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

Airbnb, FG, Flagstone, RasMal, Binance, Flutterwave, OpenAI, Spotify, Nasdaq, ORA Technologies are some of the names that made the headlines this week.

A prominent technology chief and industry leader, Ben Roberts, has shared update on the state of Africa’s submarine cables, shedding light on the extensive internet downtime experienced by various telecommunication networks and banking applications across the continent.

Also, Airbnb has announced a significant policy change effective April 30th, prohibiting the use of indoor security cameras in its listings to prioritize renters’ privacy.

Let’s get into the details

A prominent technology chief and industry leader, Ben Roberts, has shared update on the state of Africa’s submarine cables, shedding light on the extensive internet downtime experienced by various telecommunication networks and banking applications across the continent.

Roberts, without specifying his sources, highlighted a dire situation in a tweet posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2024.

According to his tweet, several critical submarine cables connecting the East and West Coasts of Africa to Europe have been severely impacted, resulting in widespread connectivity issues.

The Nigerian government has set its sights on an ambitious project to connect all 774 local government areas (LGAs) with fibre optic cables. This initiative, estimated to cost $2 billion, aims to significantly improve broadband internet access across the country.

The Federal Government (FG), on Wednesday, announced the plan and revealed the creation of a dedicated fund to finance the project.

This was revealed by the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, on Wednesday when he briefed State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

Airbnb has announced a significant policy change effective April 30th, prohibiting the use of indoor security cameras in its listings to prioritize renters’ privacy.

Juniper Downs, Airbnb’s Head of Community Policy and Partnership, confirmed this in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Tuesday March 12, 2024.

Following numerous reports from guests discovering hidden cameras, the short-term rental platform headquartered in San Francisco will no longer permit hosts to install indoor security cameras, regardless of their location or purpose.

London-based fintech, Flagstone, has received a £108 million equity investment from US private equity firm, Estancia Capital Partners, with participation from primary and secondary investments.

The CEO of Flagstone, Simon Merchant, confirmed this in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Tuesday March 12, 2024.

Established in 2015, Flagstone facilitates access to savings accounts from over 30 partner banks for both individuals and businesses, with a customer base exceeding 600,000, the fintech manages assets worth £11 billion.

Saudi-based equity management platform, RasMal, has acquired Pentugram, a regional cloud-based SaaS platform that simplifies investment processes for venture capital (VC), private equity (PE), angel investors, and financial advisors.

Nasser Al-Tamimi, RasMal’s co-founder and COO, confirmed this acquisition in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Tuesday March 12, 2024.

This acquisition signifies RasMal’s debut in the acquisition arena and proves 1A its commitment to fostering the entrepreneurial landscape by simplifying fundraising and investment processes.

The U.S. Court of Appeals has breathed new life into a case where American residents seek to invalidate contracts made with Binance, citing Section 29(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.

The appellate court’s ruling allows U.S.-based Binance users to resume efforts to demonstrate that their grievances do not violate U.S. securities law’s jurisdictional limits.

According to court documents, users’ complaints arise from their acquisition of cryptocurrencies such as EOS, TRX, ELF, FUN, ICX, OMG, and QSP, which they allege Binance unlawfully sold to Americans, breaching federal securities regulations.

One of Africa’s leading startup, Flutterwave, has unveiled plans to discontinue its virtual card service, Barter, initially launched in 2017.

Flutterwave has, as a result of this decision, over the past four weeks, been advising its clientele to withdraw their funds from the application.

Sources suggest that the move to close Barter follows a thorough analysis of market dynamics and evolving customer preferences, with enterprise services serving as the primary revenue stream, compared to Barter’s modest contribution of just 1% to the $2 billion worth of transactions processed by the company in 2018.

OpenAI unveils its newly constituted board and concludes an internal investigation conducted by U.S.-based law firm WilmerHale into the circumstances surrounding the initial departure of CEO Sam Altman.

Joining the board are Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nicole Seligman, former EVP and Global General Counsel of Sony and President of Sony Entertainment, and Fidji Simo, CEO and Chair of Instacart, who also serves on the Board of Directors at Shopify.

These additions will work alongside existing members Adam D’Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor, and senior management, including Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, with Microsoft securing a non-voting board observer position.

Despite bitcoin achieving another all-time peak on Monday, publicly traded mining stocks on Nasdaq started the day with declines.

Shares linked to companies such as Marathon, Cleanspark, Riot, and others have dropped in value against the U.S. dollar, contrasting with bitcoin’s surge to fresh price milestones.

On Monday, Mar. 11, 2024, BTC reached $72,486, but most bitcoin mining companies’ shares have fallen following a brief recovery last week.

In a bid to reshape the fan-artist connection landscape, Spotify, the music streaming platform, has launched a video streaming service.

Charlie Hellman, Spotify’s Vice President and Head of Music Product confirmed this in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Thursday, March 14, 2024.

The beta release, now available for assessment, features a curated selection of music videos showcasing global sensations like Ed Sheeran, Doja Cat, and Ice Spice, alongside regional favorites such as Aluna and Asake.

Morocco’s ORA Technologies has announced closing a $1.5 million seed funding round, led by local entrepreneurs.

Omar Alami, Founder and CEO, confirmed this in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Thursday March 14th, 2024.

Founded in 2023 by Omar Alami, the ORA app encompasses a range of features, including P2P transactions, e-commerce services, on-demand functionalities, chat capabilities, social networking tools, and an upcoming digital wallet.

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