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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

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

1. Nigeria’s Blueloop closes $77k pre-seed funding

Nigerian fintech startup Blueloop has announced closing US$77,000 in pre-seed funding. The raiser comes after the Fintech player completed building of a new product Flux, a mobile app for crypto-based cross-border payments.

According to reports, the startup, which was co-founded by Ben Eluan, Osezele Orukpe and Israel Akintunde, is the company behind Flux, running as a mobile payments app for cross-border payments using cryptocurrencies.

With Flux, individuals and businesses can send and receive money from anywhere in the world, instantly convert it into cash, and spend it locally from their Flux Wallets.

Reviews further revealed that Flux works like a regular bank app, allowing users to send and receive money locally, send money to banks, and pay for goods and services.

Earlier this year, the founding team had started work on Flux full-time in February, with a first prototype in April.


Tech Trivia:

Which tech platform’s mission statement is summarised thus: our motivation is addressing the biggest challenges facing information professionals today: discovery and access.

A. Twitter
B. Google
C. LinkedIn
D. Wikipedia

Answer: See end of post.


2. South Africa’s Aerobotics expands funding round to $16.5M

South African aerial imaging startup Aerobotics has reportedly expanded upon the funding round led by tech investor Naspers earlier in the year to closed its Series B funding round at ZAR250 million (US$16.5 million).

The six year old company was founded in Cape Town as a startup, using aerial imagery from drones and satellites, and blends them with machine learning algorithms to provide early problem detection services to tree and wine farmers and optimise crop performance.

One of the startup’s cloud-based application Aeroview provides farmers with insights, scout mapping and other tools to mitigate damage to tree and vine crops from pest and disease.

Read also: LATEST TECH NEWS: Kenya’s Pezesha wins 2020 AFI Fintech Showcase. 2 other things and a trivia you need to know today, December 15, 2020

Industry insights revealed that following a Series A round in 2019, Aerobotics raised ZAR100 million (US$6.6 million) from Naspers Foundry in May, and the company has now extended that round to ZAR250 million with participation from FMO and Cathay AfricInvest Innovation, as well as other investors.

Speaking on the use of the fund, the board noted that the new raiser will be used to boost the startup’s international expansion efforts as well as its technological development.

3. Kenyan healthtech startup banks $3.75M led by TLcom

In an investment led by TLcom, Ilara Health, a Kenya-based health tech startup has banked $3.75-million in a Series A funding round. The round saw the participation of DOB Equity, Global Ventures, and Chandaria Capital.

According to press, the startup will use the fund to expand its diagnostic reach across Africa and the development of its innovative integrated patient health management platform.

Emilian Popa, CEO, and co-founder of Ilara Health, who made this public, explained that the funding was critical to their expansion plans and providing inclusive healthcare to everyone.

He said: “This funding round allows us to significantly grow our on-the-ground presence and invest resources into our technology capabilities. In just one year of operation, we have seen the incredible impact our Ilara Health platform has had in delivering improved services across maternal, metabolic, cardiovascular, and infectious disease care.”


Tech Trivia Answer: Wikipedia

With the above adapted mission statement, Wikipedia today is the 5th most visited website on the entire internet; has 500 million monthly visitors; records 8000 views per second; has become the #6 top-referrer to all scholarly articles online with millions of citation clicks per month; contains over 29 million citations on the English Wikipedia alone.

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