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

Grey, Cloud Fret, FlexID, Broadcom, ShEquity, Starlink, Bloom. These are some of the names that made the headlines this week in the Tech world.

31-year-old IT solution provider, Broadcom, during the week, initiated move to acquire VMware for $61bn

Also, a Nigerian Fintech startup, Grey, during the week, expanded into East Africa through a new partnership with single API payments platform, Cellulant.

Let’s get into details.

One common metric of success for businesses is expansion and growth. Nigeria’s Fintech startup, Grey, ticked an expansion box during the week.

A Nigerian Fintech startup, Grey, expanded into East Africa through a new partnership with single API payments platform, Cellulant.

Grey’s new partnership was confirmed on Friday in a statement on the official website.

Our report noted that Grey is a cross-border payment platform that provides foreign banking services for freelancers and remote workers in developing economies, starting with Africa.

Another story that court our attention during the week is Cloud Fret where it raised a round to pursue its expansion plan.

Tech correspondent Hamsat Kayode reported French logistics and digital freight platform, Cloud Fret, announced securing a $1m round.

According to our correspondent, the CEO and founder, Driss Jabar, confirmed the funding to Ripples Nigeria on Friday.

We reported that several VCs and business personalities participated in the round including Plug and Play, PRC Ventures ICAV, Azur Innovation Fund, AfriMobi, and business angel Khalid Zitouni.

Still on fundraisers, we covered another development in Zimbabwe. This time, however, undisclosed.

A Zimbabwe-based digital identity Startup, FlexID, during the week, announced securing an undisclosed funding from Silvio Micali’s Algorand Foundation.

The undisclosed funding was on Friday confirmed by Victor Mapunga, serial technology entrepreneur and founder of FlexID in a press release on Algorand’s website.

Read also :Nigeria’s Fintech startup, Grey, partners Cellulant to expand into East Africa

We highlighted that FlexID Technologies, formerly known as FlexFinTx, runs as a platform and wallet for the issuance, storage, and sharing of verified digital identity credentials using Algorand blockchain.

While expansion and fundraisers are good indicators of progress, corporate acquisitions can be a positive milestone for large companies.

During the week, 31-year-old US-based digital semiconductor connectivity solution provider, Broadcom, announced signing an agreement to acquire VMware in a cash-and-stock transaction worth approximately $61 billion.

We revealed that Hock Tan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Broadcom confirmed the latest development in a press release made available on the company’s website on Friday.

Broadcom Inc., which designs, develops, and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions., will assume $8 billion of VMware net debt as part of the deal.

The coming months may rain funds for African female founders. Why so?

An African investment network, ShEquity, during the week, announced receiving a co-investment of $1.2 million to support female-led or women-owned businesses in Africa.

Our correspondent noted that Pauline Koelbl, Founder and Managing Director of ShEquity, confirmed the development in a statement on Thursday.

Funded by USAID Trade Hub, ShEquity will facilitates access to a pool of de-risked deals to investors while empowering female entrepreneurs with female-led financial resources.

Like Africa, like UK. Fundraisers were not limited to African startups. In fact, some of the biggest raisers were recorded by foreign ventures.

During the week, a United Kingdom-based startup platform, Bloom, raised a £300m ($377m) financing round led by Credo Capital and Fortress Investment Group LLC.

According to our report, the startup’s CEO, James Hickson, made the announcement in a statement on Thursday.

Profiling the venture, we noted that Bloom provides founder-friendly capital and tools to help digital entrepreneurs understand how their business compares to benchmarks as well as their financial health.

Lastly, South Africa’s FoondaMate secured $2m seed fund led by LocalGlobe.

Making headline during the week, we noted that the CEO and CTO of FoondaMate, Dacod Magagula, confirmed the latest raiser in a statement on Tuesday.

According to Dacod, the round saw participation from Emerge Education, Odunayo Eweniyi via FirstCheckAfrica, Iyin Aboyeji via Future Africa, and LoftyInc, alongside angels from Marcus Swanepoel and Isaac Oates.

We, however, gathered that Foondamate was founded in 2020 by Dacod Magagula, and Tao Laine Boyle.

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