Investor Updates: June 1 2022 - Egypt’s Appetito acquires Tunisia’s Lamma for over $10m

Egypt’s Appetito acquires Tunisia’s Lamma for over $10m

Highlights

• Egypt-based q-commerce Appetito has acquired Tunisia’s Lamma to expand operations in Morocco, Tunisia, and West Africa in a deal valued at between $10 million to $15 million per TechCrunch.
• Founded in 2020, Appetito delivers grocery and household products through its mobile app to customers from dark stores across 3 cities in Egypt. In parallel, Lamma, founded in 2021, has developed a similar q-commerce business in Tunisia and Morocco.
• The founders of both startups have now reached an agreement to create a single entity, operating as “Appetito”. The deal is expected to close by the end of Q3 2022.

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Going by the number of mergers and acquisitions involving African startups announced so far this year, all signs point to a significant surge in the total number of exits and buyouts the region’s ecosystem will record by the end of 2022. This trend is spread across the continent, with a number of acquisition deals reported outside leading tech hubs such as South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. The recent surge in consolidation activity in different parts of the continent is an indication of a maturing ecosystem.

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South Africa’s Talk360 raises $4m in seed round

Highlights

• South Africa’s Talk360, a leading Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) player in Africa, has raised $4 million in a seed funding round as it prepares to expand its business and set up a new payment platform for its Pan-African operations this year. 
• The funding was led by African venture capital investor HAVAÍC, 4Di Capital, and several fintech angel investors. 
• Talk360 enables users to make international calls through the app in exchange for a fee. The startup was founded in 2016 and has offices in South Africa, The Netherlands, India, and Nigeria.

Source: TechEconomy

Our Takeaway

Talk360’s smartphone-based platform offers an easy-to-use digital service but its reach is somewhat limited by the fact that over half of Africans still lack access to the internet. Regardless, the startup has recorded impressive numbers, connecting up to 2 million people last year, and has paying users in 170 countries so far. That number should grow, driven by increased marketing efforts and expansion plans, which include setting up a hub in Kenya. The company’s network of over 750,000 physical points of sale in partnerships with agents like Kenya’s PesaPoint and South Africa’s Flash also provides physical touchpoints, which is crucial to penetrating markets like Africa.

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UAE-based Grubtech expands to Egypt

Highlights

• UAE-headquartered foodtech startup Grubtech has expanded to Egypt and plans to invest $5 million into operations over the coming 12-16 months.
• Founded in 2019, Grubtech offers an omnichannel point of sale (POS) solution, enabling restaurants and cloud kitchens to streamline their kitchen operations and takeout business, as well as providing them the opportunity to integrate with third-party food aggregators and build a digital presence.
• Last year, GrubTech raised $13 million in a Series A round. Former country manager at Saudi on-demand delivery app Marsool, Osama Harfoush, will be leading its operations in Egypt.

Source: Wamda

Our Takeaway

Like most brick-and-mortar SMEs, small to mid-sized restaurants in emerging markets largely rely on pen and paper or ledgers for bookkeeping and recording important business data. This way of running a business can negatively affect business growth. Many technology startups are moving to bring these businesses online, by offering cloud-based business management tools. Grubtech is one such, targeting Egypt’s growing restaurant industry. Globally, the cloud-based restaurant software market is currently valued at over $70 billion and is expected to reach $116 billion in the next four years.