Led by Havaic, this new investment will support Talk360’s mission of reaching seven million users by 2025 and advancing its path toward sustainable profitability.

“We’re incredibly proud of Talk360’s growth. Over the past two years, we’ve gone from connecting 2.3 million users to 4 million in 2023. This funding will help us continue our mission of connecting African migrant communities with their families back home,” says Hans Osnabrugge, co-founder and CEO of Talk360.

Talk360 is a leading South African and Dutch calling app that enables affordable international calls, requiring only the initiator to have the app and internet connectivity to reach any number globally. 

The business has garnered strong backing from investors. In 2022, Talk360 raised $7 million through two seed funding rounds, attracting investments from African venture capitalists and fintech angels across Europe and South Africa, including executives from Adyen and Mollie, as well as the founders of Tyme Bank.

After the raises, Talk360 sought to not only expand its user base among the African diaspora in the UK, US, and South Africa but also to explore the potential of establishing the first payment aggregator designed to streamline the payment experience across the fragmented African market and solve the challenge of failed payment attempts for both merchants and consumers.

“This payment platform has been exclusively used in-house to establish a strong foundation. The results have been exceptional, with an average 25% increase in payment conversion. We are strongly considering opening the platform to external merchants before Christmas 2024,” says Hans Osnabrugge.

The recent capital injection was based on the same $30 million+ valuation the company received in 2022 and amounted to $1 million from Havaic and an additional $400,000 from other investors. It comes at a time when the global venture capital landscape faces unprecedented challenges. 

“The additional funding will enable us to deliver on our next phase of growth to reach seven million people and achieve profitability across our global operations,” states Osnabrugge.

With the additional funds in place, Talk360 plans to localise into more African languages and set up more local and global partnerships with remittance companies, retailers, and brands.

“A better understanding of our audiences will also see the upcoming releases supporting languages such as Amharic and Portuguese. This talks to the significant demand of our Ethiopian customers and highlights our willingness to localise our solution where needed,” says Dean Hiine, co-founder and MD Africa at Talk360. 

“Talk360 has built trust within underserved communities by offering a solution that resonates with their unique needs. This new funding will help the business capitalise on that trust to create even more tailored solutions that deliver value at a local level.”

Havaic’s continued support of Talk360, despite the challenging economic conditions, underscores their strong confidence in the company’s future. 

“Talk360’s ability to navigate and succeed in challenging economic conditions speaks to the strength of its business model and clear vision. We are confident this latest round of funding will empower them to deepen their impact, especially in underserved communities across Africa,” says Ian Lessem, managing partner at Havaic.

The Fund invests in African startups leveraging technology to solve real-world local, regional, and international challenges, making an impact in the markets they serve. The Fund invests in and supports early-stage, post-revenue seed investments up to later-stage growth Series A investments. 

“The Fund’s institutional investors bring new international relationships and capital. Coupled with our experience in investing in Africa, this makes for a winning combination of local expertise, networks, and follow-on funding internationally. These are all necessary ingredients when scaling businesses,” said Ian Lessem, Managing Partner at HAVAÍC. 

Since launching in 2020 under a joint venture with Universum Wealth, the Fund has invested in several South African, Kenyan, and Nigerian technology start-ups. Following its second close in 2021 and the inclusion of leading institutional partners such as South African-based Fireball Capital, the third and final close allows HAVAÍC to execute on its exciting pipeline of investment opportunities and leverage off its partnerships with existing and new investors in both Africa and across the globe.  

“The escalating interest from local and international investors supports the growing prominence of African venture capital as an asset class. This is off the back of an influx of increased investment in recent years spurred on by growing awareness for these enticing African investment opportunities for local and international investors. And with the investment demand for African tech-enabled companies showing no signs of slowing down, this is just the tip of the iceberg,” added Lessem.

The Fund is on track to complete up to 25 investments over the next three years. A third of the funds have already been deployed into early-stage African technology companies in the FinTech, HealthTech, and SafeTech industries, including Aura, Kuda, Crowdforce, Mobiz, Comparisure, Tanda, RecoMed, and HearX. 

“We are drawn to HAVAÍC’s track record of supporting businesses that use technology-enabled solutions to solve real-world problems,” said Justin James, Investment Partner at Fireball Capital. “The impact of our smart capital allocation will result in sustainable job creation in South Africa and on the rest of the continent. And we look forward to working with our partners to successfully internationalise these businesses onto the global stage,” he added. 

The news follows the release of HAVAÍC’s 2021 results. The VC firm’s portfolio companies now serve a combined 5 million customers in over 180 countries across the globe. Last year, HAVAÍC‘s portfolio companies raised US$110 million in fresh capital and increased revenue by 160%. To date, HAVAÍC has achieved three international exits, delivering annualised returns to its investors of 155%. 

“Investing in private markets has become an increasingly important consideration for private clients, and the continued success of our joint venture with HAVAÍC has ensured that we deliver the investment needs of our clients in this fast-growing asset class,” said Jonathan Sieff, Co-Managing Partner at Universum Wealth.

HAVAÍC announced the latest addition to its diverse 15-strong portfolio of companies in February 2022, Crowdforce, which empowers Nigeria’s underserved and unbanked population. In the coming weeks, the VC firm is set to finalise investments into leading pan-African communications platform Talk360 and Nigerian e-commerce player ShopEx.