Egypt’s Algebra Ventures closes $15M investment. 2 other things and a trivia

This line-up of stories will help you discover the latest happenings around the tech world, today.

1. Egypt’s Algebra Ventures closes $15M investment

Egypt-based VC, Algebra Ventures, has announced closing a $15M investment from International Finance Cooperation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.

The new investment vehicle followed the VC’s first $54 million fund last year which it invested in startups such as Trella, elmenus, GoodsMart, and Halan.

The new fund, according to the company, will be used to sponsor its US$90 million second fund.

Algebra Ventures was founded in 2015 by Karim Hussein, Tarek Assaad, and Ziad Mokhtar.

Tarek Assaad, Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures, in a bulletin made available to local media, expressed delight on the relationship between Algebra Ventures and IFC, looking forward to having a strengthened partnership in the future.

“We are delighted to see IFC return as a limited partner in our second fund, having invested in our first fund five years ago as well as directly into our portfolio,” he said.

“IFC has been one of our strongest partners since day one and believed in our vision when there was no venture capital to speak of in Egypt. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership going forward,” he added.

Tech Trivia: The process of adding a new program to your computer is also called what?
A Installing
B Downloading
C Importing
D Restoring
Answer: see end of post

2. Zambia’s fintech, Union54, raises $12M seed extension round

A Zambian virtual and physical debit card issuing fintech, Union54, has raised a $12M in seed extension round.

Read also: Techstars shortlists three Nigerian startups for accelerator. 2 other things and a trivia

Perseus Mlambo, Union54’s CEO, disclosed this in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Monday.

The new raiser, according to Perseus, was led by Tiger Global and saw participation from Vibe VC, Earl Grey Capital, and Packy Mccormick’s Not Boring Capital.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that the two-year old company was founded by Alessandra Martini, Perseus Mlambo.

Speaking on the mission of the startup, Perseus noted that the team is solving challenge of slow transactions.

He said: “When you think about the card networks today, they’re not fit for African merchants because settlement is often taking three days for a local debit card, maybe it’s taking over seven days for an international debit card.

“There’s a significant opportunity as the world realigns itself; we need to get to a point where we’ve got a payments route that needs to be developed locally for local use.”

3. Cape Town launches load-shedding mobile application

The City of Cape Town has announced the launch of a load-shedding mobile application.

Mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, made the announcement in a press brief on Monday.

The new mobile application is designed to inform residents when load shedding will be implemented in their areas.

Mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, while making the announcement, noted that the app would make load-shedding schedules available to customers.

He said: “The app keeps customers updated with the City’s load-shedding schedule by adding their area or suburb via a map, their current location, or by searching the search box.”

Ripples Nigeria gathered that customers can view their area’s load-shedding status and timetables, use the app to log service requests with the City, or find vendors selling prepaid electricity.

The app is available for download from the Apple and Google Play stores.

Trivia answer: Installing

Most software programs require that you first install them on your computer before using them.

For example, if you buy Microsoft Office, you need to install it on your computer before you can run any of the included programs such as Word or Excel. You can install software from a CD or DVD, an external hard drive, or from a networked computer.

You can also install a program or software update from a file downloaded from the Internet.

By Kayode Hamsat

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