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

Bluesky, AfyA Care, Privilège Ventures, Meta, Twitter, Yabx, Google, Leslie Berland, IKEA, Lendbuzz, Payhippo, were some of the names that made the headlines in the tech ecosystem this week.

A Nigerian healthcare group, AfyA Care, during the week, secured $6M Series A Funding from West African private equity fund manager, CardinalStone Capital Advisers (CCA).

Also, during the week, a FinTech venture, Yabx, headquartered in Harland, India, launched a physical office in Nigeria with plans to democratize Credit Access.

Let’s get into details.

Our first story this week is the story of Nigerian healthcare group, AfyA Care, where it announced securing $6M Series A Funding from West African private equity fund manager, CardinalStone Capital Advisers (CCA).

Femi Ogunjimi, Partner at CardinalStone Capital Advisers, confirmed the investment in a statement on Thursday.

What you should know: The healthcare group is a provider of integrated healthcare services including hospital care, health insurance, and health technology services in Nigeria.

Up next, Switzerland-based venture capital fund, Privilège Ventures, during the week, launched a CHF 20 million (which is estimated to over $20 million) fund to boost women-led early-stage startups across Europe.

The investment was confirmed by Jacqueline Ruedin Rüsch, founding general partner at Privilège Ventures in a statement on Thursday.

Read also:Former Twitter owner, Jack Dorsey, launches new social media platform, Bluesky

What you should know: The funding, according to local media, is the fourth of its kind.

Meanwhile, Founder of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, during the week, announced the official launching a new discussion group feature, Communities.

The founder made the announcement in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Thursday.

What you should know: The new feature offers larger, more structured discussion groups.

Another story we tracked is the latest development with Jack Dorsey after selling Twitter to Elon Musk with the launch of a new social media platform, Bluesky.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that the new app, which is in its testing stage, was first introduced in 2019 as a decentralized social network protocol built by the Twitter team to serve as a non-profit initiative.

What you should know: Bluesky gives creators independence from platforms and developers and the freedom to design, allowing users to choose their experience as it gives users control of their algorithms.

Also during the week, Elon Musk announced intent to charge Twitter users with blue tick.

Musk, on Wednesday, disclosed this, noting that Twitter will charge $8 (£7) monthly to Twitter users who want a blue tick by their name indicating a verified account.

What you should know: The payment clause will see Twitter become the second social media platform, after LinkedIn, charging users for premium services.

On venture launch and expansion, a FinTech venture, Yabx, headquartered in Harland, India, launched a physical office in Nigeria with plans to democratize Credit Access.

Rajat Dayal, CEO & Founder of Yabx, confirmed the fresh development in a media statement on Friday.

What you should know: Playing in the fintech hub, Yabx claims it enables the underserved with limited credit history to get fair access to financial services tailored to their needs.

On closing business partnership, Global furniture and home accessories provider, IKEA, completed a partnership deal with Egypt’s Sympl to enhance its Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services.

Yasmine Henna, Co-founder & CCO at Sympl, disclosed the partnership in a media statement on Wednesday.

What you should know: Sympl is an interest-free BNPL platform that enables customers to shop now and pay later on short-term plans without any application process or pre-registration required.

On fund raiser, Auto finance platform, Lendbuzz, during the week, secured a fresh $150 million credit facility from J.P. Morgan to help expand the number of borrowers it serves.

Lendbuzz CEO, Amitay Kalmar, confirmed the development in a release on Wednesday.

What you should know: Lendbuzz is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) and enables the company to assess the creditworthiness of consumers with little or no credit history.

Finally, Nigerian credit-led SME fintech, Payhippo, acquired Maritime Microfinance Bank (MFB), in a deal subjected to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s approval.

Adetola Atekoja, Chairman of MFB, confirmed the acquisition in a press release on Tuesday.

What you should know: MFB, which is a financial institution, specializes in saving products, demand deposits, and investments as well as micro and SME loans.

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