The investment was led by Grazia Equity and BACKED VC, with participation from Enza Capital, Launch Africa, Renew Capital, Finca International, Attijariwafa Ventures, Impact Assets, and several angel investors.

The funding comes less than a year after Affinity Africa officially launched its operations in October 2024. Since then, the platform has onboarded over 50,000 customers in Ghana, 65% of whom were previously unbanked. 

Women in the informal sector make up 60% of its customer base, asserting the company’s impact on financial inclusion.

With a model that eliminates monthly fees and transaction charges, Affinity Africa offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional banks, whose high fees and cumbersome processes have kept millions of Africans outside the financial system. 

The company provides a full suite of digital banking services, including personal and SME accounts, savings, payments, transfers, investments, and loans, all accessible through a mobile app and agent network.

Tarek Mouganie, founder and Group CEO of Affinity Africa, stated that the company’s strong, sustained growth seen since the launch of its mobile app shows how much local customers needed a better banking experience, without absurd fees and endless queues.

“This oversubscribed funding round is a testament to the belief in our vision and the opportunity to create real and lasting change, starting in Ghana.”

The African banking sector is highly profitable, with Ghanaian banks reporting a 24% year-on-year growth since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, traditional banking services remain out of reach for many due to high costs, extensive paperwork, and lengthy onboarding processes. Affinity Africa aims to bridge this gap by offering a more accessible and affordable alternative.

BACKED VC’s founder and managing partner, Andre de Haes, commended Affinity’s leadership, stating: “At BACKED, we are founder first, and we could not think of a better person to build Africa’s local bank than Tarek. He has a unique ability to connect with and understand customers, which has materialised into extremely impressive early user numbers.”

The funding will enable Affinity Africa to strengthen its foothold in Ghana before expanding into other African markets. The company plans to scale its operations, enhance its technology infrastructure, and reach more unbanked populations across the continent.

Mike Mompi, managing partner at Enza Capital, affirmed the significance of Affinity’s model: “Rather than replicating fintech models from the global north, they have crafted an innovative approach tailored to local needs and grounded in strong fundamentals. Their mixed model of agent network and mobile app, coupled with exceptional execution, is already delivering meaningful growth and measurable impact.”

Affinity Africa’s success so far is ensuring responsible banking in Africa, proving that a sustainable, technology-driven financial institution can drive apt financial inclusion while maintaining strong governance.

The post Affinity Africa Secures $8 Million to Disrupt Traditional Banking, Expand Financial Access appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Despite rapid growth in these markets, which are projected to expand at 8-10% annually, compared to 3-5% in developed markets, the lack of real-world healthcare data hinders decision-making in product development, treatment interventions, and healthcare financing. 

These regions also have the least amount of big data to support effective commercial planning and clinical research.

Founded by Ayodeji Alaran, a pharmacist trained at the University of Lagos with experience at GSK, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca, PBR Life Sciences pivoted to big data and analytics in 2021 to bridge these critical gaps. 

The company now provides fast, reliable access to real-world healthcare data and insights for pharmaceutical firms, health tech startups, consulting firms, multilateral agencies, and research institutions across Africa, Europe, America, and Asia.

PBR Sciences was one of the twelve (12) startups that participated in the second cohort of the ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator programme. 

Its real-world data-as-a-service platforms help its users and clients make data-backed decisions on product pricing, forecasting, new product development, disease and treatment interventions, healthcare financing and company strategy. 

Before now, PBR Life Sciences only offered data and insights about the Nigerian healthcare market. It has spent the past two years laying the foundation for its pioneering AI infrastructure powered by its proprietary real-world, anonymized, healthcare data in Africa, whilst consolidating its business model. 

The investment, which included investors such as Launch Africa, Microtraction, Kaleo Ventures, Octerra Capital, Marula Square, XA Africa, ARM Labs, and Techstars, will help the company scale its data-as-a-service platforms in Nigeria. It will also aid its expansion into Ghana and Kenya to replicate its already proven business model. 

PBR Life Sciences is looking to deepen its offering as a multivariate, multichannel healthcare real-world big data analytics, technology, and consulting provider in Africa and other emerging markets, supporting the life sciences industry.

The company is working to close this gap by being a leading provider of real-world, healthcare big data and analytics in emerging markets by the year 2030.

Speaking of the funding, Ayodeji Alaran, CEO and founder said, “Being backed by some of the most reputable  venture capital investors and angels in Africa not only inspires us as a team to do more but further validates the vital need to close the gap of inadequate real-world, healthcare big data that will power AI and innovation for the sector whilst unlocking global life sciences growth that will be powered by the region.” 

“This will unlock value for the least understood healthcare and unmet needs in Africa and the rest of emerging markets,” he added. “With this fresh capital, we are now well positioned to achieve our ambitious growth plan, with a laser focus on profitability,” he concluded.

According to Uwem Uwemakpan, head of Investments, at Launch Africa, “PBR’s innovative approach to addressing a critical healthcare challenge in Africa, combined with its strong founding team and substantial market opportunity, establishes it as a key player in enhancing healthcare delivery on the continent. We are excited to be part of this journey.”

Ashim Egunjobi, managing partner at Octerra Capital said: “Since our first interaction with Ayodeji, we have been convinced that PBR Sciences has a tremendous potential to unlock access to health data across Africa. PBR Sciences has developed an impressive proprietary technology and leveraged big data while providing significant insights and value to a large set of corporate clients. We are excited to be part of this investment round and to support Ayodeji and his team on this promising journey.”

Damilare Mesimo at ARM Labs commented: “PBR Life Sciences’ achievement is a testament to the power of innovation and resilience in addressing critical gaps in healthcare data within emerging markets. We are proud to have supported PBR Life Sciences through the ARM Labs Lagos TechStars Accelerator Program, where they demonstrated exceptional vision and execution.

“This milestone reflects their ability to leverage real-world data and AI to transform decision-making in the life sciences sector. At ARM Labs, we remain committed to nurturing startups like PBR that drive impactful solutions, and we are excited to see their continued growth and expansion across Africa and beyond.”

Ato Bentsi-Enchill, investment principal and SPV lead at Microtraction added, “As early-stage investors, our goal is to identify and assess standout founders who we believe have the ability to build category-defining businesses. Ayo fits this bill and has shown remarkable clarity in his vision for the future of PBR in putting together a very capable team to execute on this vision. We’re excited to back PBR on their mission to organize Africa’s healthcare data.”

The post PBR Life Sciences Raises $1M Pre-Seed Funding to Tackle Emerging Markets’ $281B Healthcare Data Gap appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Having raised an initial $2.1 million in seed funding, 2020, the current pre-Series A round boosts the total funding amount raised by Workpay. Investors in the current round were Launch Africa, Saviu Ventures, Acadian Ventures, Proparco, Fondation Botnar, Kara Ventures, Axian, P1 Ventures, and Norrsken. 

The YC-backed startup, W20 batch, was founded by the CEO, Paul Kimani and COO, Jackson Kungu. It plans to launch a payroll engine to serve customers in more markets, while it ensures efficient service provision and will release an API to enable firms such as accounting companies become payroll providers.

Workpay is a full-stack HR Payroll company that helps employees to manage and pay workers. The HR company offers tools that enable these clients pay salaries in local currencies across and outside Africa through partners, provides file taxes, and processes employee benefits. The tools also help employers track and manage employees’ time and attendance, as well as leave days.

The startup looks to include financial services in its offerings as it adds linkages to investment accounts, medical and asset insurance, and earned-wage access for employees attending to emergencies or bills.

Workpay affirms to experience a tremendous user base increase with revenue doubling annually, and has about $200 million in total payroll value being handled for customers every year.

The post Kenyan HR Payroll Startup, Workpay, Raises $2.7 million pre-Series A funding appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Launch Africa is solving the significant funding gap in the Seed and pre-Series A investment landscape in Africa. 

The fund has over 10-year track record of venture building and backs startups across multiple sectors, regions, and products that tackle the most meaningful challenges on the continent. Launch Africa invests in leading B2B and B2B2C early-stage, technology-driven startups with strong management teams and scalable solutions. 

It invests up to $300k per transaction, primarily through S.A.F.E. notes or convertible notes and seeks for companies ready for their Series A round within 18 months of investment.

Included in its portfolio are over 108 startups across 21 African countries. They include Amitruck, Bitmama, Chekkit, Credrails, Fixit45, Kuda, Kwara, MarketForce, Omnibiz, PayHippo, Releaf and several others.

Launch Africa helps LPs with due diligence and waives fees when they invest alongside the fund’s lead checks. These LPs have deployed over $14 million in Launch Africa portfolio companies.

The VC focuses on sectors such as fintech, e-commerce and marketplaces, healthtech, logistics and mobility, data analytics/AI, and edtech.

It affirms to be working hand in hand with each portfolio company in capital preservation and revenue generation for their unique business challenges. Founders are made to understand how to navigate challenging macroeconomics and focus on how to make more money more quickly so that they continue to grow.

The fund was launched by Zachariah George and Janade du Plessis in July 2020 and achieved its first close in September 2020 and a final close by March 2022.

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