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Nigerian-founded fintech startup, Zazuu, secures $2m. 2 other stories and a trivia

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

1. Nigerian-founded fintech startup, Zazuu, secures $2m

A U.K.-based and Africa-focused fintech startup, Zazuu, has secured a new $2 million venture round to expand infrastructure.

The new round of funding was confirmed in a statement by Zazuu CEO, Kay Akinwunmi, seen by Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday.

The UK-based company was founded in 2018 by Kay Akinwunmi, Tola Alade, and Tosin Ekolie.

According to Akinwunmi, Zazuu is a platform for sending money across the border.

According to the statement, Zazuu’s financing round came from Launch Africa and Founders Factory Africa, Hoaq Club, British rapper Tinie Tempah, iROKOtv founder and CEO Jason Njoku and Kuda chief executive Babs Ogundeyi.

Akinwunmi further explained the challenges Africans face in sending money.

“We’ve experienced this. Seeing my mom send money and the friction there is pretty much the story of millions of Africans and migrants sending money,” said Akinwunmi.

Tech Trivia: A network card has a unique identifier also known as what?
A. Net ID
B. MAC address
C. Subnet mask
D. Domain name
Answer: see end of post

2. Moroccans set to benefit from Thune and Attijariwafa Bank partnership

Singapore-based global cross-border payment company, Thune, has signed a strategic partnership with Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank.

Read also:Dubai launches $100m fund to support startups and lead job creation

Asma Ben Gamra, VP of network development, MENA, at Thunes, disclosed the strategic partnership in a media release seen by Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday.

Ripples Nigeria understands that the partnership will ease payment transactions for bank owners in Morocco.

Thunes, which is a B2B cross-border payments network, enables corporates and financial institutions to move funds seamlessly and provide financial services in emerging markets.

The Singaporean fintech company was founded in 2016 by Steve Vickers.

“Morocco is a major force in the North African economy, with a GDP of over $100 billion, and it is a key financial hub in the region,” says Ben Gamra.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that Morocco is the third largest remittance receiver in Africa, and has “nearly 30 million” bank account owners.

3. Africa-focused renewable energy company, Persistent Energy, secures $10m

An Africa-focused renewable energy company, Persistent Energy, has on Wednesday announced securing a $10 million Series C funding led by Kyuden International Corporation.

The new investment was confirmed in a statement by Persistent Energy’s managing director, Tobias Ruckstuhl.

According to Ruckstuhl, the equity round saw participation from six new private investors, including Kotaro Tamura, as well as existing investors like BK Ventures BV and DPI Energy Ventures.

The US-based startup helps startups build businesses that can “scale sustainably” from ideation to the early growth stage.

Founded in 2012, the clean technology company says the fund will be used to boost infrastructural development and expand into sub-Saharan Africa.

“Many more companies need to be started and built-in order to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the next 10 years. Kyuden and FSDAi are committed to our entrepreneurial climate venture building model,” said Ruckstuhl.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that Persistent has made 22 early-stage investments (2 exits) in PAYGO solar home systems, commercial and industrial solar, ecosystem enablers, and e-mobility players.

Trivia Answer: MAC address

MAC address stands for “Media Access Control Address,” and no, it is not related to Apple Macintosh computers.

A MAC address is a hardware identification number that uniquely identifies each device on a network.

By Kayode Hamsat

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