South Africa-based Qwili, a hybrid hardware-software startup, raised $1.2 million in SEED led by E4E Africa, an entrepreneur-centric VC firm, where Strat-Tech, Next Chymia, and Untapped Global alongside other funds and angel investors also participated.
Qwili’s product is an NFC-enabled smartphone and a digital sales ecosystem. Its software converts users’ phones into point-of-sale devices, allowing them to sell value-added services to their friends and communities such as data, electricity, pay-TV subscriptions, groceries, clothing, and much more. In addition to bolstering Qwili’s current impact, the funding has enabled a critical expansion of the Qwili team and development capabilities, the introduction of new product offerings, and a greater emphasis on R&D in the hardware component of the business.
