Nigeria’s Yellow Card secures $15m Series A funding. Two 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 Yellow Card secures $15m Series A funding

Yellow Card, a Nigerian startup that deals with cryptocurrency exchange, has announced securing a US$15 million in Series A funding.

The fund, according to the startup, is to ramp up hiring and continue its expansion across the continent.

The startup was launched in 2018 as a venture making it easy for anyone, anywhere in Africa, to buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT Stablecoin using cash, mobile money, card, or bank transfer.

Today, the crypto company has presence in 12 African countries, and has seen a nearly 30X increase in users across Africa, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The startup noted that the new raiser will be dedicated to the expansion of its operations and team.

The deal book revealed that the US$15 million round was led by Valar Ventures, Third Prime, and Castle Island Ventures.

The fund, however, saw the participation of Square, Blockchain.com Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, BlockFi, Fabric Ventures, Raba Partnership, MoonPay, GreenHouse Capital, and more.

Tech Trivia: A network designed to allow communication within an organization is called:

A) the World Wide Web
B) Yahoo
C) an intranet
D) the Internet
Answer: See end of post

2. Egypt’s Pravica raises funding to scale operations

Pravica, a blockchain and Cairo-based startup, has raised an undisclosed investment led by a Swiss VC.

The fund, according to the Cairo-based company, is to help it scale operations as it looks to building a more robust portfolio.

In 2019, the startup was founded by Mohamed Abdou, who thought to utilise blockchain in empowering user privacy and security in the communication industry.

On the raiser, the startup noted that the round was led by Swiss venture capital firm and incubator Crypto Valley Venture Capital (CV VC).

READ ALSO: Agri-fintech startup HelloChoice closes investment from Standard Bank. 1 other thing and a trivia

Projecting its venture, the startup noted that by the end of the 2022 financial year, it aims to onboard more than 5,000 enterprises with an average of 500,000 users combined.

Mohamed Abdou said: “We are reinventing digital communication protocols by utilising Stacks Blockchain and its smart contracts to engineer a tamper-proof decentralised identity that is secured by the Bitcoin network and a fully decentralised storage system.”

3. Gokada expands into Ibadan as it looks to resume ride-hailing venture

Nigeria-based last mile delivery, logistics and transportation startup, Gokada, has expanded into Ibadan as it looks to resume its ride-hailing business.

The startup, which was founded in 2018, is touted to have evolved from a ride-hailing player to become a food delivery, parcel delivery, and last-mile e-commerce fulfilment solution.

In 2019, the company closed US$5.3 million in Series A funding.

Recall, however, that the company hit a low when Lagos State government placed a ban on motorcycles in the state.

The startup recently launched its super app, a development that stunted its expansion strategy.

With its new entry into Ibadan, the largest city in Nigeria, the company looks to roll out its offerings such as food delivery (GFood) and logistics services (GSend).

Plans also include resuming ride-hailing (GRide) and e-commerce (GShop) later in the year.

Tech Trivia Answer: an intranet

An intranet is a private computer network, usually within an organization or group and is limited to its members for sharing information.

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