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

Meta Platforms, Jendaya, Uber, Twitter, Sendmarc, Yodawy, PalmHr, Orange, Zoom, Zinox were some of the names that made the headlines in the tech ecosystem this week.

Microblogging platform, Twitter, on Thursday announced a new feature that will allow paying users to post longer tweets.

Also, a Video conferencing service company, Zoom, has announced plans to lay off about 1,300 employees as it reacts to the global market contraction.

Let’s get into details.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms has reinstated the former U.S. President Donald Trump’s access to Facebook and Instagram after a two-year suspension.

Ripples Nigeria earlier reported that Facebook Global Affairs president, Nick Clegg, was considering reinstating the former president’s Facebook and Instagram accounts a few weeks ago.

Meta spokesperson, Andy Stone, has now confirmed the reinstatement in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Friday.

Jendaya, a one-year-old company, has secured approximately $1.2 million in pre-seed funding to scale its Africa-focused luxury e-commerce platform.

The funding was disclosed by CEO Ayotunde Rufai in a media release on Friday.

The London-based but Africa-focused platform claims it acts as a gateway for global luxury brands to the African continent and for consumers in the rest of the world to discover African brands.

Ride-hailing platform, Uber, has announced a partnership with HSBC to launch Flexpay.

Anabel Diaz, Uber Vice President, and Regional General Manager for the Mobility Business in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa confirmed the partnership in a media release seen by Ripples Nigeria on Friday.

According to Diaz, drivers on the Uber network can access 100% of their profits through the payment solution provided by HSBC with Flexpay payments system that enables on-demand cashouts into mobile wallets.

Microblogging platform, Twitter, on Thursday announced a new feature that will allow paying users to post longer tweets.

Twitter Blue disclosed this on its official Twitter handle, detailing its use case.

Prior to the development, Twitter users can only make post limited to 280 characters.

Sendmarc, a Johannesburg-based startup, has secured $7M in funding to provide email security against phishing and email impersonation attacks.

Chief strategy officer and cofounder, Sacha Matulovich, confirmed the funding in a statement on Thursday.

Matulovich claims the startup sought to solve email impersonation issues their former clients faced, thereby making the internet safer for their new customers.

Yodawy, an Egyptian healthtech startup, has announced securing a $16 million Series B round.

Karim Khashaba, co-founder and CEO of Yodawy confirmed the funding in a media statement on Thursday.

Yodawy, launched in 2018 by Karim Khashaba, Yasser AbdelGawad, and Sherief El-Feky bills itself as a digital healthcare startup and the pharmacy benefits manager.

In an effort to save mobile phone users in Nigeria from cyber attack, the Nigerian Communications Commission’s Computer Security Incident Response Team has urged Samsung users to update their Galaxy App Store.

The commission gave the directive after its team discovered multiple vulnerabilities in the Samsung Galaxy App Store Application.

The vulnerability, according to the commission, can lead to unwanted app installations and code execution.

Tech based HR platform, palm.hr, has closed a $5 million pre-Series A round co-led by Speedinvest and RAED Ventures, with participation from Wamda Capital.

Richard Schrems, CEO and Co-founder, palm.hr confirmed the development in a media release on Wednesday.

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

Richard Schrems, Christoph Czichna, and Dragan Nikolic established palm.hr in 2019.

Global venture capital firm, Partech, has closed Partech Africa II with €245 million (~$263 million)

This was confirmed by the general partner from the firm’s Dakar office, Tidjane Deme, in a statement on Wednesday.

According to Deme, Partech Africa II is one of three funds that the international venture capital business has introduced in the previous two years, together with a $750 million growth fund and a $100 million seed fund.

In a round that was co-led by Orange Ventures, Orange’s venture capital investment arm, Chari, a B2B e-commerce business with embedded finance for the FMCG industry, has secured $1 million.

Grégoire de Padirac, Partner of Orange Ventures Middle East & Africa, confirmed the funding in a release seen by Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday.

The startup claims it provides small businesses with a mobile application that allows them to order all of the products they need at their point of sale with a few clicks and a free delivery commitment in less than 24 hours.

Video conferencing service company, Zoom, has announced plans to lay off about 1,300 employees as it reacts to the global market contraction.

Zoom’s CEO, Eric Yuan, made the announcement in a memo to employees, noting that the layoff would impact every part of the organization.

The affected workforce makes up 15% of Zoom’s net staff strength.

An indigenous integrated technology brand, Zinox has secured a landmark N85 billion deal from the federal government through the National Population Commission (NPC) for the supply of tech components and other accessories for the 2023 national census project.

A statement issued by Zinox Technologies stated that the contract justifies President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s commitment to local content promotion.

The contract was recently awarded after ratification by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

Gameball, an Egyptian customer intelligence and marketing CRM platform, Gameball, has secured a $3.5M to scale its platform.

The startup’s co-founder and entrepreneur, Ahmed Khairy, disclosed the funding in a statement on Tuesday.

According to Gameball, businesses utilize its tools to create lasting bonds with clients and guarantee retention through tailored loyalty programs that are guided by data.

Financial services enabler in the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan (MENA-P), Paymob, has announced a partnership with Khazna to expand access to digital financial services in Egypt.

Ahmed El Meadawy, General Manager of Khazna Egypt, confirmed the partnership in a media statement on Tuesday.

Ripples Nigeria understands that with the partnership, Merchants in Paymob’s network can now offer Khazna’s services via their integrated point of sale (POS) devices to Khazna’s customers.

WhatsApp on Tuesday announced a feature that would allow users to post voice notes as status updates on the platform.

The new feature was announced alongside other features on its official blog post seen by Ripples Nigeria.

WhatsApp Status feature was launched in 2017 in response to Snapchat Stories.

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