Sawasdee,

Victoria from Techpoint here,

Here's what I've got for you today:

LoftyInc Capital, one of Africa’s most active investors, has secured fresh capital to back startups across the continent. The firm, known for early bets on Flutterwave, Andela, and Wave, has reached the first close of its third fund, LoftyInc Alpha, at $43 million. 

This time, instead of focusing mainly on pre-seed and seed rounds, the fund will target late-seed and Series A startups in key markets like Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and Francophone Africa.

A mix of investors joined this round, from sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Africa (including Egypt’s MSMEDA and Tunisia’s Anava Fund) to big names like FMO, Proparco, IFC, and AfricaGrow. There’s also a blend of African high-net-worth individuals and European family offices. LoftyInc’s founder and managing partner, Idris Ayo Bello, says this new approach is designed to help startups bridge the difficult gap between seed and Series A funding.

LoftyInc has been at this for a while. Starting with an angel network over a decade ago, the firm has grown into a structured venture capital player with a solid track record. Its first fund, launched in 2017, was a small $1.1 million vehicle focused on Nigeria, but it delivered impressive returns, thanks to early investments in companies like Flutterwave and Reliance Health. 

By 2021, LoftyInc expanded beyond Nigeria, raising a $14.2 million second fund that invested across Africa, even catching the attention of Meta, which made its first and only African VC investment through the firm.

The big problem LoftyInc wants to solve now is that many African startups struggle to make the leap from seed funding to Series A. To support this shift, the firm has expanded its leadership team, bringing in Mariam Kamel and Kevin Simmons as general partners. 

They bring experience in investment banking, angel investing, and operational VC, which will be crucial as LoftyInc deepens its presence in East, North, and Francophone Africa. About 30% of the fund will be allocated to startups in those regions.

LoftyInc Alpha will primarily focus on Africa’s “everyday economy,” including sectors like fintech, logistics, health tech, retail, climate, and deep tech where relevant. 

What’s more, some of its notable portfolio companies include Moove, a vehicle financing platform backed by Uber, Egypt’s stock trading app Thndr, and B2B eCommerce player OmniRetail. With this latest fund, LoftyInc is doubling down on its commitment to helping African startups not just survive, but scale.

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Vodacom South Africa just took a hit in its legal battle over spectrum pooling, as the Pretoria High Court dismissed its urgent interdict application. If Vodacom had won, MTN, Cell C, and Liquid Intelligent Technologies would have been forced to dismantle their spectrum-sharing arrangements at least until the court decides on the legality of the whole setup.

Vodacom argued that these pooling deals were secretly and illegally approved by Icasa, giving MTN a big advantage in network performance tests. While the court did acknowledge that Vodacom had a right to challenge the approval process, especially regarding the use of guard bands (small bits of unused spectrum meant to prevent interference), it still refused to grant the interdict.

Judge Etienne Labuschagne ruled that Vodacom’s application was dismissed with costs, including the fees of two legal counsel. Despite agreeing that Vodacom is experiencing harm and has no other real solution except stopping the pooling agreements, the court ultimately decided not to interfere.

The main reason? The judge highlighted that spectrum pooling has improved mobile network quality for millions of South Africans, benefiting trade, education, and access to information. Blocking the arrangement now would negatively impact the public, and that weighed heavily in the decision.

The court also noted that MTN and Cell C had made significant investments in their networks based on Icasa’s approval, and since they didn’t act in bad faith, it wouldn’t be fair to pull the plug on their pooling deals suddenly. However, Icasa was criticised for not following proper public participation processes and for conducting an inadequate competition assessment that didn’t consider Vodacom’s concerns.

Interestingly, the judge pointed out that Vodacom has always had the option to apply for its own pooling agreements, subject to the same approval process. So, while Vodacom proved key elements of its case, the court ultimately used its discretion to keep the status quo for now.

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In October 2024, Okra, a Nigerian open banking startup, officially stepped into the cloud game with the launch of Nebula, its new cloud infrastructure service. This move puts Okra alongside local cloud providers like Nobus, Galaxy, and Layer3, all vying to offer businesses a cheaper alternative to global giants like AWS and Microsoft Azure.

This shift marks a big strategic pivot for Okra. Instead of focusing solely on its API business, it's branching out to tackle one of the biggest headaches for Nigerian startups: rising infrastructure costs. 

It’s not every day a fintech startup jumps into cloud services, so this move definitely turned heads. Okra, which launched in 2019 and raised over $16 million from investors, built a solid reputation in API infrastructure. But economic realities, including forex fluctuations, naira devaluation, and rising costs, forced it to rethink its priorities.

Jituboh explained that aside from payroll, infrastructure was their biggest expense, and most of it was priced in dollars. With the unpredictable exchange rate, managing costs became a nightmare. So, the team started asking: Why not build something local instead of relying on expensive foreign services? That question led to Nebula.

They’re not alone in this shift. Many Nigerian businesses are moving to local cloud providers to cut costs and stabilise their operations. Okra is betting that this trend will work in its favour, positioning Nebula as a reliable and cost-effective alternative.

So, can Okra actually compete in the cloud market? What’s the real opportunity here? Dive into Chimgozirim’s latest piece to find out.

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Nigeria’s central government is cutting ties with Remita and rolling out a new platform called the Treasury Management & Revenue Assurance System (TMRAS). This new system will take over payment collections for government ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), replacing Remita, which has been handling the job since 2012.

With TMRAS in place, any payments outside the regular budget, like those from Special Accounts, will also go through the new system. While TMRAS officially launched yesterday, Remita will still be in use until May 4, 2025, before it fully phases out. The transition is set to happen in two stages.

The first phase is all about handling naira transactions. This means the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation will be able to track balances, generate bank statements, and automatically deduct and remit taxes on vendor and contractor payments (think VAT, Withholding Tax, and Stamp Duty).

The second phase, starting on June 1, 2025, will take things up a notch by processing payments and collections in foreign exchange. It’ll also integrate with MDA Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, making government operations smoother. Another big change? The system will automate revenue deductions from federal agencies, aiming for better transparency and accountability.

This move doesn’t just affect Remita; only payment companies approved by the Accountant General will now be allowed to collect revenue for the government. A government memo even advises MDAs to direct their payment service providers (PSSPs) to link up with the official CBN payment gateway. The government is already reviewing PSSPs, and only certified ones will be listed on TMRAS.

For Remita, this could be a major setback. Although the company survived scrutiny back in 2016 when senators tried to cancel its contract, this time things look more serious. While it has expanded beyond government contracts, it still lags behind fintech giants like Paystack and Flutterwave in the private sector. Whether this shift will seriously hurt Remita’s business remains to be seen.

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Opportunities

• MTN is hiring for several positions. Apply here.
• PalmPay is looking for an asset officer. Apply here.
• FairMoney is looking for Business Operations Manager. Apply here.
• Paga is hiring for several roles, including  CRO, Treasury Manager, and Doroki Growth Manger. Apply here.
• AltSchool Africa is hiring several instructors. Apply here.
• Moniepoint is hiring for several roles. Apply here.
• Celebrate the New Year with delightful stories like Smart Couples. Call 421 on your Airtel line now — you won't be charged! Alternatively, call 07080601391 at your network's regular rate. Learn more here.
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Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa.