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Kenya’s Solarise Africa Secures $3m funding. 2 other stories and a trivia

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

1. Kenya’s Solarise Africa Secures $3M funding

A Kenyan Energy-as-a-Service company, Solarise Africa, has secured $3 million from EDFI ElectriFI to expand its footprints in Kenya.

Geraldine Crosset, ElectriFI Senior Investment Officer at EDFI MC, confirmed the investment on Wednesday in a statement.

According to the statement, the funding would go toward offering specific commercial and industrial (C&I) clients across the continent specialized financing options for decentralized energy solutions.

The renewable energy company was launched in 2017 by Founders Jan Albert Valk, Patrik Huber, and Sakkie Van Wijk.

“Solarise Africa appreciates the trust EDFI ElectriFi continues to place in us with this third investment.

“With the funds, we can further expand our team and hope to make solar energy a reality for more businesses and to help drive renewable energy adoption on the continent,” added Jan-Albert Valk, Co-founder, and CEO, of Solarise Africa.

Crosset added that the fund would bridge the investment needs until the company closes its upcoming equity round.

Tech Trivia: Which of the following is not a graphics language?
A. OpenCL
B. OpenGL
C. MSL
D. CUDA
Answer: see end of post

2. Manafa secures $28M Series A round

Manafa, a crowdfunding fintech, has secured a $28 million Series A round led by STV and Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco.

Read also:Proptech startup, AtarCloud, secures $1.3m Seed Round. 2 other stories and a trivia

Eng. Amr Murad, co-founder, and chairman of Manafa, confirmed the funding in a press release on Wednesday.

The startup claims it provides financial products tailored to fulfill the needs of SMEs in various sectors by offering debt and equity financing based on a crowdfunding model.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that with the participation of more than 100,000 individual and institutional investors, Manafa had funded more than 180 SMEs to date for a total of more than SAR1.5 billion through its platforms.

“At Manafa and since its establishment, we were focused on attracting Saudi competent talents that helped in building a sophisticated technical infrastructure that has enabled the financing of SMEs in less than 48 hours through a network of more than a hundred thousand investors,” said Abdulaziz Al-Adwani, founder and CEO of Manafa Capital.

Manafa intends to increase its offerings and accelerate its growth in the Kingdom by introducing a number of goods and financing options in underserved industries.

3. U.S.-based crypto exchange, Kraken, to shut down operations in Japan

U.S.-based crypto exchange Kraken, on Wednesday, announced plans to cease its operations in Japan next month.

Kraken, in a blog post on Wednesday, said that it would deregister from Japan’s Financial Services Agency as a crypto asset exchange operator from Jan. 31.

The Global cryptocurrency exchange cited a strain on its resources amid a “weak crypto market.”

“Current market conditions in Japan, in combination with a weak crypto market globally, mean the resources needed to grow our business in Japan further aren’t justified at this time.

“As a result, Kraken will no longer service clients in Japan through Payward Asia,” the post read.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that this would be the second time the company will pull out from the Japanese market, having done so in April 2018 through its subsidiary Payward Asia Inc.

Trivia Answer: OpenCL

Stands for “Open Computing Language.” OpenCL is an open standard for cross-platform, parallel programming.

It was originally developed by Apple in 2008 and is now maintained by the Khronos Group.

By Kayode Hamsat

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