Windows26: 💸 Alitheia Capital, Goodwell complete uMunthu Fund exit via Baobab Nigeria divestment

March 21, 2025 | Read Online

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Today's Menu ☕️

💸 Alitheia Capital, Goodwell complete uMunthu Fund exit via Baobab Nigeria divestment
🧑🏽‍💻 Adeniyi and Gloria Abiodun launch $1.3 million endowment fund to train African software engineers
🌾 Norfund invests $33 million in AFGRI Group to strengthen agricultural services in South Africa
🏃🚪 Michael Seibel Exits Y Combinator Leadership to Pursue Public Sector Ambitions
☁️ Google launches first African cloud region in South Africa to compete with Microsoft and AWS

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💸 BUSINESS

Alitheia Capital, Goodwell complete uMunthu Fund exit via Baobab Nigeria divestment

Tokunboh Ishmael, Alitheia Capital Managing Partner

Alitheia Capital and Goodwell Investments have officially announced the successful exit of their joint investment in the uMunthu Fund, marking a significant milestone with the divestment from Baobab Nigeria. Baobab Nigeria is a financial institution dedicated to providing essential banking services to individuals and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in underserved regions of the country.

This exit comes more than 12 years after Alitheia and Goodwell first invested in Baobab Nigeria, initially through their GWAMDC fund and subsequently via the uMunthu Fund. Over the years, Baobab Nigeria has experienced remarkable growth, expanding its operations from a single location in Kaduna state to a robust presence across 16 states in Nigeria. The institution has significantly increased its customer base, growing from serving just 19,000 clients through a modest network of five branches to now reaching 230,000 customers via a national network of 38 branches......…continue reading

🧑🏽‍💻 SKILL ACQUISITION

Adeniyi and Gloria Abiodun launch $1.3 million endowment fund to train African software engineers

Adeniyi Abiodun, co-founder of the blockchain infrastructure firm Mysten Labs, along with his wife, Gloria Abiodun, has announced the establishment of a $1.3 million endowment fund aimed at training African software engineers. This initiative seeks to address the critical shortage of tech talent in the region's rapidly expanding technology ecosystem..

The five-year fund will be managed by the Inurere Foundation and is designed to provide student loans to aspiring software engineers who are enrolled in the Techpreneurship program offered by Semicolon Africa, a Nigerian workforce development organization. Participants in this program will gain expertise in advanced programming languages, including Move, which is specifically used for smart contract development. The fintech company Meedl Africa will facilitate the loan process.

Under this initiative, the fund will offer loans of approximately ₦5 million (around $3,300) at an annual interest rate of 12%. The repayment structure is designed to be sustainable, as repayments will be recycled to support new students entering the program. Semicolon Africa has a proven track record, having trained over 800 software engineers through its Techpreneurship program, and it is committed to placing graduates into relevant job opportunities upon completion of their training.....…continue reading

🌾 AGRICULTURE

Norfund invests $33 million in AFGRI Group to strengthen agricultural services in South Africa

Norfund is making a significant investment in the AFGRI Group, a prominent agricultural services company based in South Africa, by providing strategic funding amounting to ZAR 600 million (approximately $33 million). This funding is aimed at supporting AFGRI in various critical areas, including financing capital expenditures, enhancing working capital, and facilitating farmer financing.

AFGRI plays a vital role in the agricultural landscape of South Africa, supporting around one-third of the country's farmers through a comprehensive suite of services. These services encompass grain management, agricultural machinery, retail operations, food processing, animal feed production, milling, farmer financing, and insurance. The breadth of AFGRI's offerings positions it as a key player in ensuring the efficiency and productivity of the agricultural sector.....…continue reading

🏃🚪PEOPLE

Michael Seibel Exits Y Combinator Leadership to Pursue Public Sector Ambitions

Michael Seibel

Michael Seibel, a central figure in Y Combinator's rise over the past decade, is stepping into a Partner Emeritus role after 12+ years at the accelerator. Seibel, who joined YC as a founder before rising to Managing Director and CEO of the accelerator program, announced the move via X (formerly Twitter), signaling a shift from operational duties to a more advisory capacity

Seibel's time at YC is marked by significant milestones. Initially going through YC's program twice—once with Justin.TV (which later became Twitch) and again with Socialcam—he later played a key role as a Group Partner and then as the Managing Director of YC's core accelerator. Seibel was instrumental in shaping YC's program, mentoring thousands of startups, and helping to embed a strong founder-first culture at the organization.........continue reading

☁️INFRASTRUCTURE

Google launches first African cloud region in South Africa to compete with Microsoft and AWS

Google has officially inaugurated its first "cloud region" in Johannesburg, marking a significant milestone as the tech giant intensifies its efforts to compete with its American counterparts, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS), in establishing robust data centre infrastructure in South Africa....…continue reading