• Kubik

  Participated · Seed · Jun 2023

  Kubik uses proprietary technology to upcycle plastic waste into low‑carbon, durable, and affordable interlocking building materials such as bricks, columns, beams, and jambs. The company operates a factory in Addis Ababa and currently recycles 5,000 kilograms of plastic per day, with a capacity of 45,000 kilograms per day. Its materials have passed safety tests by Intertek covering strength, toxicity, and flammability. Kubik says its products allow wall construction without cement, aggregates, or steel and can reduce costs by at least 40% per square meter. The startup has partnerships with corporates and the Addis Ababa municipality for a regular supply of plastic feedstock and is exploring near‑term product diversification into pavers and flooring. Kubik plans to out‑license its technology to scale across Africa from 2025 and eventually pursue global growth; it was co‑founded by Kidus Asfaw and Penda Marre in 2021. Kubik upcycles hard-to-recycle plastics (polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene) into interlocking building materials such as bricks, columns, beams and jambs that enable wall construction without cement, aggregates, or steel. Its products are engineered to match the strength of cement-based walls while costing at least 40% less per square meter and producing at least five times lower greenhouse gas emissions. The company reports removing 45,000 kg of plastic waste from landfills every day and says its Ethiopia plant can produce over a quarter million square meters of wall surface annually — enough for up to 10,000 affordable homes per year. Kubik plans to scale production at its Ethiopia facility later this year and then expand to other African countries, building on operations in Kenya and Ethiopia. The startup emphasizes affordable, low-carbon housing solutions and has received recognition including Startup of the Year at the 2023 Global Startup Awards and being named the leading climate tech startup in Africa at VivaTech.

• AnKa

  Participated · Series A · Jan 2022

  ANKA, previously Afrikrea, operates an all-in-one e-commerce SaaS launched in 2021 to support sellers and complement its marketplace. The company began as an online marketplace in 2016 and has recorded 250% year-on-year growth since launch. ANKA’s platform has sellers from 47 of 54 African countries, has facilitated over $35 million in transactions across 174 countries, and records over 700,000 visits per month; the majority of customers are in Europe and North America. More than 80% of its sellers are women, who have grown revenue by about 50% on average since joining. The company plans to use new funding to build out mobile infrastructure, expand product development and operations across new verticals, and to boost hiring across product, sales, and finance while recruiting remote developers. The raise brings its total funding to $8.1 million.

• ANKA

  Participated · Series A · Jan 2022

  ANKA is an all-in-one SaaS e-commerce platform that helps African exporters, online merchants and drop shippers consolidate orders, payments and shipping. The company evolved from a marketplace (formerly Afrikrea) and rebranded to a SaaS model in 2021. Its product suite includes ANKA Marketplace (configurable storefront and omnichannel order/inventory management), ANKA Pay (local payment methods) and ANKA Shipping (partnership with DHL for international dispatch). ANKA reports over a million monthly visits, $50 million processed across 175 countries, a turnover increase from €200,000 to €3.6 million, 20,000+ vendors (80% women) and 350,000+ buyers. It transports over 10 tonnes of cargo per month and says its margins and SME community have nearly doubled since the prior capital injection. The company plans to use new funding to strengthen product development, expand services in key markets (Nigeria, Kenya and the U.S.) and hire sales, technical and product talent while pursuing a goal of onboarding 100,000 African sellers by 2030. Formerly Afrikrea, ANKA launched as a SaaS omnichannel platform that lets merchants monitor sales and inventory across marketplaces, social media and websites and offers customizable storefronts, payment links and logistics integrations. The company partners with DHL and Visa and provides multi-currency payments and a buy-now-pay-later option; Afrikrea remains one feature on the ANKA site. ANKA is free to catalogue products but charges €10/month once sellers accept payments or make sales and a €10 upfront fee for shipping or hosting; it reported over 13,000 subscribers, with about 40% not using the marketplace. The platform serves sellers from 47 African countries (more than 80% women) and said sellers grow revenue by 50% on average; it records over 700,000 buyer visits and buyers have transacted over $35 million from 174 countries. The company claims it ships over 10 tons of cargo per month and that 90% of sales come from buyers in France and the U.S. ANKA plans to build a mobile app, continue product development and hire across tech, finance, sales and marketing to expand its ~30-person team across four continents.

• Sama

  Participated · Series A · Nov 2019

  Sama provides high-quality training data that powers AI applications and is developing what it calls the first end-to-end platform for the AI data lifecycle. The company launched Sama Machine Learning Assisted Annotation MicroModels and one-click human-in-the-loop validation to combine ML with human accuracy. Sama's goal is to remove fragmentation in the data pipeline so datasets can be ingested, annotated with high accuracy, and fed into models with minimal transformation. The company works with customers including Google, Walmart and Nvidia and reports 13x monthly recurring revenue growth since CEO Wendy Gonzalez joined six years ago. Sama is the only certified B Corp in the AI infrastructure space and says it has helped 56,000 people, hiring expert labelers from East Africa, 50% of whom are women, as part of its social mission. Future plans include accelerating coverage of the AI data pipeline, launching in Europe and later Asia Pacific, building out operations, and reducing bias through more representative labeling. Samasource supplies Fortune 100 companies with machine-learning training data and validation services across fields including autonomous transportation, e-commerce and communications. The company operates a global workforce of data specialists — many located in East Africa — and reports a global staff of about 2,900, making it the largest AI and data-annotation employer in East Africa. Clients include Google, Continental, Walmart and Ford, and revenue is generated primarily through its annotation and validation services. As part of its recent raise, Samasource plans to upgrade features of its SamaHub training data platform, opened an AI Development Center in Montreal, and expanded its digital delivery center in Kampala. The company increased Kampala headcount to 90 and plans to grow that by 150% in 2020. Founded as a nonprofit in 2008 by Leila Janah, Samasource converted to for-profit status in 2019, with the prior nonprofit remaining a shareholder.

No current team members are available.