Nigeria’s Bitmama Inc. acquires virtual card startup, Payday. 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’s Bitmama Inc. acquires virtual card startup, Payday

Nigeria’s fintech sector, Bitmama Inc., a blockchain payments platform, has acquired Payday, a virtual card service provider.

This strategic move, orchestrated through Bitmama’s cross-border payments flagship, Changera, is poised to reshape the industry and fortify blockchain-based payment solutions.

Following Payday’s $3 million seed funding round just nine months ago and a thorough exploration of sale options over the past three months, the undisclosed financial terms of this acquisition have been under negotiation for a few weeks and are now reportedly at an advanced stage, nearing 85% completion.

While the fate of Payday’s CEO, Favour Ori, remains uncertain amid Bitmama’s well-established leadership and robust technical team, signs point to a potential departure.

For Payday’s 300,000 customers, now under the care of Changera, the transition promises continuity with no immediate discernible alterations.

This strategic move aims to address operational challenges faced by Payday, such as industry-wide charge-back fraud issues, disruptions in Mastercard services, and senior team exits earlier in 2023.

Trivia: A network socket address combines a computer’s IP address with what?

A. A username

B. An email address

C. A port number

D. A MAC address

Find answer below

2. Nasir El-Rufai unveils plans for $100m VC to support Nigerian startups

Former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has disclosed his intention to launch a $100 million venture capital fund dedicated to nurturing startups across Nigeria.

The former governor revealed this during discussions with BusinessDay newspapers at the Africa Investment Forum in Marrakech.

According to El-Rufai, who expressed a commitment to invest $2 million from his personal funds to kickstart the initiative, emphasized his eagerness to support the fund’s implementation.

In driving the initiative, he noted that he would persuade other investors to contribute the remaining capital.

El-Rufai seeks to establish a venture capital fund or private equity initiative to back young Nigerians with innovative ideas, spanning sectors such as agriculture, ICT, and the creative industry.

Confirming the venture via his X page (formerly Twitter), El-Rufai unveiled the firm’s name as the Afri-Venture Capital Company.

3. Kenya moves to combat counterfeit mobile devices

The Kenyan government, in collaboration with the Communication Authority (CA), is set to deploy Device Management Systems (DMS) on mobile phones as part of its strategy to combat counterfeit devices and mitigate theft.

Eliud Owalo, the ICT Cabinet Secretary, disclosed this plan during a session with the Senate ICT Committee in Nairobi.

The prevalence of counterfeit devices in Kenya, given the crucial role of mobile phones in society, prompted the Communication Authority of Kenya to devise a technological solution.

The proposed system aims to automatically identify and disable end-user equipment that does not meet established standards.

While DMS was initially introduced in 2016, legal hurdles disrupted its implementation.

Safaricom, a key telecom operator, resisted installing DMS on its network, citing unresolved data privacy concerns.

According to a 2019 report from the Anti-Counterfeit Agency, mobile phones constitute 51.8% of all counterfeit goods in Kenya.

The implementation of DMS is expected to significantly curb this issue, marking a crucial step in safeguarding the integrity of mobile devices in the country.

Trivia: A port number

A socket is a software component that helps computer programs communicate over a network. The term “socket” evokes a physical socket that you plug a networking cable into and through which all data travels. Applications establish software networking sockets for a similar purpose — all data an application sends out and receives over a network connection passes through its socket.

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