LATEST TECH NEWS: CcHub acquires Kenya’s eLimu as education arm. 2 other things and a trivia you need to know today, October 29, 2020

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

1. CcHub acquires Kenya’s eLimu as education arm

Pan-African technology innovation centre Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) has, today, acquired Kenyan ed-tech startup eLimu. The deal, according to reports, will see the Kenyan company become the educational arm of the incubator. CcHub’s new acquisition comes three months after its launch of the 2020 edition of its Women In Business programme, aimed at supporting women-led businesses from Nigeria and Kenya looking to leverage technology to scale their solutions in the African market.

Reviews revealed that eLimu has developed revision and literacy platforms that make learning fun and engaging for children both at school and at home, combining engaging content with proven pedagogies. With this, the startup has helped improve learning outcomes for over 500,000 learners to date, and it will now become part of the Nigeria-headquartered CcHub after it was acquired by iHub, the Kenyan innovation hub owned by CcHub. Speaking on the development, CcHub noted that the goal of the acquisition was to transform eLimu into the digital education platform arm of the company.

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Tech Trivia:

Identify the odd company on the list.

A. Alibaba
B. Huawei
C. Lenovo
D. HP

Answer: See end of post.

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2. Cape Verde-based events startup signs merger with Portuguse company

Event ticketing and marketing platform Passafree has signed a corporate merger with Portuguese company Best-id to form PassiD. The merger, according to press, is expected to facilitate the new venture’s success in scaling across Africa and Europe. Three year old Passafree provides event producers with an end-to-end management solution, including the ability to accept payments during events using RFID wristbands. Recall, the startup was named winner of the Cape Verde leg of the Seedstars competition last September, increasing uptake, and it has now merged with Portuguese company Best-id to create PassiD.

Read also: LATEST TECH NEWS: WhatsApp to launch features to support local SMEs. 2 other things and a trivia you need to know today, October 28, 2020

Giving a background into the journey of the event ticketing startup, industry experts noted that Passafree founder Helga Ortet started selling tickets in 2011 as a university student. Thereafter, he created the Passafree brand in 2015, and launched it as a company in 2017. Although, as a stand-alone entity, Passafree was able to build a level of market dominance; by joining forces with the Portuguese company, it looks to further scale its brand. Speaking on revenue cut, Ortet noted that his startup generates revenue on commission. He said: “We earn commissions on ticket sales and cashless payments, and we have other extra services that we provide to event producers. On profits so far we have only covered expenses. We are not yet generating a profit, but this year has not been easy for anyone. It remains to see what 2021 will bring.”

3. Nigerian startup SeamPay launches digital payment wallet

With the vision to provide users with a fast, safe, easy and contact-free way to send and receive money and pay for products and services, Nigerian fintech startup SeamPay has officially launched a mobile wallet that sees to this end. The newly launched venture aims to provide users with payment experiences that are seamless, inclusive, simple, and delightful. According to Abubakar Mohammed, co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO), the mobile wallet was inspired by the vacuum created by existing players. He stated: “As customers ourselves, we have frequently experienced the failures of the current payment system in Africa which brought about the inception of SeamPay.” The startup has, however, stated that it is currently working on its MVP and seeking product-market fit.

He said: “The Nigerian market had quite a number of successful launches in the area of fintechs rising up to create a product or provide an alternative solution, ranging from digital banks to mobile payments solutions and so much more.” Adding that existing ventures failed as they major in replicating similar industry solutions. “The major gap in the market is that most of the fintechs were actually replicating already existing systems and trying to package it differently, and this allowed us to actually understand that payment systems are still unreliable, unsecured and often-times complicated. The market still needs a reliable, secure, fast and instant payment system without all the drawbacks current systems are known for,” he submitted.

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Tech Trivia Answer: HP

Unlike other companies on the list with Chinese origin, Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett–Packard or HP is an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

It develops and provides a wide variety of hardware components as well as software and related services to consumers, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health and education sectors.

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