Japan’s Giant SBI Holdings commits $40m to Startups. 3 other stories and a trivia

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

1. Japan’s Giant SBI Holdings commits $40m to Startups

SBI Holdings, one of Japan’s largest venture capital groups, has announced a partnership with Novastar Ventures, a VC investor in Africa.

This partnership includes a $40 million multi-fund investment by SBI Holdings, anchoring Novastar’s upcoming funds and facilitating Japanese investment in Africa’s dynamic startup ecosystem.

The CEO of SBI Holdings, Yoshitaka Kitao, confirmed this in a press release seen by Ripples Nigeria on Friday, November 3, 2023.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that SBI Holdings rallies matching investments from Japanese institutional investors to support Novastar’s funds.

The collaboration aims to leverage Novastar’s experience and presence in Africa to foster co-investment opportunities and share market knowledge.

Speaking on the development, Yoshitaka Kitao noted that the collaboration has an opportunity to establish a trusted bridge between Japan and Africa for financial and strategic investment, knowledge transfer, and innovation.

Trivia: A data transfer initiated by a server instead of a client is called what?

A. Shove
B. Push
C. Give
D. Flex

See Answer below

2. Nigeria’s Tizeti closes debt financing for expansion

Nigerian solar-based internet service provider, Tizeti, has closed a long-term debt financing to expand its broadband network across 15 states in the country.

The news was confirmed by Tizeti CEO, Kendall Ananyi, in a press release seen by Ripples Nigeria on Friday, November 3, 2023.

Based in Lagos, Tizeti provides high-speed unlimited Wi-Fi internet access using wide-area Wi-Fi to residential and business customers.

Since its launch, the startup serves customers nationwide, is currently expanding to other African countries.

The long-term debt financing comes from Chapel Hill Denham’s Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NIDF).

On expectations from the new development, Kendall Ananyi, stated that they aim to use domestic capital to address digital exclusion barriers in Nigeria and expand their last-mile digital infrastructure, increasing coverage from five states to become the largest internet service provider in Nigeria by coverage.

Today, Tizeti serves over three million subscribers, including residential facilities, businesses, and hotspot users, with its solar-powered base stations in five states.

3. Cryptocurrency tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried guilty on multiple counts

Sam Bankman-Fried, the once-prominent figure in the world of cryptocurrency exchanges, has been convicted on all seven criminal counts against him after a month-long trial in New York.

The founder of FTX now faces a maximum prison sentence of 115 years.

Bankman-Fried, a 31-year-old with a background in legal scholarship and a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was found guilty of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud against FTX customers and Alameda Research lenders.

The counts also include conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud against FTX investors, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The charges stemmed from the collapse of FTX and its sister hedge fund Alameda late last year.

Bankman-Fried had initially pleaded not guilty to these accusations.

Key witnesses during the month-long trial included Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend and former head of Alameda, as well as FTX co-founder Gary Wang, who had been a childhood friend of Bankman-Fried.

Both witnesses had pleaded guilty to multiple charges in December and cooperated with the prosecution.

Bankman-Fried largely based his defense on his own testimony, where he claimed that he had not committed fraud or stolen customer funds but had made business mistakes instead.

4. Dubai launches $136m fund for fintech industry

Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ) has unveiled a venture capital fund named Oraseya Capital, with a value of AED500 million ($136 million).

According to media sources, the fund is aimed at supporting fintech startups, and will focus on investments from the pre-Seed stage to Series B.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that the primary objectives of this fund is to address gaps in corporate finance, as well as assist startups in expanding globally and invest in cutting-edge technology.

The fund was inaugurated under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The initiative aligns with the Dubai Economic Agenda and focuses on promoting the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging sectors.

Trivia Answer: Push

Push refers to a system in which data is “pushed” to a device by a server rather than “pulled” or “fetched” after a request by the user. The server initiates the data transfer when new content is available without any action taken by the client device.

Apple, Microsoft, and Google include support in their mobile and desktop operating systems for push notifications. These notifications allow a remote server to push information through an application you have installed into the operating system’s notification center.

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