Sudan’s e-commerce startup, Alsoug, secures $5m to scale venture. 1 other thing and a trivia

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

1. Sudan’s e-commerce startup, Alsoug, secures $5m to scale venture

Alsoug, a Sudanese e-commerce and fintech startup, has secured a $5 million funding round, to become the first tech venture in Sudan to close an investment from international VC.

This comes after the lifting of international sanction in 2020 that lasted for nearly 30 years.

According to the startup, the round was led by Egyptian fintech and unicorn Fawry, and saw the participation of Western Venture Capital Funds.

The investment is Fawry’s first investment outside its home country in its 13 years.

With the new investment, Alsoug will leverage Fawry’s in-house technology and experience to expand its payments infrastructure, Cashi.

Sudan had suffered an extended period of economic isolation following several sanctions by the US, the EU, the UK, the UN and AU mostly due to the conflict in Darfur.

Commenting on the development, Alsoug CEO, Tarneem Saeed, noted that the raiser represents exciting times for Sudan as the country.

She said: “These are exciting times for Sudan, which has a bright future now that it has moved on from a long period of isolation. This was once the land of opportunity in Africa, a country full of natural resources, with a small but educated and very entrepreneurial workforce – and it will be that country again.”

Tech Trivia: In what year did Google acquire YouTube?
A 2008
B 2009
C 2006
D 2007
Answer: See end of post

2. South Africa’s edtech, d6 Group, closes undisclosed amount of funding

South Africa‘s edtech company, d6 Group, has closed an undisclosed amount in investment funding.

READ ALSO: Nigerian agri-tech startup Zowasel secures $100k. 2 other things and a trivia

The funding was co-led by Knife Capital, Hlayisani Growth Fund Stellenbosch and NuState Ventures.

The new raiser is expected to be used to fund its international expansion plans.
Reputed as the foremost African edtech, the startup operates a cloud-based management and communication platform.

Speaking on the development, Willem Kitshoff, CEO d6 Group, stated that the team is excited about the new investment as it will be instrumental to pursuing its ambition.

He said: “We are extremely excited about our new investors because of their proven track record and ability to support tech businesses to scale internationally.

“We have a strong market footprint and technology foundation and with this new strategic investment support, we are now able to pursue our local, as well as international growth aspirations.”

Tech Trivia Answer: 2006

Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion.

Earlier in 2005, Google created Google Video, a product thought to compete with Youtube. It failed, and Google went on to buy Youtube.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now