AFRICA – Afriwise, an online legal-information solution across Africa, has received an investment from Belgian financiers Jacques Emsens and Christophe de Limburg Stirum, they have also joined the company’s board of directors.
Afriwise will now be able to accelerate its expansion by adding new countries and more in-depth content to its platform, as well as by further technological development.
The fresh round of funding and the expertise and network of the new investors are expected to be a major boost to the company.
“We are still at the beginning of our journey, however, this announcement of a significant capital injection by European investors is a sign that people are seeing possibilities for Afriwise to become a very big company,” Steven De Backer, Afriwise’s founder, said.
“We have already done the impossible; today our platform is significantly improving the business operations of large multinationals in 11 countries on the continent.”
Afriwise was launched at the end of 2018 to address the poor availability of up-to-date and quality legal information across Africa.
Afriwise offers a centralized and up-to-date platform of the legislation in place, complemented by questions and answers and practical analyzes provided by high-level advisers.
The platform also features legal-monitoring tools, an underlying service for clarification requests and direct access to top in-country legal experts.
“With regulators and legislators expressing a growing appetite for levying fines for companies not complying with local legislation and regulations – for example in the fields of data protection and corporate house-keeping – accessing quality legal information and counsel has never been more important for businesses,” said De Backer.
“We will continue to adapt our platform to meet the needs of our subscribers. Over the coming months and years, I am confident that Afriwise is set to become the undisputed leader of legal information and tools in Africa.”
In three years of existence, the Brussels start-up has already convinced big names, from the French multinational Bolloré to the IT giant IBM, via Pepsico , Deloitte , Vodafone , Roche and even DHL .
