LATEST TECH NEWS: S.African startup launches pre-accelerator program to empower women. 1 other thing and a trivia you need to know today, September 1, 2020

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

1. S. African startup launches pre-accelerator program to empower women

In a bid to empower black women founders, I’M IN, an early-stage accelerator program, has opened calls for applications, seeking technology for business idea or concept owned by the female gender. Successful applicants, according to reports, would be offered R100, 000 in pre-seed funding for 10% equity. Speaking on the development, a spokesperson of the board of directors noted that the “I’M IN” Accelerator was aimed at supporting and the upliftment of all-Black women-owned tech startups.

Founded by IDF Capital, the first instalment of the program will kick-off in September 2020. The accelerator program is expected to runs for 10 months. Since 2015, when it launched, it has provided support to 97 technology startups and trained 35 of them. While the organisers hopes to join the league of tech players empowering the female gender, the program has till date provided capital amounting to over R38-million to successful applicants.

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Tech Trivia:

A “clickable” web address embedded into a web document is called what?

A. Cursory
B. Clickhost
C. Hyperlink
D. Follow through

Answer: See end of post.

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2. Kenyan MNO Safaricom launches Spark Venture Fund

Leading Kenyan mobile network operator (MNO) Safaricom has, today, launched the second edition of its Spark Venture Fund. According to Safaricom, the fund looks to invest a total of US$6 million in several innovative Kenyan tech startups. Six year old Safaricom launched in 2014 to invest and support late-seed, early growth stage companies with a presence in Kenya, whilst leveraging Safaricom assets to enable the companies to scale.

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Unlike the first edition where a US$1 million fund was invested in six Kenyan startups; the second edition, sizing its magnitude, comes relatively bigger as the new Spark Venture Fund will table US$6 million, at US$500,000 each for successful startups. The company stated in a press release that the fund is expected to support startup scale as they look to boost the Kenyan economy. The release read, in part: “The new allocation will go a long way in supporting the successful development and growth of high potential tech startups in Kenya. The fund will support startups through a combination of investment, business development support and technical assistance leveraging on Safaricom’s unique capabilities, assets and market positioning.”

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Tech Trivia Answer: Hyperlink

A hyperlink is a word, phrase, or image that you can click on to jump to a new document or a new section within the current document. Hyperlinks are found in nearly all Web pages, allowing users to click their way from page to page. Text hyperlinks are often blue and underlined, but don’t have to be. When you move the cursor over a hyperlink, whether it is text or an image, the arrow should change to a small hand pointing at the link. When you click it, a new page or place in the current page will open.

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