Hard cash for diaspora remittances

Nala bags $40m, a $1bn initiative for African startups, new early-stage VC fund launches, investments pour into telecom infrastructure and crypto market struggles continue.

Author

Anthony Miclet
July 11, 2024

Good Morning,

AirHelp this week released its 2024 airport rankings, with South Africa shining brightly among the world's best. 

Cape Town International (CPT) and Johannesburg-OR Tambo (JNB) make the top 10, ranked second and sixth, respectively, based on global passenger surveys. Fly high, South Africa!

In today’s newsletter:

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Markets Wrap

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Earnings

A Message From Daba

This Stock Soared By 23% in Just One Month! 📈

SAPH Cote d'Ivoire is this week's BRVM stock spotlight! 📈

Starting the year at 2,350 XOF, SAPH (SPHC) has surged by 27.7%, ranking third on the BRVM by year-to-date share price growth.

That rally followed an impressive financial performance in the year's first quarter. And shareholders can be optimistic; the stock has accrued 23% over the past four weeks and shows no sign of slowing down.

Want to stay ahead of the curve and discover more high-potential investment opportunities like this? Every week, we reveal what the region’s best research analysts believe are the 10 best stocks on the BRVM for investors to buy…

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The Week’s Top Stories

Crypto troubles

Bitcoin steadies around $57k amid highest exchange outflow in 2024

BTC’s price rose to more than $59,000 early Wednesday before settling back to the $57,000 level in the afternoon. On-chain data as of Tuesday pointed to the highest outflow of 68,498 bitcoin since November 23, 2023.

The benchmark BRVM Composite index rose by 0.87% on the same day, reaching 231.73 points, its highest in six years mainly driven by Orange CI. The telco saw its share price jump by 2.89% to a historical high of 12,100 FCFA. Closely behind was Société Générale CI, which rose by 2.79% to 19,740 FCFA.

Gold prices are higher again as the market hopes that the United States will see lower interest rates this year keeps demand solid while oil prices are stable with the Brent benchmark holding above $85 a barrel.

Venture hubs

African startups get $1bn boost as Timbuktoo launches Lagos hub

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), along with African governments and the private sector, plans to raise $1bn and establish a series of technology hubs across the continent to boost start-up innovation.

The first of 10 hubs, which will be part of the world’s largest initiative supporting Africa’s technology startups, is set to open this week in Lagos.

Broadly, the Timbuktoo initiative aims to address disparities in Africa’s venture capital landscape, such as the over-concentration of capital in a few countries.

Diaspora goldmine

African remittance app Nala raises $40m to expand global reach

Tanzania-born money transfer fintech Nala said this week it has raised $40m in Series A funding to support its global expansion and boost money transfers to Africa.

Nala's consumer money transfer app enables users to make secure and reliable payments from Europe, the UK, and the US to 11 African countries in seconds.

And its fundraising comes amid a scramble for the $100bn African diaspora market. Read our article to learn more about other startups building for and around this 'goldmine'.

Headline Roundup

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

Economy & Macro

M&A and Corporate Deals

Startups and VC

Fundraising and Accelerators

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Ever wondered what stocks are and why people invest in them?

Stocks represent ownership in companies, allowing investors to participate in their growth and success.

Investing in stocks can potentially offer financial gains through capital appreciation (increase in stock value) and dividends (share of company profits).

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Opportunities Corner

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Insight for the week

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

The African diaspora – dubbed Africa’s “secret weapon” – is a $100bn opportunity: Africans living outside the continent, known as the diaspora, have become the continent’s largest financial supporters. 

The 160m-strong diaspora sends an estimated $100bn back home every year, propping up economies as a vital source of foreign currency.

This means that contrary to the prevailing image of Africa as a charity case, more capital inflows come from Africans abroad than from foreign aid. 

And this money accounts for 2-3% of the continent’s GDP (in countries like Gambia, remittances make up nearly 30% of GDP) while supporting some 200m people. 

There is now growing enthusiasm for using these funds to support companies, infrastructure, and other long-term development projects.

However, this depends on African governments’ ability to build relationships with their diasporas.  

While important for policy experts, the diaspora’s financial muscle also makes it an attractive customer base and a potential source of funding for startups and businesses on the continent. 

Many Africa-focused innovators now incorporate cash-rich Africans living abroad into their funding and market strategies. 

From financial services to entertainment to Web3, Africans are building solutions around the diaspora community.

We explore some of them in this edition of Pulse54. Don’t forget to subscribe to get the next edition in your inbox.

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