Meet the 3 startups from Africa to Receive Funding from Cross-Border VC firm SOSV

Today, three startups from Africa have been selected by United States-based venture capital firm, SOSV to receive about $150,000 in seed funding as part of its cross-border programme. 

This furthers the trend of funding an already impressive funding year for African startups. Report shows that in startups in Nigeria alone, an estimated $248.6 million (N102.77 billion) funding in the third quarter of 2021. 

The Africa startups to receive this funding are Egypt’s DXwand, a conversational AI tool to automate and extract insights from conversations in Arabic dialects and English; Kenya’s MarketForce a mobile-first SME digitisation platform and Nigeria’s PricePally,  a group-buying platform for agricultural products.

SOSV invests in 150 startups each year through a series of startup development programmes, providing multi-stage financing to develop and grow radical ideas for social impact.

The ten firms chosen for this cohort are solving global issues ranging from food security in Africa to financing solutions for the unbanked. 

“Africa shares a lot of similarities with Asia’s mobile-first markets such as India, Southeast Asia and China, where I have been investing for two decades. The availability of low-cost smartphones, easy access to the internet, and ubiquitous digital payment make these ecosystems fertile grounds for breakthrough internet companies.

We’re excited to bring our cross-border network from Asia to Africa and to help founders here succeed, no matter where they are in the world,” said William Bao Bean, general partner at SOSV.

In addition to the $150,000 seed capital, each firm receives a six-month programme with a specialised salesforce and tech support for expansion. SOSV has sponsored eight African startups so far and expects to invest in ten more on the continent while also establishing an ecosystem of corporate partners, with US$1.1 billion in AUM as of October 2021.

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