Last Week in brief…January 17th, 2023
A significant acquisition of an African-founded, private capital-backed business, claimed the deal news limelight last week. Instadeep, an artificial intelligence and machine learning business that was launched in Tunis in 2014 has been acquired by one of its existing corporate investors, NASDAQ-listed BioNTech, giving all other investors their exit. The biotechnology company is paying as much as £562 million (or approximately $685) for the business, $443 million of which will be upfront and the balance paid on the achievement of specified milestones.
InstaDeep got its start 8 years ago with, according to its CEO and Co-Founder, Karim Beguir, $2,000, two laptops, and “…a lot of enthusiasm.” Since then, the company has moved its headquarters to London and opened additional offices in Paris, Lagos, Dubai, and Cape Town. Among the investors exiting the business with this deal are AfricInvest, AI Capital, Chimera Abu Dhabi, DB Digital Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, and Google. Return data for each has not been made available.
BioNTech’s acquisition was not the only exit news we covered last week. Apis Partners, the financial services sector private equity investment specialist, has sold the rest of the stake it held in off-grid solar systems and products business Sun King to LeapFrog Investments. The sale comes as part of LeapFrog Investments Series D extension deal in December last year where $32 million of the $70 million being invested by LeapFrog was allocated to pay for the remaining stakes held by Sun King’s prior institutional investors. Details of the returns earned by Apis’s $287 million first fund have not been reported.
In Morocco, CDG Invest‘s investment vehicle Nama Holding has backed a well-established Moroccan textile group. The Rabat-based unit of Morocco’s Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion Group has acquired a minority stake in the Crossing Active Line Group for an undisclosed amount of capital. Crossing Active Line, which has been in business for more than two decades, is a leading producer of finished denim products. The company will use the capital to support its development strategy, particularly its goals to target a broader diversity of markets, improve its operations, broaden its product offering, and implement and meet sustainability standards.
Aruwa Capital Management is making a follow on investment in a business it first backed in November 2021. The Lagos-based private equity firm is increasing the size of its minority stake in AgroEknor International, a processor and exporter of dried hibiscus flowers located in Nigeria’s Kano State. The new funding (thought to be between $500,000 and $1 million) will be used to finance the completion of fumigation chambers, buy more inventory to fulfill a high volume of orders from global clients, diversify and expand AgroEknor’s product line and reach more international customers.
Having invested in Releaf‘s seed round, Samurai Incubate Africa has returned, leading a group of investors backing the Nigerian startup’s oversubscribed Series A round. Between them, the investors are putting 3.3 million to work in the supply chain technology company, bringing the total amount of capital raised by the firm since its launch in 2021 to $7.5 million. The other investors taking part in the round include Consonance Investment Managers, Stephen Pagliuca, Chairman of Bain Capital, and Jeff Ubben, a board member at World Wildlife Fund and the founder of Inclusive Capital Partners. The company reports that its valuation has tripled since its seed round 12 months ago.
The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund has agreed to provide debt financing to Ivoire Hydro Energy, an independent power producer building a 44MW hydroelectricity generation plant near the village of Singrobo in Côte d’Ivoire. The €25 million long-term finance facility, the terms of which have not been disclosed, helps the company achieve financial close for the project which is located on the Bandama River, some 23 kilometers downstream from the Taabo Dam and upstream of the Nzi River’s confluence.
Jetstream Africa, an e-logistics, has raised $13 million in a mix of equity and debt from a mix of new and existing investors to finance its expansion plans. through a blend of debt and equity financing to support its expansion plans. Alitheia IDF and Golden Palm Investments, both of which had participated in earlier capital raising rounds, again took part, as did a slew of new investors including Proparco‘s Digital Africa Bridge Fund and others. Jetstream has earmarked the fresh capital to support its plans to penetrate new markets as well as continue developing its technology platform, improving its ability to collate the many financing and logistics providers across the continent.
Lion’s Head Global Partners has announced last week that the Facility for Energy Inclusion (or FEI) has made a debt investment in a West African Commercial and Industrial (C&I) Solar Power provider. The deal, which took place in late November, sees FEI investing €7.5 million (or a little over $8 million) of senior debt in SolarX and its subsidiaries. The structure and terms of the debt have not been disclosed.
SolarX will use the financing to expand its portfolio in West Africa. The renewable energy company, which is based in Mali, sells clean and affordable energy solutions to commercial and industrial clients across the region, provides its corporate customers with a one-stop-shop where they can finance their acquisition of solar energy technologies, have the panels installed, and reduce the cost of their power consumption.
And finally, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation has hired Neonu Jewell as its Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. In this role, she will oversee the implementation of DFC’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility vision, programs, and policies, and will serve as a member of the agency’s senior management team. She began in her new role in December.
That’s it for this week. As always, you can review these and other stories by clicking through to this week’s preview edition of the newsletter.
Be the first to comment