Moving on.
Hey there! šš½
As Iām embarking on a new professional challenge (jump to the bottom for announcement), I wanted a quickly share about what kept me busy over the past year.
In October 2020, Suya Ventures materialized with the objective of writing quick checks to fast-moving entrepreneurs. This latter micro-fund got quickly deployed within 12 months. Hereās what the portfolio looks like:
Africa:
1- Onepipe [Nigeria - Fintech] is building a suite of APIs that makes it easy for any business to deploy or embed financial services. A single gateway aggregates financial services from major industry players while cutting resources typically spent managing multiple integrations and negotiating contracts.
2- Healthtag [Egypt - Healthtech] is building the health records infrastructure for Egypt, think of it as Epic/Cerna. Healthtag offers physicians a free cloud based clinic management solution, and equips discount-incentivized patients with a physical card for storing and sharing their medical records across different HCPs.
3- Zazu [Zambia - Fintech] is building the āMarqeta of Africaā. As the African payments landscape is heavily shifting towards consumer and corporate cards, issuing those cards remains a hassle for every fintech on the continent. Zazu is building a card-issuance-as-a-service API to streamline that process.
4- Sudo [Nigeria - Fintech] is building a similar solution to Zazu (mentioned above). I believe the market will be deep enough to contain two large players. Zazu and Sudo have unique unfair advantages so I felt comfortable going with both.
5- Cassbana [Egypt - Fintech] is building a behavior-based scoring system for small merchants in Egypt through micro-lending. Cassbanaās unique model consisting of plugging into existing distributor/retailer ecosystems via partnerships with B2B supply chain companies allows them to easily upsell their customer-base with embedded finance and embedded insurance.
6- Beamm [South Africa - Deeptech] is building an advanced and utterly complex technology allowing mass market users to easily build CGI mobile videos. Such technology is currently extremely costly and is restricted to professionals. Movie and video-game makers have dedicated VFX teams. Beamm is democratizing that access through its soon-to-be-patented technology.
7- Kippa [Nigeria - Fintech] is building āThe Khatabook for Africaāā. The company bundles all-in-one cash flow management, accounting, and a CRM system into a simple SaaS application for businesses to grow sustainably and profitably.
8- Ando Foods [Kenya - Foodtech] is building an infrastructure of cloud-kitchens on which they are launching Africaās best digital food brands. The founders previously held key positions at JavaHouse [$100m PE exit], Jumia and UberEats and are perfectly positioned to build this foodtech giant.
Beyond Africa
9- Tazah [Pakistan - Agritech] is building a B2B fresh produce marketplace that connects farmers and businesses. Tazah aims to develop a tech-enabled distribution marketplace to address inefficiencies within Pakistanās $57b agriculture retail market while offering price transparency, a lower risk of perishability, fast payments, and better unit economics.
10- Oware [Pakistan - Logistics] is building an on-demand network of connected fulfilment centers and transportation solutions enabling a faster route to market. The company leverages technology to integrate supply chain services on a cloud-based platform to centrally manage all nodes with high visibility and control.
11- Abhi [Pakistan - Fintech] is building Pakistanās first financial wellness platform. The company offers a payroll and benefits solution while streamlining the āearly wage accessā process by eliminating frictions such as multiple levels of approvals, onerous paperwork and long processing times to create a seamless experience for both employers and employees.
10- BlotOut [USA - B2B SaaS] is building an alternative to Google Analytics that is focused on customersā privacy. BlotOut is opportunistically filling the expected gap left by the slow death of cross-site scripting. The CEO is a Silicon Valley veteran and a former VP at Brave [20m+ users].
Note: Thereās a few stealth mode companies in the portfolio. This post will be updated after their announcements.
Iām feeling extremely grateful towards:
ā¢ portfolio founders (many of them are now friends) - for welcoming me in one of the hardest and most fulfilling journeys of their life.
ā¢ co-investors - for their collaborative work and positive sum thinking. āGetting smarter togetherā has never been this much fun.
ā¢ LPs - for being early believers. Shout-out to Jim Chu (anchor LP) who played a transformative role in my early career.
Whatās next for me?
Iām excited to announce that Iām joining Target Globalās early stage team covering Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The job title changes, but the mission remains the same.
To the future. šāš½
