1. Serengeti Angels Seeks Startups for Pitch Event
Serengeti Angels, a Tanzanian angel investor network, is looking for startups to pitch at its Harambee Evening in September 2024. It wants startups that are using technology to solve big problems in Tanzania.
This fits with what's happening in angel investing across Africa. Investors want to back companies that can make a real difference locally.
For Tanzanian startups, this is a chance to get early funding and support. Angel investing is growing in Tanzania, but slowly. In the first half of 2023, there were 8 angel-backed startup deals in Tanzania. This was about 2% of all such deals in Africa during that time.
Serengeti Angels is doing this at a time when Tanzania is trying to make things better for startups and investors. The government is working with organizations like the Tanzania Startup Association (TSA) to improve rules and support.
For angel investors, this event provides an opportunity to discover promising new ventures in sectors like fintech, agritech, and health tech. Why? Those areas have been popular among Tanzanian business angels. However, given Serengeti Angels' open call for innovative solutions to critical challenges, we might see pitches from a wide range of sectors.
This initiative could help address one of the key challenges faced by angel investors in Tanzania: finding high-quality deal flow. The network is curating pitches to create a pipeline of investment-ready ventures for its members.
2. TMDA Introduces Fast-Track for Health Tech Startups
The Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) has announced a new fast-track licensing process and fee exemptions for local companies. This move, announced on July 25, aims to accelerate innovation in medical device manufacturing and healthcare services in Tanzania.
Health tech startups make up 9.21% of Tanzania's 842 known startups, according to the TSA. This puts the estimated number of known health tech ventures at around 78, indicating a growing niche in the country's tech ecosystem.
While Tanzania's startup scene is still developing, this targeted support for health tech mirrors successful strategies in more mature African ecosystems:
Nigeria: The recent Startup Act includes tax breaks for different fast-growing companies, including those in health servce delivery.
Kenya: The country’s Communications Authority has implemented a regulatory sandbox that allows innovators to test emerging ICT products (i.e., telemedicine or electronic medical records) and services in a controlled environment.
South Africa: Offers a 150% deduction on qualifying R&D expenditure, which can benefit medtech companies.
The TMDA's support might:
Reduce legal barriers that often deter early-stage investors
Accelerating time-to-market for health innovations
Potentially lowering capital requirements for startups
The TMDA is offering:
Exemptions on quality audit inspection fees
Waiver of alteration and retention fees
Removal of raw material importation fees
Elimination of finished product export fees
These measures directly address key pain points in the medical device and pharmaceutical sectors, where regulatory compliance costs can be expensive for startups.
Why is this important?
Statista values Tanzania's hospital market alone at $957.4 million in 2024 and is projected to generate revenues worth $1.4 billion by 2029. So, promoting local health innovation could help capture more of this value domestically. It can reduce reliance on imported medical technologies.
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Swahilies, a seed-stage Tanzanian fintech startup, is launching a paid subscription model for its Momoa app, which serves mobile money agents. This move comes after 10 months of close collaboration with agents to understand their operational challenges.
The app now provides employee management tools, commission recording, and expense tracking capabilities. Why is this important? With 55.8 million Tanzanian mobile money accounts reported in July 2024, agents play a crucial role in our financial system. Swahilies' focus on empowering these agents sets it apart from major telecom-led mobile money services like Vodacom's M-Pesa and Tigo's Tigo Pesa, which primarily target consumers.
The shift to a paid model suggests growing confidence in the app's value proposition and a move towards sustainable revenue generation. However, it also presents challenges. Swahilies may face resistance from agents accustomed to free or low-cost tools and will need to continuously innovate to justify subscription costs. The company is also operating in a competitive industry, with Tanzania having 48 fintech startups as of 2022, up from 33 in 2021.
Despite these challenges, Swahilies' focus on agent tools presents a unique value proposition in a market where fintech attracted 51% of all startup funding in Africa in 2022. The company is targeting a critical but often overlooked segment of Tanzania's financial infrastructure. Addressing the operational needs of mobile money agents is important.