TradeDepot raises $110 million, and more

Here are some of the important tech news across emerging markets today:

TradeDepot raises $110 million

TradeDepot, the leading B2B eCommerce and embedded finance platform in Africa has raised $110 million in an equity and debt funding round to support the delivery of Buy-Now-Pay-Later services to 5 million SME retailers and drive further expansion of its merchant platform across the continent.

The Series B equity round was led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) - a member of the World Bank Group, with participation from Novastar, Sahel Capital, CDC Group, Endeavor Catalyst, and existing investors, Partech and MSA Capital. The debt funding was led by Arcadia Funds.

With active operations in 12 cities across Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa, TradeDepot leverages its data, technology, and robust logistics operations to connect retailers with suppliers and unlock financing to fund inventory purchases for retailers, enabling increased sales, higher margins, and other value-added services for all parties.

Pariti raises $2.85 million

Pariti, the Kenya-based community-led marketplace building the digital infrastructure for startup ecosystems in emerging markets, has raised $2.85 million seed, led by U.S.-based Harlem Capital.

The funding would be used to build SaaS workflows to aggregate multiple forms of raising capital, from traditional equity and debt to DeFi solutions, enhance its talent marketplace, create a bespoke solution for investors looking to invest and support founders, hire talent, build bigger communities and expand into new markets, per TechCrunch.

Paymentology and Tutuka announce merger

Two of the world’s leading issuer processors – Paymentology and Tutuka – are merging to create a new payments and card processing powerhouse.

Operating under the Paymentology name, the merger creates a new force in payment solutions; giving banks and fintechs the technology, team and experience to issue and process Mastercard, Visa and UnionPay cards, across 49 countries, including Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The merger creates a powerhouse of over 270 payments and technology experts, working across both developed and emerging markets, serving customers in 49 countries, across 14 time zones – and a platform that is already processing $10 billion in transactions each year.

Tamatem Games raises $11 million

Jordan-based Arabic mobile games publisher, Tamatem Games has raised $11 million in a Series B funding round.

Led by South Korea-based video game developer KRAFTON Inc., with participation from Venture Souq, Endeavor Catalyst, and existing investors including Wamda and 500 Global, the investment will be used to fuel its expansion strategy across the region with an initial focus on Saudi Arabia where it will hire local talent.

The Draft is a daily roundup of the most important tech news across key emerging markets in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East from the Techloy News Team. Follow the rest of our real-time coverage via @techloy on Twitter.