Investor Updates: Nigeria Startup Bill Becomes Law

President Muhammadu Buhari signs Nigeria Startup Bill into law

Highlights

• Nigeria has become the latest country to pass a Startup Bill, giving a more formal approach to how the startup ecosystem is governed.
• The Bill which has been in the making since May was accented to by President Muhammadu Buhari earlier this week, and the news was made public via Twitter by the country’s Minister for Communications and Digital Economy Isa Pantami.
• Now known as the Nigeria Startup Act, the law will be an important anchor in the country’s technology developments while creating a thriving sector.

Source: ABC

Our Takeaway

Nigeria’s tech stakeholders have had several clashes with government officials in the past due to a lack of clearly defined rules and regulations guiding the ecosystem. However, the Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB) is expected to provide an enabling environment for startups in the country. We believe this Bill could play a catalyst role for the ecosystem, especially because of its Big Tent approach—the involvement of relevant parties in the Nigerian startup ecosystem and the government during its development and passing. Specifically, architects of the startup bill expect it to effect change in four aspects: capital, regulation, infrastructure, and talent.

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Bumpa bags $4m seed round to scale its retail automation platform

Highlights

• Bumpa, a Nigerian startup that claims to be building the infrastructure to power online commerce has raised a $4 million seed round. 
• Founded by Kelvin Umechukwu and Adetunji Opayele, the startup enables African small business owners to start, manage and grow their businesses from their mobile devices.
• The company, which announced a $200,000 pre-seed last September, said it intends to use the investment to hire talent, build up its processes, structure, and scale into new African markets.

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Even as tens of millions of Africans have come online in the past decade, most merchants in Nigeria still run their businesses offline—from managing money to keeping track of inventory, business records, staff, and suppliers. These manual processes can be time-consuming and error-prone. Bumpa provides a suite of services that enable small-sized business owners to incorporate digital tools in day-to-day operations. Although it’s just one of the many platforms offering such services in sub-Saharan Africa. Similar providers include Pastel, Bamba, OZÉ, and Kippa.

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Egypt’s Nexta raises $3 million to launch its neobanking service

Highlights

• Egyptian neobank Nexta has raised $3 million in investment from digital financial services provider e-finance, bringing the total amount raised to $5.2 million since its inception last year. 
• Founded by Ahmed Hisham in 2021, Nexta wants to disrupt the Egyptian fintech scene with its “next-generation banking” app and card. In March this year, Nexta raised a $2.2 million pre-seed round led by Egypt-based fintech fund Disruptech, with participation from global investors. 
• The newly acquired funds are expected to tidy the startup up until its official launch, expected to take place within the coming few weeks. 

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

The demographics for the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) offer a huge opportunity for fintech startups like Nexta. More than 60% of the population are under the age of 30 while also being extremely tech-savvy. In Egypt, there’s a population of over 103 million people, growing at approximately 2% a year with around half of its adults unbanked. The enormous growth in population has created a fast-growing retail market, with $250 billion in consumer spending up for grabs and while there’s been a surge in digital payments over the past few years, estimates suggest only 4% of consumer spending is cashless.