TechNigeria: A weekly digest of what went down in Nigeria’s tech space

ImaliPay, Sycamore, ZirooPay, O7Therapy, and Strove. These are some of the names that made the headlines this week.

Nigeria’s 105-year old financial institution, Union Bank, has launched SpaceNXT, a technological and innovation hub, in Nigeria’s seat of commerce, Lagos.

Also, American global tech payments giant Visa, during the week, built an innovation studio in Kenya as it seeks to help Africans develop digital solutions.

Let’s get into details.

The world is more advanced in terms of technology but equally more unsafe. Are you surprised?

76% of organizations suffered downtime and data loss in 2021, according to Acronis Cyber Protection Week Global Report 2022.

The report, published during the week by Ripples Nigeria, cited system crashes, human error and cyberattacks as major causes of data loss by organisations in the year under review.

Acronis, which is a global leader in cyber protection, noted that organisations needed to combat the growing threat by deploying integrated cyber protection solutions.

Banks are stepping out to drive social change in the country. What is new in this light?

Nigeria’s 105-year old financial institution, Union Bank, launched SpaceNXT, a technological and innovation hub, in Nigeria’s seat of commerce, Lagos.

The bank revealed this on Friday in a press release forwarded to Ripples Nigeria.

According to the bank, the development was “to promote innovation and encourage collaboration within the tech ecosystem in Nigeria.”

Fintech is still king. And, Africa is benefiting from the investment stream. What do we mean?

Nigerian fintech startup, ImaliPay, during the week, secured a $3 million seed in debt and equity round.

The round, according to details of the deal, will fund the startup’s plan as it seeks to offer financial services to underserved gig workers across Africa.

ImaliPay, as an organization, leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to offer tailored financial products that promote the inclusion of gig economy platforms and workers across Africa.

Like ImaliPay, like Sycamore. If startups are to throw parties after every raiser, everyday will be a fiesta. What’s the gist?

Sycamore, a Nigerian peer-to-peer loan firm, also raised investment, though undisclosed at the time of press.

The round was led by White Hibiscus Capital (WHC), a US-based venture capital firm, and saw the participation of other private investors.

Read also: TechNigeria: A weekly digest of what went down in Nigeria’s tech space

The P2P lending venture was founded in 2019 by Babatunde Akin-Moses, Onyinye Okonji, and Mayowa Adeosun.

Nigeria’s massive population didn’t convince Visa enough. Between Nigeria and Kenya, Visa seemed to prefer the East African country. Why this conclusion?

During the week under review, American payments giant, Visa, commissioned a newly built innovation studio in Kenya as it seeks to help Africans develop digital solutions.

The multinational financial services company unveiled the facility on Wednesday in an event attended by major tech stakeholders and engineers in the region.

According to Visa, the development was in line with its commitment to facilitate electronic payment systems throughout the world.

Maybe the war is between America and Russia and Ukraine is merely a cover. Maybe this is an opinion. Maybe this is fact. Just Maybe!

American chipmaker, Intel Corp., on Tuesday, announced suspending business operations in Russia, a move in show of solidarity with Ukrainians as the war progresses.

Intel made the announcement on its official website, in a statement, condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and calling for a swift return to peace.

While also empathizing with the people of Russia, the company whose headquarters is in Santa Clara, California, sent a message of support to its thousands of employees domiciled in Russia.

How else do one emphasise that fintech is king? Explains why we are having more founders in the space than any other sub-sector. How much is $11M in Naira?

During the week, ZirooPay, a Lagos-based agency banking startup, raised an $11.4 million Series A round led by local VC, Zrosk Investment Administration.

The investment, according to the startup, will help it expand its product features as well as accelerate its team’s growth.

The agency banking startup is an app-based platform deploying fintech solutions to facilitate payments.

Egypt is not left out. The sentiment is the same. And, the trend can only continue. 

An Egypt-based health-tech startup, O7Therapy, closed a USD2.1M seed round during the week.

The round, which was led by Hikma Ventures, saw the participation of other angel investors including C-Ventures, and Lotus Ventures.

The health-tech startup is a refined, scientific, and research-based online platform, established to support mental wellness by developing trusted protocols for data encryption and storage.

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