African startups are making significant progress. In this context, the digital economy platform FollowICT highlights the top startup news across Africa over the past week.
– Nigeria-Based Fintech Startup Bfree Raises Fresh Capital to Tackle Non-Performing Loans With AI Across Africa
Nigerian credit management startup Bfree has successfully raised fresh capital in a funding round from undisclosed investors.
This latest financial boost aims to enhance Bfree’s innovative platform, which utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to manage and recover defaulted digital loans across Africa’s burgeoning fintech landscape.
Since its founding in 2020 by Julian Flosbach, Chukwudi Enyi, and Moses Nmor, Bfree has been tackling the challenge of rising volumes of non-performing loans in African markets.
– Namibia’s Bellatrix Launches USD 10 M Ndjaba Seed Fund For Startups
Bellatrix Investment Managers, a Namibia-based alternative investment firm, has launched the Ndjaba Seed Fund, a USD 10 M venture capital vehicle targeting early-stage startups across Southern Africa.
Founded in 2020 and led by Managing Director Jesaya Hano-Oshike, Bellatrix aims to address the region’s acute early-stage funding gap, where sub-USD 1 M deals attract minimal capital.
The fund will back 35–50 startups across sectors, including fintech, agritech, healthtech, clean energy, and enterprise software over a 10-year horizon.
Ticket sizes range from USD 25 K to USD 350 K, with follow-on funding available. Beyond capital, the fund will provide mentorship and operational support, leveraging the Basecamp Business Incubator to strengthen pipeline development and ecosystem growth
– Ghanaian Startups Rivia Clinics and VDL Fulfilment Secure $350K from Village Capital to Expand Healthcare and Logistics Services
Ghanaian startups Rivia Clinics and VDL Fulfilment have raised a combined $350,000 from global nonprofit investor Village Capital as part of a broader initiative aimed at supporting early-stage African startups building essential infrastructure.
The funding comes through the Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility (AECF), a $4 million pilot fund launched in partnership with Dutch development finance institutions FMO and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).
Under the latest round, Rivia Clinics secured $200,000, while VDL Fulfilment received $150,000 through a financing structure combining convertible debt and milestone-based funding.
Founded in 2024, Rivia Clinics operates a membership-based healthcare platform connecting patients and employers to a network of physical and virtual healthcare services across Ghana.
The startup says it has already served more than 50,000 patients, offering both in-person consultations and telehealth access under a unified subscription model.
Meanwhile, VDL Fulfilment is focused on solving e-commerce logistics challenges for African small businesses through a proprietary fulfillment platform.
The company provides end-to-end warehousing, order management, and delivery services tailored for SMEs operating in fragmented logistics environments.
Since launch, VDL says it has processed more than 170,000 orders, supported over 150 active vendors, and handled approximately $3.8 million in merchandise value.
– African startup funding is growing fast, but pre-seed investment has stalled
Africa’s startup ecosystem raised approximately US$3.8 billion in 2025, outpacing Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia in year-on-year growth, but pre-seed funding – so crucial in determining whether an idea becomes a company – has stalled.
That is according to the 2025 Angel Investment Report, released by the African Business Angel Network (ABAN) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, which provides insights into the trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping early-stage investment across Africa.
It says Africa’s startup ecosystem raised approximately US$3.8 billion in 2025, with growth quicker than in Europe, Latin America, or Southeast Asia, and eight megadeals closing above US$100 million.
But beneath these headline figures, the report says a structural crisis is taking shape. Pre-seed funding, the earliest capital that determines whether an idea ever becomes a company, stalled at US$46.5 million across 281 deals in 2025, barely 1.5 per cent of total venture investment.
Deals between US$100,000 and US$500,000 dropped to their lowest level since 2021, with only 129 such investments made in the past twelve months. The withdrawal of historic pre-seed players, combined with the repositioning of others, has made angel investing more central to the ecosystem’s development, the report claims.
In 2025, angels deployed over US$4.4 million, with 65 per cent of angel-backed startups securing follow-on funding. The survey highlights an investor base actively shaping development outcomes, with 71 per cent of surveyed angels prioritising investments that drive job creation and economic growth, nearly two-thirds supporting women-led ventures, and 79 per cent investing in youth-led businesses.
