Category: Startups

Solar car start-up Bako Motors drives sustainable future

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Bako Motors, a pioneering Tunisian-German solar car start-up, is making waves in the sustainable transportation sector with their innovative approach to urban mobility. Founded in 2021, the company has gained international recognition for its eco-friendly solutions, most notably the Bako B1 electric tricycle. Now, on the cusp of a ground-breaking revelation, Bako Motors tells Ventureburn it is gearing up to unveil their second model, set to further revolutionise last-mile delivery and introduce an innovative passenger option. The Bako B1, the company’s first venture into sustainable mobility, has been a game-changer…

GBarena to acquire Tunisian gaming startup Galactech for USD 15 mn

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GBarena will acquire Tunisian gaming startup Galactech in a USD 15 mn share swap that will boost the Egyptian e-sport platform’s presence in the MENA region, it said in a statement. How much of GBarena Galactech will own is unclear: A company representative declined to disclose the details of the agreement when we reached out yesterday, saying the information is confidential. More acquisitions in the pipeline: GBarena plans to make several more acquisitions in the tech and gaming industry later this year, the company told us. The company is focused…

BioNTech acquires Tunisian-born and UK-based AI startup InstaDeep for £562M

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German-based biotech company BioNTech SE is set to acquire InstaDeep, a Tunis-born and U.K.-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup, for up to £562 million (~$680 million) in its largest deal yet. Per Financial Times, the German vaccine maker intends to use InstaDeep’s machine learning to “improve its drug discovery process, including developing personalised treatments tailored to a patient’s cancer.” BioNTech is said to pay £362 million — a mix of cash and an undisclosed amount of BioNTech shares — upfront. The remaining £200 million is dependent on how InstaDeep performs in…

Reedz app wins Al Quoz Creative Entrepreneurship Pitch award

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The Tunisia-based startup bagged a micro fund of $3000 for its idea of a podcast and audiobook smartphone app that gives summaries of English non-fiction books in Arabic. Reedz, a Tunisia-based startup, has won the Al Quoz Creative Entrepreneurship Pitch held in Dubai. It has bagged a micro fund of $3000 for its idea of a podcast and audiobook smartphone app that gives summaries of English non-fiction books in Arabic. The event, which was conducted by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) at Al Quoz Creative Zone, was designed…

Yassir pulls in $150M for its super app, led by Bond

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Yassir, an African super app platform that offers on-demand services such as ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery, and payments, has raised $150 million in Series B funding, five times what it raised in its previous priced round last November.  The investment was led by Bond, the growth-stage firm that Mary Meeker spun out of Kleiner Perkins in 2018. Other investors in the growth round include DN Capital, Dorsal Capital, Quiet Capital, Stanford Alumni Ventures and Y Combinator via its Continuity Fund, among other strategic investors.  The African startup, first launched in Algeria,…

Startup Tunisia: Turnover of startups grows despite ongoing difficult context

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The 3rd edition of the annual Startup Tunisia report, published Tuesday, shows that 6.7 million dinars have been invested by startups until 2021 with more than 22 investments in 2021, an increase of 900,000 dinars compared to the previous year. In 2021, the fundraising by Business Angels was carried out by 45 people and 1 network/ They were concentrated up to 57% on startups operating in B2B. According to Startup Tunisia, the labelled startups achieved a turnover of 120 million dinars in 2021, i.e. an evolution of 67% compared to…

Flat6Labs celebrates 3rd Hub Day of Ignite Tunisia project

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Flat6Labs, the leading seed venture capital firm in North Africa and Middle East region, organised the 3rd Hub Day of the Ignite Tunisia project. This event brought together representatives of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, donors, investors and the media who gathered to discover the support programmes presented by structures from different regions of Tunisia, from Bizerte to Medenine, including Tunis, Nabeul and Monastir. During 4 months, the representatives of these 6 structures benefited from coaching and mentoring sessions covering several fields with national and international experts mobilized to support them, online…

Tunisian ‘Cure Bionics,’ chosen to receive funding from pan-African ‘Investing in Innovation’ program.

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Cure Bionics, a Tunisian startup that creates bionic arms (prostheses) using 3D printing technology, has been chosen to receive funding from the pan-African Investing in Innovation (i3) programme, supported by the Gates Foundation, along with 29 other top African startups that have an impact on the healthcare supply chain. The business is also creating therapeutic applications for persons with disabilities utilizing immersive technologies, enabling them to receive care without having to visit a clinic. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded i3 program seeks to invest in the most promising African…

Tunisian startup Expensya signs big deal with BNP Paribas

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Tunisian startup Expensya and BNP Paribas announced Tuesday the launch of a joint product. It allows BNP Paribas customers to have an expense management solution. Karim Jouini, CEO of Expensya, explains: “The BNP Paribas customer has the BNP Paribas payment card, the Expensya software and everything is integrated from end to end up to the CFO and accounting. Today, this gives access to more than 650 thousand cards in Europe. We will start with France. We will then roll out this solution to Belgium, Italy and hopefully Germany as well”.…

Drinking water-Technology: Tunisian start-up partners with NGO to provide 570 students with drinking water in northwest Tunisia

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Tunisian start-up “Kumulus Water” has provided assistance to a school deprived of drinking water in Makhtar in the region of Siliana (north-west of Tunisia) through a technical solution “Kumulus 1”, designed to generate water from the ambient air. It came to support its expertise in water technology, the efforts of the Tunisian NGO “WallahWeCan”, which campaigns for the improvement of living conditions of students in schools and educational environments in Tunisia, especially in disadvantaged areas. Thanks to atmospheric water generators, each producing 20 to 30 litres of healthy drinking water…