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

Carbon, One Credit Limited, MasterCard, Logidoo, Roam, Finom, Kema, Ilara Health, X, Unlearn.AI, are some of the names that made the headlines this week.

Pan-African fintech startup, Carbon, has announced expanding its offerings by acquiring Vella Finance, a Nigerian fintech startup specializing in SME banking through its parent company, One Credit Limited.

Also, MasterCard, a prominent player in digital payments and technology, has announced the appointment of Folasade Femi-Lawal as the Country Manager and Area Business Director for West Africa.

Let’s get into details

Pan-African fintech startup, Carbon, has announced expanding its offerings by acquiring Vella Finance, a Nigerian fintech startup specializing in SME banking through its parent company, One Credit Limited.

Chijioke Dozie, Co-founder of Carbon, confirmed this in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Thursday February 15th, 2024.

Founded in December 2021 by Mark Afolabi (CEO), Tolu Adedayo (COO), Gabriel Ajenifuja (CTO), and Segun Fagbami (CPO), Vella Finance initially focused on cross-border payments for businesses before shifting its attention to crypto transactions and SME banking.

The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), based in the UAE and serving as the applied research arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), has unveiled a $300 million non-profit initiative, the Falcon Foundation, dedicated to advancing open-source generative AI models.

Dr. Ray O. Johnson, CEO of TII, confirmed this in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Thursday February 15, 2024.

The Foundation, according to the CEO, seeks to foster sustainable ecosystems centered around open-source projects that facilitate the rapid advancement of technology.

MasterCard, a prominent player in digital payments and technology, has announced the appointment of Folasade Femi-Lawal as the Country Manager and Area Business Director for West Africa.

Mark Elliott, Division President for Sub-Saharan Africa at Mastercard, confirmed this new appointment in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Thursday February 15, 2024.

In her new capacity, Femi-Lawal will play a pivotal role in fostering collaborations with key stakeholders to advance the development of a more integrated and inclusive digital economy across West Africa.

Logidoo, a logistics startup hailing from Morocco, has announced securing $1.55 million in seed funding spearheaded by six prominent venture capital entities.

According to the startup, the investors include Maroc Numeric Fund II and Kalys Ventures from Morocco, 216 Capital from Tunisia, Gullit VC from Ethiopia, Founders Factory Africa from Nigeria, and Sunny Side Venture Partners from Egypt-Japan.

The company confirmed this in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday February 14, 2024.

A Kenyan-based electric vehicle (EV) startup, Roam, has secured $24 million in a Series A funding round, with a substantial $10 million debt commitment from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

Roam’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Albin Wilson, confirmed this in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday February 14, 2024.

The investment aims to facilitate the expansion of electric motorcycle and bus production.

Dutch banking tech start-up, Finom, has raised €50 million in Series B funding, which was spearheaded by General Catalyst, an established US-based venture capital firm and supported by newcomer Northzone.

The Co-founder, Kos Stiskin, confirmed this raise in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday February 14, 2024.

Established in 2020 and headquartered in Amsterdam, Finom operates a digital financial platform catering to entrepreneurs and SMEs across Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy.

Technology driven start-ups in financial services, agriculture, health, education, manufacturing, logistics & e-mobility, e-commerce & marketplaces, renewables & power, and climate will jostle for the second edition of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) Prize for Innovation (NPI 2.0), with a combined prize value of $220,000.

The prize comes with an all-expense paid, five-week training at Draper University, Silicon Valley, USA, for young Nigerian winners, according to a statement by the organisation, in Abuja, yesterday.

The NSIA Prize for Innovation’s (NPI) primary objective is to identify, build, and finance early-stage innovative solutions that have the potential to catalyze economic growth, enhance the nation’s productive capacity, and create jobs. The NPI is designed to encourage and support ingenuity within the digital sector and to fund new solutions that could result in cost-effective, scalable, and transformative positive impact.

Kema, a UAE-based fintech has raised a $2 million pre-Seed funding round, led by Speedinvest with the participation of the Dubai Future District Fund (DFDF).

This investment was confirmed by Stefan Klestil, Partner at Speedinvest, in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Tuesday February 13th, 2024.

Established in 2023 by Michael Ghandour, Kema specializes in offering a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform designed to streamline cash flow processes for B2B SMEs, ultimately saving them valuable time and resources.

Kenyan health technology firm, Ilara Health, specializing in providing private clinics with diagnostic devices and pharmaceutical products, has secured $4.2 million in a combined debt and equity pre-Series A funding round.

Leading the $2.5 million equity round was DOB Equity, joined by contributors such as Philips Foundation and existing investors AAIC Investment, Angaza Capital, Black Pearl Investments, and Perivoli Innovations while Debt funding was provided by Alphamundi, Kiva Capital, and Boehringer Ingelheim.

The influx of investment will fuel the expansion of operations across East Africa, aiming to enhance healthcare accessibility for the general population through a business-to-business (B2B) health and occupational service model, enabling uninsured workers to access care at partner clinics for a monthly fee.

Visa has partnered with the Egyptian Banks Company (EBC) to simplify and enhance international remittance processes for Egyptians residing abroad.

This collaboration was confirmed by Leila Serhan, Visa’s Senior Vice President for North Africa, the Levant, and Pakistan, in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Tuesday February 13th, 2024.

The partnership combines EBC’s technological infrastructure with Visa’s digital financial solutions to offer advanced digital wallet and e-payment services.

Elon Musk’s social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), is joining forces with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to produce a new weekly series.

The development was confirmed in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Monday February 12, 2024, and is expected to form a key part of X’s strategy to diversify into specialized video content.

Named “WWE Speed,” the series is scheduled to premiere in the upcoming spring season in the United States.

US-based artificial intelligence firm, Unlearn.AI, has secured $50 million in Series C funding, with Altimeter Capital leading the investment round.

Other investors include Radical Ventures, Wittington Ventures, Mubadala Capital, Epic Ventures, and Necessary Venture Capital.

The founder and CEO, Charles Fisher, confirmed this in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Monday February 12, 2024.

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