Connect with us

Tech

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

Published

on

Kwik, Yemaachi, Betacube, Cashlet, ThriveAgric, CodeLn, Simplifyd and Lucky. These are some of the names that made the headlines this week.

Nigerian agritech startup, ThriveAgric, has announced closing a US$56.4 million in debt funding from local commercial banks and institutional investors.

Also, Nigerian online tech talent marketplace, CodeLn, has launched a smart applicant tracking system named Insight.

Let’s get into details.

It’s raining funds in Nigeria. Kwik got its share this week. What will the startup use it for?

During the week, Kwik, a Nigerian logistics startup, announced closing a US$2 million Series A funding round.

Tech correspondent Ridwan Adelaja noted that the round was closed as the startup stepped up plans to digitise informal African trade, from logistics to financial services.

It is gathered that the startup was founded in 2019 as a digital platform connecting delivery partners and corporate customers in large African cities.

Like Nigeria, like Ghana. VC raiser was a feature for Ghana during the week. What startup this time?

Yemaachi Biotech, a Ghanaian cancer research and diagnostics company, secured a US$3 million seed round.

The raiser, according to the startup, is expected to help it advance its mission of diversifying precision oncology globally.

The startup was founded by Yaw Bediako, David Hutchful, Joyce Ngoi, and Yaw Attua-Afari in 2020.

READ ALSO: GitOps company, Weaveworks, acquires security startup Magalix. 2 other things and a trivia

More for the women folk. The world is investing in more women. And, Tunisia is not lagging.

Betacube, a Tunisian venture builder, has announced launching the second edition of its Women in Fintech pre-incubation programme.

The initiative is designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs shape their ideas and build lasting businesses.

The initiative is managed by Betacube in partnership with the United States Embassy in Tunisia.

Apple may begin to sell iPhones and iPads as part of a hardware subscription service.

This is according to a report from Bloomberg, speculating that the American phone manufacturer may launch the service next year.

The development is expected to help Apple push its subscription services ambition which it entered several years ago to birth a list of reoccurring subscription services.

Apple has praised its subscription services including Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple News Plus, Apple Fitness Plus, and Apple Arcade as major revenue streams of the company.

More Kenyans can now save money with ease. What’s the story? Who is pushing this?

Cashlet, a Kenyan fintech startup, during the week, launched micro-saving service to help millennials achieve their financial goals.

Cashlet’s new offering allows customers to start with as little as KES500 (US$5) as a saving token.

The startup was founded in April 2019, debuting with an app that gives users the ability to control how much they save, and where to invest and grow their funds.

CATAPULT welcomes 10 new startups into its cohort. Why were they selected?

The LHoFT Foundation announced the selection of 10 African fintech startups to take part in CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa accelerator.

The accelerator, which is a special edition, is slated to take place in Dubai.

According to the organisation, the initiative seeks to support companies focused on financial inclusion.

A new law awaiting to be implemented demands that Kenyan startups must disclose source of funds.

According to local media, digital credit providers (DCPs) in Kenya will have to disclose their sources of funds.

The country’s financial regulator, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), disclosed this on Monday, noting that digital lenders are expected to get a license from the country’s monetary authority or wind down their operations by September 2022.

In the Agritech space, we saw a startup closing a whopping sum to scale its venture. The round was about the biggest for the week.

Nigerian agritech startup, ThriveAgric, closed a US$56.4 million in debt funding from local commercial banks and institutional investors.

The new raiser, according to the 5-year-old startup, will help it grow its 200,000-strong farmer base while facilitating its expansion into new African markets, including Ghana, Zambia and Kenya.

Leveraging proprietary technology, ThriveAgric empowers farmers in Nigeria to sell their products to FMCGs and food processors.

Also, Nigerian online tech talent marketplace, CodeLn, launched a smart applicant tracking system named Insight.

The product is designed to help startups manage job applicants and monitor their job vacancies, for free.

Founded in 2017, CodeLn is an end-to-end technical recruitment platform, helping companies easily recruit software developers by automating the entire process.

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