Paypal cofounder, Peter Thiel, leads $6m seed in Nigerian startup, Maplerad. 2 other stories and a trivia

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

1. Paypal cofounder, Peter Thiel, leads $6m seed in Nigerian startup, Maplerad

A Nigerian Banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform, Maplerad, has secured a $6m seed round led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.

Miracle Anyanwu, a cofounder at Maplerad, confirmed the seed round in a statement on Monday.

Maplerad cofounded by Anyanwu and Obinna Chukwujioke, launched its first product, Wirepay, in 2020.

The Lagos-based startup allows users to receive, hold, and make payments in multiple currencies, create virtual and physical cards, and pay bills.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that other investors in the round include Golden Palm Investments Corporation, Michael Vaughn, Fintech Fund, Babs Ogundeyi (CEO, Kuda) Armyn Capital, Dunbar Capital, Strawhat Investment, Polymath Capital, Unpopular Ventures, Sean Mahsoul and MyAsiaVC.

“From day one, when we built Wirepay for our consumers, we knew the end move would be infrastructural even though we didn’t start the business infrastructure first,” Anyanwu explained.

Anyanwu further explained that the funding will be used to expand infrastructure of the company.

Leading the seed investment, Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal, said that the investment in Maplerad is its third African investment after Kuda and Yellow Card.

Tech Trivia: Which of the following is a type of integrated circuit?
A. CMOS
B. GUID
C. LDAP
D. TIFF
Answer: see end of post

2. BNPL platform, One Finance, launches in Egypt

An integrated consumer financing and BNPL platform, One Finance, has announced expanding geographical footprints to Egypt.

Read also:Sport queen, Serena Williams leads $3.3m seed in Nigerian startup, Stears. 2 other stories and a trivia.

Hazem Madany, the Deputy Chairman, MD, and CEO confirmed the latest development in a statement obtained by Ripples Nigeria on Monday.

One Finance, which launched earlier this year, said its mission is to “facilitate financial inclusion to the broadest possible segment of consumer.”

“One Finance has an ambitious expansion plan, as it aims to establish a strong presence across Egyptian governorates to reach the largest base of customers and support their financing needs,” said Madany.

3. Byju secures $250 million fresh funding

An Indian edutech startup, Byju, has on Monday secured a fresh $250 million funding.

Byju Raveendran, founder, and chief executive of Byju, confirmed the funding in a media release.

The Bengaluru-headquartered startup declined to comment on the valuation but said that Qatar’s sovereign fund, Qatar Investment Authority, participated in the round.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that Byju through its app prepares students pursuing undergraduate and graduate-level courses, and in recent years it has also expanded its catalog to serve all school-going students.

“Byju is now at that sweet spot of its growth story where the unit economics and the economies of scale both are in its favour,” said Raveendran.

Ripples Nigeria understands that Byju’s previous backers include Prosus Ventures, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia Capital India, Silver Lake, Owl Ventures, UBS, and Blackrock, and has raised nearly $6 billion to date.

Trivia Answer: CMOS

Stands for “Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor.” It is a technology used to produce integrated circuits.

CMOS circuits are found in several types of electronic components, including microprocessors, batteries, and digital camera image sensors.

By Kayode Hamsat

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