The round was co-led by two of Africa’s leading investors in transformative technologies, Atlantica Ventures and P1 Ventures, with additional backing from respected pan-African venture capital firms LoftyInc Capital, Zedcrest Capital, and Everywhere Ventures, alongside angel investor Tim Chen, a world-class DevSecOp expert and General Partner at Essence VC, who joined the round independently.

The funding will enable Salus to accelerate product development, advance its go-to-market strategy, and scale its AI-powered developer agents that help engineering teams shorten deployment cycles and ship code more securely.

It will also support the growth of its customer base across growth regions, including Africa, Middle East and underserved tech ecosystems, while enhancing the onboarding experience for both self-service and enterprise users.

Launched in 2024, Salus was developed by African engineers who understand the growing complexities faced by software teams in growth markets, making it a solution better suited to these regions compared to foreign counterparts.

Its enterprise-grade platform uses AI-driven automation and tooling consolidation to deliver zero-touch configuration for Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD).

The artificial intelligence system assists developers by detecting and remediating production issues, including security vulnerabilities and performance problems, in real time.

By integrating security into deployment pipelines and automating observability practices, the platform enables developers, especially lean engineering teams, to focus on innovation and reduce operational overhead.

Speaking on the raise, Andrew Mori, CEO of Salus Cloud, said:

“In much of the growth market, most startups and SMEs still operate without secure automated software delivery processes, leaving them vulnerable to breaches, compliance challenges, and slow release cycles.

This funding gives us the firepower to level the playing field, so that high-growth teams, regardless of size or geography, can deploy secure, production-grade software with confidence. We’re incredibly grateful to our investors and remain committed to building best-practise infrastructure, powering the operations of businesses in the cloud”.

With clear, usage-based pricing, Salus removes traditional cost barriers, making high-quality tools accessible to startups and SMEs.

Since launching, the platform has gained traction from top fintechs and e-commerce brands across Africa.

Mika Hajjar, co-founder & managing partner at P1 Ventures, said:

“Salus is exactly the kind of transformative infrastructure we back. They are accelerating developer productivity and security in one of the fastest-growing digital markets globally. As early institutional investors, we’re proud to support the team and actively contribute to shaping the company’s governance and product strategy.”

Ik Kanu, founding partner at Atlantica Ventures, emphasised their continued support:

“Atlantica Ventures is excited to back an experienced and second-time founding team as they build essential infrastructure to improve software security and developer productivity for African enterprises. There is a convergence of security, AI, and development, and Salus is positioned to bring that to market. This is aligned with our vision for Africa and the future expansion markets for Salus.”

The global DevOps tooling market is projected to reach $25.5 billion by 2028, with application security surpassing $20 billion by 2030, highlighting the urgent need for smarter, more secure delivery systems.

Many African markets still rely on legacy tools and fragile pipelines that slow development and increase risk. Salus is designed for the 95% of teams that lack access to dedicated DevOps talent, making best-practise software delivery accessible to high-growth teams everywhere.

Figorr is a cold-chain startup specialized in storage and safe last-mile delivery of temperature-controlled products such as vaccines, food and insulin. 

Having raised $1.7 million in equity funding so far, and $275k in grants from investors including the Google Black Founders Fund, Africa Business Heroes by Jack Ma Foundation, FbStart, and Lafiya Innovators by Impact Hub, Figorr is set to launch a risk management platform before the end of 2023. The goal is to provide the required data needed by insurance companies, helping them meet clients’ needs with tailor-made products.

The Insurance for temperature-sensitive products will be built on the data collected by Figorr over the last three years to show the risk profiles of its customers.

Figorr’s real-time monitoring solution will help insurance companies distinguish between risky and non risky businesses, ensuring they provide the much-needed comfort for businesses while doing so profitably.

Present in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, Figorr provides Internet of Things (IoT) solutions that cater to the needs of businesses, particularly those in the healthcare and agriculture sectors. By harnessing the power of IoT, Figorr empowers entrepreneurs with essential data, including the precise location, humidity, and temperature of perishable goods. 

This valuable information enables businesses to minimize losses caused by a lack of visibility. Figorr offers cost-free devices that can be easily installed in cold storage facilities. Users, however, need to subscribe to gain access to the comprehensive data collected by these devices.

Sendmarc is tackling the issue of email impersonation among individuals and businesses. The startup provides tools that implement, monitor and maintain global email and domain security practices.

Other investors who participated in the Series A round were Allan Gray, E-Squared Ventures, Fireball Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, 4Di Capital, Endeavor Harvest, Alpha Private Capital, and Kalon Venture Partners.

Founded in 2020 by Sam Hutchinson, Keith Thompson, and Sacha Matulovich, Sendmarc has raised $8.5 million since its inception.

The company’s go-to-market features support its partners worldwide who help distribute its product which is a volume game. Sendmarc plans to serve up to 100,000 customers in the next five years as the company might expand its product suite to include other impersonation protection features.

So far, it has over 1,000 paying customers including South African stock exchanges, law firms such as Bowmans, insurance companies, tech startups, banks, and law enforcement agencies across North America, Europe, Australia, South Africa, and Latin America, with 80% based in South Africa, and others spread globally. These clients pay subscription fees between $49 and $119 monthly, depending on the company size, thus generating over $2 million in ARR for the two-year-old startup since 2021.

Sendmarc has offices in the Netherlands, Argentina, and Canada, and targets increasing its sales team across Africa, the U.S., Europe and Latin America with the current investment. 

The cybersecurity company will continually enhance its tactics to curb email and domain insecurity which is critical in protecting companies and users from the harmful effects of email impersonation across these markets.