Joliba Capital Fund closes $59M for Africa’s growth. 2 other stories and a trivia

This line-up of stories will help you discover the latest happenings around the tech world, today

 

1. Joliba Capital Fund closes $59M for Africa’s growth

Joliba Capital has announced closing its first fund, Joliba Capital Fund I, accumulating an impressive €55 million (USD 59 million) in capital commitments.

Joliba Capital is an African private equity firm primarily owned by LBO France.

The startup was co-founded by experienced African investment professionals Hamada Touré (Managing Partner) and Yann Pambou (CEO & Managing Partner).

The team, composed of five members with diverse African backgrounds, brings a wealth of private equity and value creation experience to the targeted region.

This multicultural team has received unwavering support from LBO France, leveraging the firm’s 30-year track record in Small and Midcap company investments and its expertise in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations.

The driving force behind this initiative, Proparco, has played a crucial role in fostering the growth of the African private equity industry.

The Fund will primarily focus on investment opportunities in Francophone countries in Western and Central Africa, aiming to cultivate a diversified portfolio of small and mid-cap regional champions.

These enterprises operate in various consumer-driven sectors such as agribusiness, manufacturing, FMCG, education, healthcare, financial services, and logistics, historically with fewer private equity market opportunities than their Anglophone counterparts.

 

Tech Trivia: Which of these types of information is not found in a domain’s WHOIS record?

A. The name of the domain’s registrar company

B. Login credentials for the domain’s web server

C. Administrative and technical contact information for the domain

D. Created, updated, and expiry dates for the domain registration

Answer: see end of post

2. Algeria’s Yassir pledges $5.3M investment to revive Gorillas and Getir

Following the recent liquidations of industry giants Gorillas and Getir, causing uncertainty for over 1,300 employees, there’s a glimmer of hope for Flink France, a specialist in express home delivery of groceries.

The company has been acquired by Yassir, ensuring the preservation of 270 jobs, albeit with around 200 positions being lost, leaving those employees in limbo.

Sorike Kamassokho, the representative of the employees and the CGT union section, raises concerns, especially for around “thirty undocumented workers,” who are the most vulnerable in this situation.

After entering receivership in June, Flink France has found a lifeline through a consortium led by Guillaume Luscan, the current general manager, the German parent company, and Algerian startup Yassir.

This acquisition deal has been approved by the Paris commercial court, securing the future of 56% of the workforce.

Yassir has pledged an impressive investment of over 5 million euros to revive the company.

Guillaume Luscan highlights Yassir’s expertise in on-demand and payment services, making it one of the most valuable startups in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

The new ownership group aims to streamline operations, “massify volumes,” and significantly reduce fixed costs.

Trivia answer: login details

WHOIS (pronounced “who is”) is an Internet service used to look up information about a domain name. While the term is capitalized, “WHOIS” is not an acronym. Instead, it is short for the question, “Who is responsible for this domain name?”

Domain names are registered through companies called registrars. Examples include GoDaddy, Tucows, Namecheap, and MarkMonitor. These companies have been approved and accredited by ICANN to register new domain names.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now