Led · Seed · Jan 2025

Cauridor builds cross-border payment infrastructure to facilitate financial flows across markets. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Oumar Barry. Following Proparco's $2 million investment as part of its Series A, Cauridor plans to deepen its infrastructure and expand into new markets. Proparco described the deal as supporting financial inclusion, digital transformation and private sector development in emerging economies. Cauridor said the investor's support brings not only capital but also networks, expertise and long-term conviction. The articles do not provide revenue, user metrics, founding year, location, or valuation information.

Participated · Seed · May 2024

Maad is a B2B e-commerce startup based in Senegal that operates an end-to-end distribution platform enabling informal retailers to source FMCG directly from partner suppliers. Customers place orders via a call center, field agents, or the app (which accounts for 75% of orders), and Maad fulfills orders from its warehouses using an in-house delivery service. The company serves 6,500 active retailers through a network of 80 suppliers and reports a monthly GMV of $3 million. Maad began in 2020 as a data-collection provider before pivoting to distribution software and launching its B2B e-commerce business in September 2021. It plans to expand coverage to remote areas within Senegal, enter a Francophone market by year-end, and introduce a buy-now-pay-later service to enable shop owners to access inventory on credit. Maad emphasizes owning logistics to reduce costs and ensure service reliability for low-margin FMCG distribution.

Participated · Seed · Aug 2022

Duplo digitizes payment flows for African B2B enterprises, enabling companies to collect from clients and pay suppliers while integrating with accounting and ERP platforms like SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, QuickBooks and Sage. The company began commercial rollout with FMCG distributors, who onboard retailers onto Duplo to collect payments digitally and access real-time business insights. Duplo serves finance teams at midsize and enterprise businesses by automating invoice generation and processing, bill approval, collections, disbursements and account reconciliation. The startup says businesses can cut reconciliation time by up to 50% and reduce payment-related costs by up to 85%. Duplo has expanded cross-border settlement capabilities to regions including the U.S., U.K. and Europe with settlement times of 24–48 hours, and reports a 1,000% increase in businesses on its platform over three months and 4,200% TPV growth over five months. The company is YC-backed and raised new capital to launch products and expand into additional verticals such as construction and telecoms. Duplo provides a payments and reconciliation platform that lets distributors create unique virtual accounts for retailers and agents to make real-time payments or bank transfers, with automatic reconciliation. The product includes a no-code tool for trade optimization, invoicing, embedded payments, credit/BnPL capabilities and dashboards that attribute payment flows to customers, retailers or locations. Duplo launched a pilot three months ago and reports customers saw cost savings of more than 12% during that period. The company says it has grown 60% month-over-month to serve 20+ enterprise customers and has processed over $380,000 to date, with a target of $40 million in annualized TPV by the end of Q2. Duplo charges a 1% fee per transaction and fees of ₦100–₦1,000 to create virtual accounts depending on business size. The team plans to use the investment to improve product, tech and sales and to expand beyond FMCG into sectors such as travel, farming, B2B marketplaces and alcohol and beverages.

Participated · Seed · Dec 2021

Herconomy is developing a women-focused bank and fintech services aimed at reshaping the financial landscape for Nigerian and African women. The company was selected for Google for Startups' Black Founders Fund, receiving program support to accelerate its mission. As part of the award, Herconomy will receive up to $100,000 in equity-free cash plus up to $200,000 in cloud credits, ad support, and 1:1 mentoring from Google. The team says it will use the funding and support to expand to new markets, create jobs, and supercharge economic opportunities for women. The selection comes amid a pullback in African tech investment in 2023, with organizers noting such early-stage support is critical to sustaining growth. Herconomy was named among 25 African startups (from a 40-startup Europe and Africa cohort) and gains access to Google’s people, products, and global community. Herconomy operates a community-focused platform offering financial services, capacity building, employment opportunities, and networking aimed at empowering women. The platform has attracted more than 15,000 members, about 20% of whom are paying customers. Its annual grant program has distributed roughly $71,600 to 42 recipients since inception. The company has historically raised much of its funding through its own efforts and from grants and gifts in kind provided by individuals and businesses. Herconomy plans to use its new funding to implement a savings feature that will allow members to earn high interest rates. The startup intends to continue expanding its community and financial offerings to support member livelihoods.

Led · Seed · Jul 2021

Akiba Digital creates inclusive credit scores using alternative databases to allow lenders to rate people and small businesses unreachable by conventional credit agencies. The company provides lenders with detailed credit analytics and real-time lending decisions, and operates an SME platform called Insyts for applications and financial-health tracking. Akiba has connected over 20,000 SMEs to lenders via its ecosystem and reported a 5X month-over-month revenue increase. The startup plans to use new funding to expand market share in South Africa and enter additional African markets, targeting presence in ten or more countries within two to three years. Longer term, leadership has signaled ambitions to expand into South America and pursue unicorn-scale growth by 2027. Akiba was founded in 2017.