Moniepoint started as TeamApt in 2015. In October 2024 it became Africa’s eighth unicorn.
A Lagos fintech serving merchants, Moniepoint won a central bank switching licence in 2019 and raised over 200 million dollars in its Series C.
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Stories
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Andela set out to train African software developers and place them with global companies.
Co-founded in 2014 by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Andela grew into a company backed by Spark Capital, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Google Ventures and SoftBank.
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Konga raised 35 million dollars in a year and was valued around 200 million. Then came cuts and a sale.
Founded in Lagos in 2012 with 20 staff, Konga became one of Nigeria’s best-known online retailers. After laying off over half its staff it was acquired…
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Reginald Lewis bought McCall Pattern for 22.5 million dollars and later built TLC Beatrice into a billion-dollar company.
A Harvard-trained lawyer from Baltimore, Reginald Lewis moved to the other side of the deal table, and went on to become the first African American to…
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Patrice Motsepe learned business in his father’s spaza shop. He founded African Rainbow Minerals.
A lawyer who became the first black partner at Bowman Gilfillan, Patrice Motsepe began with contract mining, then bought marginal gold shafts and built a mining…
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Vivian Reddy was fired from his apprenticeship. He started an electrical firm with a R500 loan and a borrowed bakkie.
The youngest of nine children of a Durban teacher, Vivian Reddy built Reddy’s Electrical into Edison Power, and has backed clinics, schools and an AIDS orphans…
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Funke Opeke left New York to bring faster internet to Nigeria. Her company, MainOne, was acquired for 320 million dollars.
An electrical engineer who built a career at Verizon and MTN Nigeria, Funke Opeke founded MainOne in Lagos in 2008 to lay a submarine cable from…
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How many startups are there in Africa? There is no single count, but the funding numbers tell a story.
No one has an authoritative total of African startups. Funding trackers do measure how much money reaches them, and 2025 saw a rebound after two years…
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Equity Bank began as a building society in Kangema with about KSh5,000. By 2019 it had over 14 million customers.
In 1984 Peter Munga started a small building society in his hometown. A decade later, James Mwangi joined to wind it up, and instead led a…
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Madam C. J. Walker was orphaned at seven. She built a hair-care company and became a self-made millionaire.
Born Sarah Breedlove in 1867, the first child in her family born into freedom, Madam C. J. Walker built a cosmetics and hair-care business for Black…
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Kobo360 matches cargo owners with truck owners across six African countries.
Based in Lagos and founded by Obi Ozor and Ife Oyedele II, Kobo360 uses technology to cut delays in moving goods.
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Tabitha Karanja closed a hardware store and started making wine. Keroche became Kenya’s first large brewery not owned by a multinational.
Starting with fortified wine in Naivasha in 1997, Tabitha Karanja adapted to new taxes, switched to spirits, then beer, and built Keroche Breweries.
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