LATEST TECH NEWS: Nigerian Oil and Gas Tech Hackathon unveils winners. 2 other things and a trivia you need to know today, December 17, 2020

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

1. Nigerian Oil and Gas Tech Hackathon unveils winners

The Nigerian Oil and Gas Technology (NOGTECH) Hackathon has unveiled winning startups in its just concluded competition.

The winners, five Nigerian startups, will, according to reports, share $50,000 for product development.

The five selected winners emerged from semi-final where fifteen contestants were asked to present their innovations to a panel of experts during the three-day NOGTECH hackathon.

Unveiling the names of the winners, the organising body listed startups to included Fuel Intellisense, Homefort Energy, Gricd Mote, Kiakia Gas, and Airsynq.

After the presentation, and the opportunities to engage with industry experts, mentors, and entrepreneurs, the winning five Nigerian startups were awarded a cheque valued at $10,000 as an equity-free grant.

Meanwhile, they are expected to undergo a three-month incubation programme with the hope to provide them a workspace, expert mentors, global partners, and the opportunity to gain access to networks relating to the nation’s oil and gas industry.

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Tech Trivia:

Which of these is the first web-based e-mail service?

A. Hotmail
B. Yahoo Mail
C. GMail
D. Rediff Mail

Answer: See end of post.

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2. Silicon Valley based platform Starsona Inc. merges with myFanPark

South Africa’s fan-celebrity engagement platform myFanPark has announced its merger with Silicon Valley-based celebrity engagement marketplace, Starsona Inc.

The merger will facilitate myFanPark’s entry into the US market, opening doors for possible international investment and access to a wider customer base. In addition, the merger also marks the startup’s fourth international market expansion in 2020.

Read also: LATEST TECH NEWS: Nigeria’s Blueloop raises $77k pre-seed funding. 2 other things and a trivia you need to know today, December 16, 2020

Speaking to reporters, the body noted that the success of the merger validates myFanPark as a leading global celebrity engagement platform.

In a recent official press release, Jean de Villiers former Springbok and co-founder of myFanPark commented that that the merger not only benefits the company but largely impacts fans by improving their experiences on the platform.

He said: “We are thrilled to announce myFanPark’s merger with Silicon Valley-based celebrity engagement platform, Starsona, which not only further expands myFanPark’s global footprint from SA to India, Germany, Nigeria, and now the USA, but also gives fans around the world more unique and authentic ways to connect with those they admire most.”

3. Fintech startup GoCardless closes fresh $95M

London based fintech player, GoCardless has announced closing another $95M as it bets on open banking alongside its recurring payments network.

The London fintech aims, according to reports, to become the one-stop shop globally for businesses that want to let customers pay via recurring bank payments.

Following the raiser, however, the company now poses as much coveted unicorn startup.

The latest fundraiser was led by Bain Capital Ventures, and follows 46% year-on-year growth for GoCardless as it benefits from an increase in e-commerce and online payments generally during the pandemic. However, the development brings the total raised by the company to-date to $240 million.

Speaking further on the development, the company revealed that it will use the funding to accelerate its open banking strategy, which will see it combine open banking-enabled bank-to-bank payments with the global bank debit payments network it has already built out.

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Tech Trivia Answer: Hotmail

Hotmail service was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith in 1996, and was acquired a year later (1997) by Microsoft for an estimated $400 million. Upon acquisition by Bill Gates, it was further developed into a personal information manager web app from Microsoft consisting of webmail, contacts, tasks, and calendaring services under a new name: OUTLOOK.

Before the name change, however, it was first relaunched as MSN Hotmail, and later rebranded to Windows Live Hotmail which was featured as part of the Windows Live suite of products. Microsoft phased out Hotmail in October 2011, relaunching the service as Outlook.com in 2012.

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