Waza’s $8 million seed

ជំរាបសួរ,

Victoria from Techpoint here,

Here’s what I’ve got for you today:

Waza’s $8 million seed
Tokunboh Ishmael on boosting diversity in startups
Nigeria to blame for MTN Group’s first loss in 8 years

Waza’s $8 million seed

Waza, a YC-backed B2B payment and liquidity provider for businesses in emerging markets, just landed $8 million in equity and debt funding.

This cash boost is set to help them expand beyond their current operations in Ghana and Nigeria and roll out new trade finance solutions.

The funding includes a $3 million seed equity round from investors like Y Combinator, Byld Ventures, and Norrsken Africa, plus $5 million in debt funding from Timon Capital to kickstart trade financing for big enterprise clients.

Founded by Maxwell Obi and Emmanuel Igbodudu, Waza is making it easier for businesses in emerging markets to pay their suppliers worldwide. The startup kicked off in January 2023, operating under the radar after joining Y Combinator’s Winter 23 batch.

Since then, they’ve processed over $700 million in annualized payment volume, with a 20% monthly growth rate, serving businesses across six continents.

Waza hit profitability in Q4 2023 and has kept it up into 2024. This latest funding round follows a $1.2 million pre-seed round in January 2023, which helped them build out their payment infrastructure for emerging markets.

Tokunboh Ishmael on boosting diversity in startups

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

17 years is a long time in any industry; for Tokunboh Ishmael, Managing Director of Alitheia Capital, the African tech scene has transformed dramatically since she co-founded the firm in 2007.

Back then, the focus was more on small businesses, with startups not even on the radar. But Ishmael, who’s worked across finance and tech, saw the potential in tech-enabled financial institutions and made a few fintech investments before launching Alitheia Capital.

Fast forward to today, and the African startup ecosystem is booming, with Alitheia Capital managing over $200 million in assets and backing companies like Paga, Seamfix, Omnibiz, and Jetstream.

However, the reliance on foreign investors for capital remains a challenge she hopes will change over time. Ishmael points out that African founders are now tackling more complex issues, moving beyond basic needs to create innovative solutions.

Diversity, especially gender diversity, is another area Ishmael is passionate about. With African women leading the world in entrepreneurship, it’s frustrating that only 7% of venture capital went to female founders in 2023.

Ishmael argues that gender-diverse teams are not just a nice-to-have — they’re essential for success, as research consistently shows they outperform homogenous teams.

The two big hurdles for female founders, according to Ishmael, are affinity bias and performance bias. Breaking these barriers is crucial to ensuring that female-led startups get the funding they deserve and need to thrive.

Want to dive deeper into this and how Ishmael and Alitheia Capital are shaping the future of African startups? Read Chimgozirim’s latest story here.

Nigeria to blame for MTN Group’s first loss in 8 years

MTN Group, the South African-owned multinational telecom giant, has hit a rough patch, reporting its first loss since 2016.

The company posted a significant loss of R7.39 billion ($414.7 million) for the first half of 2024, a stark contrast to the R4.14 billion ($232.3 million) gain it recorded during the same period last year.

The main culprit? The sharp devaluation of the Nigerian naira. It has taken a serious toll on MTN’s earnings from one of its most crucial markets.

Nigeria, where MTN serves around 77 million customers, has always been a stronghold for the company, contributing about a third of its total earnings. But the currency hit in Nigeria wasn’t the only challenge — ongoing conflict in Sudan added more strain to the group’s financials.

The last time they faced such a hit was when Nigeria fined them over $1.5 billion for regulatory issues. This latest setback is mostly due to the sharp drop in the Nigerian naira, which has seriously impacted their earnings from one of their key markets.

Despite these challenges, MTN South Africa has shown some resilience, reporting a 3.3% increase in service revenue, thanks to growth in fintech and enterprise sales.

CEO Ralph Mupita highlighted the progress in their network resilience plan, which helped boost overall service revenue.
MTN South Africa also saw a 3.8% rise in EBITDA and a growing subscriber base, with post-paid subscribers up by 9.2% and prepaid subscribers increasing by 3.3%.

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