Nigeria launches $618M subvention to fund startups. 2 other stories and a trivia

This line-up of stories will help you discover the latest happenings around the tech world, today

1. Nigeria launches $618M subvention to fund startups

A $618 million subvention fund has been launched by the Nigerian government in partnership with regional and international partners to invest in the nation’s creative and digital sectors.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this at an event marked for the launching.

Ripples Nigeria understands that the $672 million fund was established as part of the Digital and Creative Enterprises Programme (DCEP), a government program meant to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in the creative and digital tech sectors, with a focus on job creation.

“It is now imperative to commence a coordinated approach towards innovation on the continent, bringing together all stakeholders to coordinate efforts at scaling up investments and building programmes that provide the right enabling environment and produce talent pipelines that support the growth of innovation on the continent,” the VP said at the event.

The African Development Bank will contribute $170 million, Agence Francaise de Developpement will provide $116 million, and the Islamic Development Bank will contribute $70 million.

The Nigerian government, through the Bank of Industry, will provide $45 million, while the private sector has pledged $271 million.

Tech Trivia: Which image format can be scaled larger without losing quality?
A. JPEG
B. PNG
C. SVG
D. TIFF
Answer: see end of post

2. Chipper Cash allegedly considering sale despite CEO’s assurance

Silicon Valley Bank-backed fintech, Chipper Cash, is allegedly considering a sale despite the CEO’s assurance.

Sources privy to the development disclosed on Thursday that the unicorn is weighing its options between another round of funding and a sale on the cards.

Read also:Healthtech startup, Envisionit Deep AI, raises $1.65M investment. 2 other stories and a trivia

Recall that the cross-border payments startup recently raised $150 million in a Series C extension round from SVB in 2021 which valued it at over $2 billion.

The insiders claimed that the corporation could carry on as usual and that the collapse of SVB is not to blame for these changes.

Ripples Nigeria earlier reported that the impact of Silicon Valley Bank’s liquidation has spread into the cryptocurrency industry as USD Coin (USDC), the second most valuable Stablecoin, hit an all-time low.

3. LinkedIn launches AI-Powered features to aid profile optimization and recruitment

Microsoft-owned professional networking site, LinkedIn, is launching AI-powered writing recommendations feature to aid profile optimization and recruitment.

The company made the announcement in a blogpost seen by Ripples Nigeria on Thursday.

Ripples Nigeria understands that these services will initially be made available to consumers who want to spruce up their LinkedIn profiles and recruiters who are creating job descriptions.

According to the post, the AI will review the details provided about professional background and skill set, decide which details are most remarkable, and condense those details into a headline and about-section description.

Both are built on advanced GPT models, said Tomer Cohen, LinkedIn’s chief product officer.

“Our tool identifies the most important skills and experiences to highlight in your About and Headline sections, and crafts suggestions to make your profile stand out,” the company notes.

With the new feature, LinkedIn has joined the ranks of platforms incorporating generative AI technology.

Trivia Answer: SVG

Scaling down an image makes it smaller while scaling up an image makes it larger. Both raster graphics and vector graphics can be scaled, but they produce different results.

By Kayode Hamsat

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