Egypt’s MNT-Halan closes $130m in new raiser. 2 other stories and a trivia

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

1. Egypt’s MNT-Halan closes $130m in new raiser

An Egyptian fintech startup, MNT-Halan, has closed a $130 million funding to mark the fifth tranche of securitised bond issuances this year.

These funds have propelled the company’s total 2023 funding to over $400 million.

The Founder and CEO, Mounir Nakhla, confirmed this in a press release seen by Ripples Nigeria on Monday, November 6, 2023.

Established in 2018, MNT-Halan’s core mission is to digitally empower the unbanked population and replace cash transactions with electronic solutions.

The MNT-Halan digital ecosystem encompasses services such as small and micro-business lending, payment solutions, consumer finance, and e-commerce.

The new milestone also elevated the company to unicorn status, with a valuation exceeding $1 billion.

MNT-Halan attributes the strong appetite for these issuances to the “resilience” of its business model, the “high quality of its loan book,” and the robust pay-back capability of the underlying loans.

Trivia: How does edge caching improve a website’s performance?

A. By caching a copy of data on a server close to the user
B. By compressing data using multiple compression algorithms
C. By identifying and removing redundant data
D. By distributing data across a peer-to-peer network.

See Answer below

2. Huawei partners SARA to boost rail IT infrastructure

A global IT infrastructure company, Huawei has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Southern African Railways Association (SARA) to establish a collaborative framework aimed at advancing the digital transformation of railway transport and corridor logistics within the SADC region.

During the recent Southern African Railways Association event, Huawei showcased its role in driving the digital revolution in the railway sector.

The company’s technology solutions, including the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS), 5G Digital Indoor System (DIS), and Rail Cloud, hold the potential to greatly enhance the safety, efficiency, and overall quality of the railway experience.

Guo Guoqing, President of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa Enterprise Business, emphasized the shared objective within the railway industry to implement solutions that enhance intelligence, safety, visualization, efficiency, and reliability.

Seamless communication of mission-critical data from signaling equipment, combined with onboard radio and video connections, has the potential to significantly improve the effectiveness and safety of railway operations.

However, enabling such connectivity for trains traversing diverse landscapes, including rural and urban areas, presents a considerable challenge.

To address this challenge, Huawei advocates a transition away from traditional UHF and 2G GSM-R telecom networks that have been the backbone of railway communications for the past two decades.

According to the partners, existing technologies have become obsolete and cannot meet the bandwidth and data demands of modern railways.

Huawei also demonstrated its capabilities in the 5G space and their application to the railway industry.

The 5G Digital Indoor System (DIS) lays the foundation for intelligent transportation hubs, enhancing passenger services, security checks, and ticketing services, among others.

3. Riyadh Valley Company backs Flat6labs’ startup seed fund

Riyadh Valley Company, the investment arm of King Saud University, has announced its participation in the venture capital fund known as Flat6labs Startup Seed Fund (SSF), managed by Flat6labs, a player in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The CEO of Riyadh Valley Company, Dr. Khalid Al-Saleh, confirmed this in a press release seen by Ripples Nigeria on Monday, November 6, 2023.

Ripples understands that the Flat6labs SSF is dedicated to supporting early-stage companies, with a particular focus on Saudi Arabian startup founders across various technology sectors, including financial technology, health, education, and tourism.

The fund will collaborate closely with Riyadh Valley Company, with the aim of fostering an innovative ecosystem at King Saud University.

Speaking on the plan, Dr. Khalid Al-Saleh, CEO of Riyadh Valley Company, explained that the investment in the Flat6labs SSF aligns with the company’s investment strategy and plays a significant role in advancing the local knowledge economy.

This is achieved through partnerships between educational and research institutions, the business community, and the investment sector.

Trivia Answer: By caching a copy of data on a server close to the user

Edge caching is a mechanism content delivery networks (CDNs) use to cache Internet content in different locations around the world. Examples include website data, cloud storage, and streaming media. By storing copies of files in multiple “edge” locations, a CDN can deliver content to users more quickly than a single server can.

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