Max.ng, Releaf Group Secure $200,000 From Harambe Entrepreneur

Two Nigerian tech startups Max.ng (Metro Africa Xpress) and Releaf Group have secured $200,000 from the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance. The funds came from the $1 million raised to support African technology startups. The funding comes at a period deals are declining due to the negative impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.

Max.ng and Releaf Group are some of the few startups that have raised funds at a time boardrooms are on lockdown, with deals dropping by 23%. In the recent investment round, Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance invested $100,000 each in Max.ng and Releaf Group, both of which offer hailing service and agric services respectively.

Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance had raised $1 million to enable Venture Capital resume its financial backing of startups in Sub-Saharan Africa after the coronavirus outbreak. Harambe is backed by Cisco Systems Inc. and a foundation of South African businessman, Jonathan Oppenheimer.

Speaking on the essence of funding startups amidst the pandemic, the Chairman of Harambe, Okendo Lewis-Gayle said, “What we suspect is 70% to 80% of non-VC backed startups could vanish over the next three to six months. What this moment requires us to do is to begin to reimagine our business model [and] repurpose our assets."

He added that “As innovators, this is what we do and now have to do so with an added sense of urgency. The capital markets have frozen up. We are hoping to create a domino effect in terms of investment in African startups,” Lewis-Gayle told Bloomberg.

With financial impact expected to be critical for Harambe-backed startups in the next three months, Lewis-Gayle said, “The group has almost 300 members that could potentially apply for funding,”, adding that, “The funding works in a co-investment model, whereby its ventures must also attract interest from other investors.

“We are expecting them to adapt. For example, Max has decided to also include home-deliveries of goods as part of its service, and actually delivers for free to the elderly population.” He said, disclosing that “One of the challenges of the African entrepreneurial ecosystem is that it is still in its early days. Therefore, we don’t quite have enough investors, enough experienced talent for the different parts of the venture,”

Over $500 million have been raised by Harambean startups - which are developing solutions to problems on the African continent - from prominent families, individuals and international companies, including Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Ma and Bill Gates.