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

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Almentor, Amazon, TikTok, NCC, Chipper Cash, Microsoft, Open AI, G42, Medwing, FairMoney, COFE, were some of the names that made the headlines in the tech ecosystem this week.

New Zealand is set to join a growing list of countries to ban Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from lawmakers’ devices due to security concerns.

Also, Microsoft-owned professional networking site, LinkedIn, is launching AI-powered writing recommendations feature to aid profile optimization and recruitment.

Let’s get into details.

Challenge Works in partnership with the Government of Canada, during the week, announced Togo’s Green Industry Plast as the top winner of the Afri-Plastics Challenge.

Christopher Thornley, Canada’s High Commissioner in Nairobi, confirmed the award in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Friday.

Afri-Plastics Challenge awarded Innovative thinkers who have developed scalable solutions to combat plastic waste in Africa and lessen the amount of pollution entering the ocean.

An Egypt-based Arabic online video learning platform, Almentor, during the week, secured a $10 million pre-Series C round of funding to assist it to meet its target of reaching 10 million learners in the MENA region.

Eddy Farhat, vice president at e& capital, confirmed the funding in a media release on Friday.

The company says it will use the funds to accelerate its growth towards its goal of serving ten million learners in the MENA region.

Chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc-owned Twitch, Emmett Shear, has announced plans to step down after over 16 years.

Shear who cofounded the company disclosed this on his official Twitter handle seen by Ripples Nigeria on Friday.

According to Shear, President Dan Clancy, who has been at Twitch since 2019, will take on the role of CEO effective immediately, adding that he will remain on as an advisor.

New Zealand is set to join a growing list of countries to ban Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from lawmakers’ devices due to security concerns.

The ban will come into effect on March 31 and is expected to apply to all devices with access to the parliamentary network.

Parliamentary Service chief executive, Rafael Gonzalez-Montero, stated that the risks posed by the app were “not acceptable in the current New Zealand Parliamentary environment.”

The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Umar Danbatta, said on Thursday the commission was taking measures to tackle the problem of data depletion in the sector.

The NCC chief stated this during the 91st edition of the Telecom Consumer Parliament with the theme: “Data Depletion: Discussions on Various Perspectives” held in Abuja.

The event was attended by representatives of the regulator and consumer advocacy groups.

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

A $618 million subvention fund has been launched by the Nigerian government in partnership with regional and international partners to invest in the nation’s creative and digital sectors.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this at an event marked for the launching.

Ripples Nigeria understands that the $672 million fund was established as part of the Digital and Creative Enterprises Programme (DCEP), a government program meant to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in the creative and digital tech sectors, with a focus on job creation.

Silicon Valley Bank-backed fintech, Chipper Cash, is allegedly considering a sale despite the CEO’s assurance.

Sources privy to the development disclosed on Thursday that the unicorn is weighing its options between another round of funding and a sale on the cards.

Recall that the cross-border payments startup recently raised $150 million in a Series C extension round from SVB in 2021 which valued it at over $2 billion.

Microsoft-owned professional networking site, LinkedIn, is launching AI-powered writing recommendations feature to aid profile optimization and recruitment.

The company made the announcement in a blogpost seen by Ripples Nigeria on Thursday.

Ripples Nigeria understands that these services will initially be made available to consumers who want to spruce up their LinkedIn profiles and recruiters who are creating job descriptions.

Open Al is unveiling its next-generation version of the technology that powers the popular chatbot tool that rocked the IT industry with GPT-4.

The San Francisco-based company made the announcement in a blog post seen by Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday.

The Microsoft-backed OpenAI noted that the updated iteration of its AI-driven chatbot is a “multimodal” model that can produce material in response to both visual and textual stimuli.

Abu Dhabi-based Artificial Intelligence firm, G42, has acquired over $100 million stake in Tiktok-parent ByteDance.

This was contained in a release seen by Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday.

According to the release, the acquisition values the Chinese unlisted owner of TikTok at $220 billion.

European startup, Medwing, has secured €44 million ($47 million) in a Series C round of funding.

Medwing founder and CEO Johannes Roggendorf confirmed the funding in a statement on Wednesday.

Medwing claimed its platform is designed to match hospitals and clinics with nurses and elderly caregivers, though it also caters to pharmacists, midwives, doctors, and similar professionals.

Nigerian credit-led fintech startup, FairMoney, has announced acquiring PayForce.

This was contained in a statement by the startup’s CEO Laurin Hainy on Tuesday.

PayForce, a sub-brand of YC-backed CrowdForce, is a merchant payment service that serves small businesses

Sources privy to the acquisition disclosed that the transaction was a cash-and-stock deal in the range of $15 million to $20 million.

COFE, an online coffee retailer in MENA, has raised $15 million in a Series B funding round that was organized and managed by WAED Ventures.

Saad Al-Bader, Al Imtiaz Investment Group Executive Vice President, confirmed the funding in a media release on Tuesday.

The Series B round also witnessed participation from eWTP Arabia Capital, Al Imtiaz Investment Group, KISP Ventures (KFH Capital), and Rasameel Investment Company.

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