LATEST TECH NEWS: Nigeria’s Indicina raises 6-figure funding round. 2 other things and a trivia you need to know today, December 10, 2020

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

1. Nigeria’s Indicina secures 6-figure funding round

Nigerian startup Indicina has announced securing a six-figure US dollar funding round. The startup, which develops a data-driven lending platform to digitise the credit value chain, will invest the fund into product development.

Two-year-old Indicina helps both bank and non-bank lenders apply a data-driven approach to credit underwriting at scale, providing new insights into consumers and de-risking unsecured loans.

Today, the startup offers a cloud-based software to digitise the lending business, with its flagship product Originate taking an analytics-driven approach to lending.

Reviews revealed that the startup has been instrumental to the empowerment of clients in unpacking the credit value chain and digitising each step, including identity verification, credit decisioning, and disbursements and collections.

In 2019, Indicina raised US$100,000 in capital, and recently closed a new, larger six-figure round from investors including Acuity, Kepple, Itanna and Future Africa.

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Tech Trivia:

These underlisted letters below form the first name of a prominent tech leader
O.
L.
N.
E.
Answer: See end of post.

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2. Egypt’s Trella launches offering in Pakistan

Trella, Cairo-based digital trucking marketplace has launched operations in Pakistan. The new space will become Trella’s second new market for the startup in 2020. Two year old Trella was founded to connect shippers with carriers in real-time. Speaking on the milestone of the startup, analysts noted that the startup over the course of 2019 had raised seed funding, and had been accepted into the Y Combinator accelerator. In addition, the startup has acquired a local competitor.

Read also: LATEST TECH NEWS: Ghana’s Koliko launches plan to expand across country. 2 other things and a trivia you need to know today, December 9, 2020

Before the Pakistani launch, Trella had earlier opened its market in Saudi Arabia. Speaking on the development, Saim Chaudhary, country launcher, said the highly fragmented market in Pakistan shared a number of similarities with the market in Egypt, which is reliant on traditional methods of coordination. He said: “Pakistan is one of the largest road freight markets in the MENAP region, and shows significant potential for growth, predominantly due to the burgeoning middle class and the progress of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.”

3. AppsAfrica Awards organiser unveils names of finalists

Today, the final shortlist for the AppsAfrica.com Innovation Awards has been announced. Featuring a host of startups, the award looks to celebrate the best in mobile and tech from across Africa. Being the sixth edition of the AppsAfrica.com Innovation Awards, the initiative attracted over 500 submissions from 51 countries, with solutions launched by startups, established ventures, and corporates. Commenting on the prospect of the initiative, the board stated that the awards strive to showcase leading ventures from across the continent and provide winners with industry recognition, global publicity, and potential investment.

Meanwhile, winners will also stand a chance to participate in Africa Tech Summit Kigali in 2021. The board further stated that applications for the 12 categories were assessed and judged by an independent panel of industry experts including media, investors, and leaders from the tech ecosystem. Amongst the finalists include Kobo360 (Nigeria), Saada Tech (Kenya), Instant Vitals (South Africa), Envisionit Deep AI (South Africa), 54gene (Nigeria) in the Disruptive Innovation Award category. In the HealthTech Award category, however, the list includes Envisionit Deep AI (South Africa), Flare for Rescue by Flare (Kenya), Telecom26 and SystemOne (South Africa), 54gene (Nigeria), Wekebere (Uganda).

Tech Trivia Answer: Elon Musk

Elon Reeve Musk is an engineer, industrial designer, technology entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder, CEO, CTO and chief designer of SpaceX; early investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink; and co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI.

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