sell more via social and messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. The company says it will soon add TikTok.
It does this by “connecting the APIs from social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Instagram with popular e-commerce and customer relationship management systems like Shopify and Woocommerce,” as founder Tesh Mbaaru told Tech Cabal.
The company says it will use the money to “Accelerate product development of its conversational commerce offering, expand its product availability across more countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and enhance its sales and marketing efforts on the back of growing demand from leading brands.”
Chpter’s seed investors include Ken Njoroge of PANI (and the Co-founder & Former CEO of Cellulant), who led the round. Also joining the round were Plesion Capital, Techstars, Norrsken, Renew Capital, and ViKtoria Ventures. Angel investors also participated, including NALA Founder and CEO Benjamin Fernandes, and Workpay Cofounders Paul Kimani and Jackson Kibigo.
Chpter was founded in 2022, so its inception overlapped with Marketforce, which was once heralded as an innovator in B2B eCommerce in Africa. But the company shut down its flagship RejaReja app earlier this year to pursue Chpter. So it may not be hyperbole to say that Chpter emerged from the ashes of MarketForce.
Chpter Co-founder and CEO Mbaaru was the CEO of MarketForce until April of this year according to his LinkedIn bio. MarketForce raised more than $40 million during its unsuccessful run to become an eCommerce platform for Africa’s small retailers. The MarketForce.io domain currently appears to be inactive.
Chpter seems to be carrying on with a similar mission to MarketForce, updated to focus on the platforms African merchants are using for eCommerce and leveraging AI in the process. Chpter is currently operating in Kenya and South Africa.
The Big5D Podcast
The BIG5D Podcast features in-depth conversations with the leaders building, investing in, and taking to market the digital products and services designed to make businesses more successful in Africa, the Middle East, and emerging markets. Subscribe wherever you enjoy podcasts. And please give the BIG5D Podcast a 5-star rating.
Check out these recent BIG5D Podcast episodes
Author, investor, and university professor Steven Boykey Sidley is never at a loss for words, nor does he fear controversy. In this conversation, Sidley shares his deep knowledge and strong opinions on the hottest technology issues, including the implications of AI and blockchain for business and society.
Houssam Kayal is the CRO of FOO, a B2B SaaS company that provides services that enable companies across industries from retail to service businesses to become fintechs. Kayal helps us understand the big trends in fintech and gives us a better understanding of concepts from embedded finance to banking-as-a-service.
Coming next to the BIG5D Podcast is a conversation on how AI is revolutionizing small business operations with Neal Polachek, the co-founder of Dialog, a company conducting groundbreaking research on small business AI adoption.
The popular BigFive Summit returns to Cape Town in March 2025. Details will be announced in October.
Create a Guest Post for the Africa B2B Tech Report and share your subject-matter mastery with our audience of builders, investors, and decision-makers in Africa and the Middle East.
Read this guest post from Realm Digital that shares how AR/VR moves the needle for African enterprises.
Sponsored Message
The Craft of Conferencing is an events consultancy and content agency offering events management, public speaking coaching, and podcast production.