Emerald Africa to invests in East African startups. 2 other stories and a trivia

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

1. Emerald Africa to invests in East African startups

A financing facility and startup incubator, Emerald Africa, has announced its interest to invest in two East African startups –namely Patasente and Sevi.

According to the financial firm, its management will provide working capital or cash flow financing at the pre-Seed/Seed stage, offering funding up to $250k.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that Patasente, which is a Ugandan startup in the country’s agriculture value chain, enables transactions between sellers and buyers.

Speaking on its interest in the startup, Emerald Africa highlighted the need to support SMEs, farmers, aggregators, and processors in Uganda’s agricultural ecosystem.

According to media sources, Sevi operates as a Buy Now Pay Later platform specializing in supply chain financing providing lifeline for MSME buyers and sellers.

Led by Alex Simuyandi, Emerald Africa, seeks to invests in tech-enabled digital ventures with a rural or agricultural focus.

Trivia: QWERTY describes what type of input device?

A. Touchscreen
B. Mouse
C. Trackpad
D. Keyboard

See Answer below

2. Tinubu commissions 107 Electric/Gas-Powered Vehicles in Borno state

The President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has commissioned a fleet of 107 electric/gas buses and taxis in Borno State.

The development comes as government explore opportunities to alleviate the impact of the fuel subsidy removal through a mass transit scheme.

The mass transit fleet comprises 35 units of 30-seater gas-powered coaster buses, 12 units of 15-seater gas-powered Hummer buses, 10 units of 50-seater gas-powered mass transit buses, and 50 units of 4-seater electric-powered taxi vehicles.

Speaking during the commissioning event, Tinubu, who commended the governor, said: “We are going to take advantage of your foresight and proactiveness to start an assembly plant at the sub-national level, adding more value to the economy and bringing prosperity to our people. You (Zulum) are doing a good job, thank you very much.”

Also speaking, Governor Zulum noted that the move aligns with his administration’s metro transport scheme in a bid to address the challenges posed by the fuel subsidy removal.

“After you announced the subsidy removal and directed governors to provide immediate palliatives, in Borno State, we decided to invest massively in a mass transit scheme,” he said.

3. UK SumUp secures €285m to drive global expansion

UK-based fintech, SumUp, has secured €285 million (approximately $307 million) in its latest funding round.

The raiser, according to the startup, is expected to help fuel international growth initiatives and while enhancing the startup’s array of payment services tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Valued at approximately €8 billion ($8.6 billion) during its previous funding round led by Bain Capital Tech Opportunities in June last year, SumUp’s latest funding is anticipated to surpass this valuation, although an exact figure has not been disclosed.

Hermione McKee, the Chief Financial Officer, noted that the new funding provides SumUp with “additional firepower” to swiftly introduce enhanced products, ultimately empowering small businesses.

Operating in 36 markets across Europe, the Americas, and recently expanding to Australia in the current year, SumUp has a diverse portfolio of financial and payment products, catering to over 4 million clients.

Trivia Answer: Keyboard

QWERTY (pronounced “quirty”) is an adjective used to describe standard Western (or Latin-based) keyboards. If you look at your keyboard, and the first six letters under the numbers are Q-W-E-R-T-Y, then you have a QWERTY keyboard.

Nearly all keyboards used in the western hemisphere have a QWERTY layout. Some countries use slightly modified versions, such as the Swedish keyboard, which includes the letters Å, Ä, and Ö and the Spanish keyboard, which contains the letters Ñ and Ç. But these keyboards still have the QWERTY characters in the upper-left corner.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now