Nigeria’s Sendbox closes $1.8m seed round. 2 other things and a trivia

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

1. Nigeria’s Sendbox closes $1.8m seed round

Sendbox, Nigerian e-commerce fulfilment startup, has announced raising a US$1.8 million seed funding round.

The new raiser is expected to help Sendbox open up new markets for small-scale merchants and help build out West Africa’s e-commerce operating system.

Sendbox was launched in 2018 as an e-commerce fulfilment platform for merchants in Africa.

The platform offers affordable local and international deliveries for small-scale businesses that sell online and on social media platforms but lack delivery capabilities.

Today, the company claims to support over 10,000 merchants selling on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook and has completed over 200,000 deliveries.

The round saw the participation of investors including 4DX Ventures, Enza Capital, FJLabs, Golden Palm Investments, Flexport and Y Combinator.

Tech Trivia: Landscape and portrait are two types of what?
A. Color mode
B. Bit depth
C. Page orientation
D. Resolution
Answer: See end of post

2. Nigeria’s Rent Small Small enters Techstars Toronto accelerator

Rent Small Small, a Nigerian prop-tech startup, has entered the latest cohort of the Techstars Toronto accelerator programme.

Joining the cohort, the startup secured a US$120,000 in funding and assistance in scaling.

Rent Small Small was founded in 2018 as an online platform that allows users to identify homes to rent and pay rent monthly.

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Sources familiar with the startup noted that it has helped renters save NGN550 million (US$1.3 million) on legal and agency fees and provided over 12,000 monthly stays across 18 locations in Lagos State.

The selection follows the acceptance of TalentQL and Plentywaka (now Treepz), who took part in the same programme earlier this year.

The 13-week Techstars Toronto accelerator programme is designed to provide mentorship, funding and access to the Techstars network.

3. Egypt’s ITIDA launches 3rd African App Launchpad Cup

Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) has launched the third edition of the African App Launchpad Cup.

According to the body, the programme is aimed at supporting African tech startups in the field of digital applications and game development.

ITIDA, the executive arm of the Egyptian Ministry of Communication & Information Technology (MCIT), was founded to spearhead the development of the country’s IT industry.

Partnering with IBM for this year’s edition of the competition, the body noted that its registration is open to early-stage startups and entrepreneurs until the end of October.

The competition is part of the “African App Launchpad” presidential initiative which aims at developing the skills and abilities of 10,000 of Africa’s youth, in addition to offering support to 100 African startups in the field of digital applications and game development.

Tech Trivia Answer: Page orientation

Page orientation is the direction in which a document is displayed or printed. The two basic types of page orientation are portrait (vertical) and landscape (horizontal). Most monitors have a landscape display, while most documents are printed in portrait mode.

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