The Y Combinator accelerator and Google’s $50 million Africa Investment Fund, launched in October last year, targeting early and growth-stage startups is an indicator of how investors are scouting for fresh opportunities to spread their risk outside the Big 4. In December 2021, Uganda’s multi-service and digital payment technology platform SafeBoda became the first startup in the continent to receive investment from the Google fund. It has now been joined on the table of nobility by fintech Numida, which emerged the first startup in the country to get into YC (W22). Numida joins 14 other startups from Africa that made it to the accelerator’s Winter batch, an opportunity that brings them on the radar of Silicon Valley investors. Beyond these two eminent announcements, the Ugandan tech scene continues to flourish with startups emerging in the mobility, e-commerce, e-health, cleantech and fintech spaces – pulling all kinds of investors. The country was one of the top 15 in Africa that received significant equity funding last year according to the Partech report. The e-commerce industry in Uganda is also fast growing with this 2021 study by the country’s ICT department indicating that revenue from the sector will double to $421 million and user penetration will hit 29.1% by 2025.
SOURCE: TECHCRUNCH