LATEST TECH NEWS: 5-month-old Ula raises $10.5m. 4 other things and a trivia you need to know today, June 10, 2020

These 5 latest stories from the tech space will keep you updated with trends today.

1. 5 month old Ula raises $10.5 million for its wholesale market

Five-month-old Indonesian startup Ula announced today that it has raised $10.5 million in a new financing round to grow its business in the Southeast Asian market. The Seed round, according to reports, was led by Sequoia India and Lightspeed India.

However, SMDV, Quona Capital, Saison Capital, Alter Global and a clutch of prominent angels including the whole founding team of Bangalore-headquartered business-to-business marketplace Udaan featured as co-participants in the round. Industry review noted that the Jakarta-headquartered startup, which was launched in January this year, operates a wholesale e-commerce marketplace to help store owners stock only the inventory they need while equally giving them a working capital.

2. S’Africa’s fintech truID secures investment from Crossfin

South Africa’s fintech truID has secured an undisclosed sum of investment from African fintech investor Crossfin. The investment was made by Crossfin through its ventures investment arm, Crossfin Ventures. The 5 year old startup provides financial institutions and fintechs with secure access to consumer banking data. Although, founded by Paris Valakelis, Dmitry Drabkin and Christian Schuit joined in 2017 as co-founders.

Industry insight reveals that TruID is looking at using the investment from Crossfin Ventures to further develop its data capabilities, leveraging the group’s broad portfolio of fintech companies. Crossfin COO Anton Gaylard, in a statement on Wednesday, June 10, that truID’s API brings convenience to consumers while helping financial institutions retain customers through improved application processing.

Tech Trivia:

Who said this in 2004: “Two years from now, (email) spam will be solved.”?

A. Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft
B. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple
C. Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape
D. Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web

Answer: See end of post.

3. Annual Investment Meeting Virtual Pitch Competition opens call for application in S. Africa

Applications are now open for South Africa high-growth startups to apply for the Annual Investment Meeting Virtual Pitch Competition. According to the organisers, the winner of a local virtual pitching competition would be flown to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a trip valued at over R100 000 to compete at the Annual Investment Meeting (Aim) which is set to take place in Dubai later this year.

The competition, which involves 80 countries, has been organised by Aim, the UAE’s Ministry of Economy and UAE Vice President and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. In a statement on Tuesday, June 9, the Startup Mzansi Foundation, announced that on 30 June it will be hosting the South African leg of the competition.

4. Kenya’s Raise introduces end-to-end fundraising platform for African startups

Kenyan Raise has introduced a new end-to-end fundraising platform that allows founders and investors to open a private virtual deal room, run fundraising simulations, and issue compliant electronic share and convertible certificates. The 2 year old startup launched its alpha in 2019 at the Africa Tech Summit in Kigali and silently launched its private beta to a waitlist of companies in January of this year.

After going public, the beta programme provides startups with fundraising solutions via a digital platform, designed to simplify the fundraising process and make it easier to track and close deals remotely in Africa. Since January 2020, Raise has transacted a volume of over US$20 million and is used by startups and venture capital firms in Kenya and Nigeria.

5. Apple staff to return to a different kind of office from June 15

Tech gaint Apple is set to reopen its California-based headquarters on June 15, coming after a period of remote working that was prompted by the coronavirus outbreak. A statement from Apple revealed that the return to Apple Park in Silicon Valley will take place gradually, with the majority of workers unlikely to see their desks again for at least several months.

This is coming after similar arrangements recently laid out by other Silicon Valley companies such as Facebook, as the tech industry makes tentative efforts to return to some semblance of normality. New rules, however, would limit the number of people inside any single office space so that social distancing can be observed.

Tech Trivia Answer: Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft

During the 2004 World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Bill Gates — then chief software architect of Microsoft — predicted the end of email spam within two years through several potential means.

Two of the ideas involved solving puzzles while a third, and the most promising according to Gates, would have allowed email recipients to charge the sender a small fee akin to postage stamps, or waive the fee for family and friends.

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