Good morning and welcome to another Daba weekly newsletter.

Africa's economic prospects have shown signs of improvement but they are not without challenges, ranging from a strengthening dollar to devastating droughts.

Per the IMF's latest regional economic outlook, the region's growth will increase modestly to 3.8% this year and to 4% in 2025.

In other major news:

• Bitcoin mixed post-halving

• Kenyan stocks pay $1bn

• TLcom’s $154m VC fund

• Mobile money’s $150bn add

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ICYMI: Check Out Exciting Updates on the Daba App! 📱

Hey Daba Community,

We're thrilled to announce some major updates to our mobile application! We've been listening closely to your feedback and have been hard at work to bring you a faster, more reliable experience with some fantastic new features.

Here's what's new:

💰 Wallet - Deposit and Withdrawal: Now you can easily deposit and withdraw funds in CFA Franc, USD, and Euro right from your Daba wallet! Whether it's via debit card, bank transfer, or Mobile Money, managing your finances just got a whole lot simpler.

＄ Currency Display: Choose your preferred currency to view your balance and wallet status. With options including USD, Euro, and CFA Franc, personalizing your financial experience has never been easier.

📈 BRVM Stock Exchange: Dive into the world of stock market investment with ease! You can now invest in stocks listed on the BRVM directly from our app, with an automated order placement process for seamless transactions.

🐞 Bug Fixes: We've squashed pesky bugs reported by you, ensuring smoother navigation and enhanced stability within the mobile app.

With these updates, we're making it easier than ever for you to manage your investments and financial transactions on the go.

Tap the button below to check them out now and stay tuned for more exciting features coming your way soon! 🚀

Happy investing!

Here are last week’s top stories

Mixed markets

BTC struggles to maintain momentum after initial post-halving surge

Bitcoin saw a modest rise at the beginning of the week following its fourth halving on Friday but the largest crypto has struggled to maintain its momentum, dipping below $64k mid-week amid a major sell-off.

Gold price fell below the $2,320 level per ounce on Wednesday amid declining demand for safe-haven assets as investors shifted towards riskier assets following the easing of tensions in the Middle East.

Oil prices also fell as business activity in the United States slowed, although a fall in US crude oil inventories put a floor on those losses. In Africa, equities have been largely mixed since closing negative last week.

Big payout

Banks lead the pack as Kenyan stocks pay out $1bn in dividends

Listed banks accounted for around half of all dividends paid out by firms on the exchange for the year ended December 2023.

Dividends per share for banks totaled $506m, representing a 49% share of the total dividends from all listed companies. 

Although more payouts are expected from non-banks in the short term, with companies like Safaricom and Jubilee due to release financial results for the year.

Fund close

TLcom Capital secures $154m to back early-stage startups in Africa

TLcom Capital, a Nairobi-based venture capital firm has hit the final close for TIDE Africa II, a $154m fund dedicated to supporting early-stage startups. The fund reached its first close at $70m in January 2022 and had anticipated a second close by the end of the same year.

TIDE Africa II represents a significant increase from TLcom's first fund, which closed at $71m in February 2021. It is also the latest in a string of major Africa-focused VC fund launches and closes this year.

Some others include UN-backed $1bn Timbuktoo, Adenia Partners’ $460m PE fund, $300m Partech Africa II, VKAV’s $60m first fund, Spark+ Africa Fund, P1 Ventures’ $35m Fund II, and Satgana $8.6m climate tech-focused fund.

Headline roundup

A summary of the major business, tech, and finance headlines of the past week.

Macro & Markets

• BRVM sees second weekly gain on Bernabe, BICI CI, BOA rally

• Regional central bank BCEAO more than doubles profit to $513m

• Kenya to issue Africa’s first sustainability-linked bond worth $500m

VC Funding & Startups

• Egypt-based Bokra gets $4.6m to provide investment services

• Folklore Group secures $3.4m to grow fashion e-commerce platform

• South African AI startup Spatialedge raises $3.1m to scale

• Bluworks bags $1m pre-seed to automate workforce management

Other Deals & Expansion

• Vivendi’s Canal+ raises stake in South Africa’s MultiChoice to 40.8%

Funds & Accelerators

• New incubator launched to support African health-tech innovators

• Egypt's Beltone partners Citadel to co-manage $30m startup fund

Startup Opportunities

Discover funding and accelerator opportunities to boost your startup's growth.

• Irish Tech Challenge 2024 (Apr 26)

• Global Startup Awards Africa (May 5)

• Greentech Africa 2024 (May 10)

• Orange Social Venture Prize (May 24)

• Women’s Health Accelerator Program (May 16)

• Archipelagos SME Program (Jun 30)

• Mastercard Agribusiness Challenge Fund (Nov 22)

Our insight for the week

Get more context into events shaping Africa’s economic landscape.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest levels of global mobile money adoption and a GSMA report has revealed that mobile money helped increase the region's economic growth (GDP) by over $150bn or 3.7% between 2013-2022.

In East and West Africa where mobile money is most used, GDP grew even more - by 5.9% and 4.1% respectively by 2022.

Globally, countries with mobile money services saw $600bn more GDP growth from 2013-2022 than those without, equal to a 1.5% GDP increase from mobile money.

West Africa, especially Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal saw registered mobile money accounts double from 2013-2023, making it a leader in adoption. 

Over a third of new global accounts in 2023 were from West Africa.

The growth was driven by enabling regulations and a shift to digital payments, international remittances, and merchant payments. Competition from non-telecom providers also drove adoption in West Africa.

In the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), over 110m new mobile money accounts from 2018-2022 boosted financial inclusion from 56% to 71%.

Mobile money is seen as achieving 15 of the 17 UN SDGs by driving inclusion. As the market matures, more providers offer credit, savings, and insurance alongside payments.

Credit is the most popular added service, with a 73% yearly increase in 2023. This empowers underserved groups like women and rural populations to save more via mobile money accounts.

However, financial literacy programs are needed to ensure safe and informed usage as mobile money becomes more sophisticated.

That’s it for this week. Next Frontier is sent once weekly. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here.

If you haven’t, you can also download the Daba app to get daily bite-sized insights into African economies, industry and country reports, and access investment opportunities.

Catch you next week!