The funding round for Planet42 was led by Change Ventures with participation from Martin Villig (Bolt), Ragnar Sass (Pipedrive), Marko Virkebau (MeetFrank), Kristjan Vilosius (Katana MRP), and several other Estonian tech entrepreneurs.

The startup focuses on increasing access to mobility to the underbanked in the country. Reportedly, it will use the recently raised funds to expand its portfolio of vehicles.

Planet42 uses an automated scoring algorithm to process client applications based on credit bureau, affordability, and alternative data. What it does is it partners with dealerships across South Africa to offer access to a personal car to its largely underbanked clientele.

Eerik Oja, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Planet42 told the media, “Having a personal vehicle is a necessity in South Africa, as public transport is underdeveloped while ride-hailing is prohibitively expensive for most. A family car can be a lifesaver, but banks focus on newer, expensive vehicles and only approve 15 per cent of car financing applicants. This leaves few alternatives to lower- and middle-income households.”

“We see a huge need for people to improve their standards of living with better mobility, but a lack of options in the market to service them. More than 24 million people are credit impaired or have no access to finance in South Africa – that’s well over half of the adult population.”

So far, Planet42 has delivered more than 2000 cars to its clients. Reportedly, the startup is targeting a total of 100,000 cars by 2024 in South Africa alone.

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The new payments platform launched by Yoco will help businesses in South Africa sustain their cash flows as a national lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic has brought everything to a standstill.

Yoco has launched three new payment platforms that are designed to help businesses securely accept online payments, track and reconcile invoices and payments, both online and offline.

The three payment platforms are – Payment Page, Gift Vouchers, and Payment Request.

Katlego Maphai, co-founder and chief executive officer at Yoco told the media, “Yoco’s mission has always centered around helping small businesses thrive and supporting them is more important now than ever before. The national lockdown has had a severe impact on our merchants. Through our platform and the results of a recent merchant survey, we have seen up to a 90% decrease in in-person transactions since the lockdown began. We knew that the best way to support our merchants was to develop products that would enable them to do business online and keep money coming in through this period.”

Earlier this month, the South African government launched a new fintech innovation hub. In order to do so, the government collaborated with several other state-owned agencies.

Called the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) Innovation Hub, it is designed to meet the rapid changes caused by fintech in the financial sector globally.

It will support the sector in introducing innovations that complement the core mandates of regulators, including financial stability, consumer protection, financial inclusion and fair lending practices.

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In order to expand its business in Nigeria, TaxTim has entered into a partnership with PwC Nigeria.

TaxTim ptrovides a platform for users to file their tax returns online with step-by-step guidance through a chat-based platform.

PwC will introduce a TaxTim-powered Digital Tax Assistant to allow its clients to correctly compute their taxes online and file their returns.

With regard to the partnership with TaxTim, PwC Nigeria said in a statement, “This is a subscription-based, fully automated web application/chatbot. The logic is developed by tax professionals. Personal data is kept in a secure server with no third-party access. The application helps you prepare your personal tax computations and completes your tax returns.

By answering simple questions that do not require any tax knowledge, Tim will convert your answers into a fully completed tax return, which you can then submit to the relevant Internal Revenue Services. The entire process can be completed within 20 minutes.”

Nigeria is the second international market TaxTim has expanded into. Previously, the startup expanded into Namibia in 2015. To expand in Namibia, TaxTim raised an undisclosed amount from Exponential – the newly formed innovation unit of South African financial services group Momentum Metropolitan Holdings.

TaxTim was established in 2011 by entrepreneurs Evan Robinson and Marc Sevitz. The startup raised funds from investors such as Google.

Last month, Quona Capital, a venture firm focused on financial inclusion in emerging markets, has raised around $203 million for its Accion Quona Inclusion Fund from various investors. Fintech startups in South Africa are expected to benefit from the fund.

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2019 turned out to be a significant year for African tech startups as funding grew by 47 percent when compared to 2018. Also, the number of startups has increased by 50 percent during the same period.

The African Tech Startups Funding Report 2019 revealed that a total of 311 startups amassed $491.6 million last year.

2019 also witnessed a 61 percent increase in the number of investors in Africa. As of 2019, there were 261 different investors in Africa funding different tech startups across Africa.

Kenya has emerged as a leading market when it comes to attracting investments. Tech startups in Kenya alone secured $149 million in funding last year. Kenya is followed by Nigeria which secured $122 million last year.

In recent years, the technology space in Egypt has substantially grown. In 2019, around 88 tech startups have raised funds from investors in the continent.

Surprisingly, South Africa is ranked at fourth when it comes to funds secured and also the number of tech startups.
This indicates that investors are looking beyond South Africa and searching for investment opportunities in emerging markets.

The fintech sector continued to attract most of the African investors. According to the African Tech Startups Funding Report 2019, 77 fintech startups raised around $107 million in funding in 2019.

Last year, Nigeria established itself as the African capital for fintech investment and digital finance startups. Nigeria seemed to have toppled Kenya which earlier held the top spot due to its mobile money revolution which was led by M-Pesa.

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My-iMali secured the funding from Crossfin, a company that invests in fintech solutions to enable growth for economies in Africa.

The startup allows its customers, who are mostly from the lower-income group, to carry out financial transactions anywhere in the world without paying any monthly fees. It also facilitates businesses with an affordable, safe and convenient channel for salary distribution.

After securing an investment from Crossfin, My-iMali joins the likes of wiGroup, iKhokha, Crossgate and Nobuntu in Crossfin’s fintech focused portfolio.

According to Anton Gaylard, co-founder and chief operating officer at Crossfin, the decision to invest in My-iMali is based on the product, its place in the market and the strength of the team.

Anton Gaylard told the media, “While My-iMali operates locally, for now, there is a clear need for this type of solution in other African countries. We will work closely with the companies in our portfolio to identify and unlock opportunities for growth, both locally and abroad. We have looked at similar solutions in the past, but have rarely seen one that works end-to-end and fills such a clear gap in the South African financial ecosystem.”

He added, “We’re working across the portfolio to establish a cashless economy in Africa that brings more people into the formal economic fold by giving them access to affordable, convenient and value-adding financial services.”

Earlier in the month of September, My-iMali also raised around $1.6 million through a crowdfunding campaign. According to reports, the fund is being used by the startup to expand its business.

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Selpal has developed an integrated system connecting informal retailers with fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) suppliers, wholesalers, and brands.

Selpal provides store traders and informal retailers with a smart PoS device free of charge. This device has basic PoS functionality, and enables the retailer to sell their products virtually, such as airtime, data, electricity, and DStv, and enables Selpal’s ‘Store Traders Vault Wallet’.

Stephen Goldberg, CEO of Selpal told the local media, “The Vault Wallet is an e-wallet that we have developed that provides the store trader with as much financial functionality as we are able without being a bank. Funding the Vault Wallet acts as the working capital for the virtual products – which are all pre-paid – and enables the store trader to pay his suppliers electronically without using cash.”

He added, “With the know-how and financial muscle that FirstRand brings, together with our understanding of the unseen market, we believe that we can fundamentally change the business landscape in the townships and create massive value for all the participants in our ecosystem,”

Since its inception, what Selpal has done is tap in businesses and networks in South Africa’s township which no bank bothered to pay attention to earlier.

Reportedly, almost 50 percent of South Africa’s urban population lives in townships.

Last year, South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) joined hands with Selpal to boost the financial inclusion of the country’s informal sector.

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