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

Scan.com, Cassava Technologies, Sega, Sharegain, Flutterwave, Twitter, ChatGPT, Cortical Labs, CoaChess, Autocheck were some of the names that made the headlines in the tech ecosystem this week.

Nigeria-based car financing platform Autocheck, on Wednesday, announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Egypt’s used cars marketplace, AutoTager.

Also, an Australian startup with the idea of using stem cells to create biocomputers, Cortical Labs, has secured $10 million in funding.

Let’s get into details.

Tech giant, Google, during the week, prayed the court to reject a number of arguments in the Epic Games antitrust case.

A Google spokesperson disclosed this in a statement on Friday.

Google, in the statement, requests that the court reject the claim that the Developer Distribution Agreement between Google and third parties is unlawful because it forbids the distribution of third party app stores.

In a negative turn of events, BuzzFeed, a Pulitzer Prize-winning digital media company, during the week, announced plans to shut down its news division and reduce another 15 percent of its staff across the company.

Co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti, confirmed the development in a statement on Friday.

The announcement comes shortly after BuzzFeed announced that it will be laying off 12 percent of its workers due to the deteriorating economic climate.

In what may be considered as not surprising, Elon Musk has launched his end-to-legacy-verification move with the mass removal of blue ticks for nonpaying users on the social media platform.

This comes after Elon Musk pushed for verified users to become paying subscribers to keep their accounts verified in its new Twitter Blue scheme, where he slated April 20 as end of its legacy verification program.

On Friday, April 21, checks by Ripples Nigeria confirmed that some high-profile figures including Davido, Wizkid and Burna Boy have had their blue tick withdrawn.

In a similar news development, Global tech giant, Microsoft, has confirmed that it is halting its advertisement on Twitter as from 25 April 2023.

This was contained in a release on Microsoft’s self-help page seen by Ripples Nigeria on Thursday.

The move by Microsoft comes only a few days before Elon Musk’s Twitter plans to shut down its current API platform and switch to its new paid subscription plans on April 29.

London-based tech-driven financial services provider, YuLife, during the week, announced its expansion to South Africa

Jaco Oosthuizen, YuLife Co-founder and Managing Director of YuLife South Africa confirmed the launch in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Thursday.

The company claims its employees can use YuLife’s app to complete daily wellness activities, such as walking, meditation, and cycling, to earn YuCoin.

Accredify, a company based in Singapore, revealed on Thursday that it has secured $7 million in Series A funding, which was led by iGlobe Partners and SIG Venture Capital with participation from previous investors Pavilion Capital and Qualgro.

The startup’s Co-founded by Quah Zheng confirmed the funding in a statement.

Zhang claims the startup is pioneering the world’s transition to TrustTech through verifiable data and precise automation.

Nigeria-based car financing platform Autocheck, on Wednesday, announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Egypt’s used cars marketplace, AutoTager.

Olajide Adamolekun, Group CFO and co-founder of Autochek, confirmed the development in a press release.

AutoTager founded in 2021 by Amr Rezk, is a venture-backed startup that claims to be removing the friction from the car buying and selling process in Egypt.

Read also:Nigeria’s mobility startup, Shuttlers, secures $4M new funding. 2 other stories and a trivia

On fundraiser, a Tunisia-based gaming platform, CoaChess, has raised $191,000 pre-Seed funding to improve its gaming infrastructure.

In a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday, CoaChess’s founder, Iheb Kaabi, expressed optimism in game development.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that the pre-seed funding round worth 600k TND (USD191,000) was secured from Omicrone, their new investor and startup builder.

An Australian startup with the idea of using stem cells to create biocomputers, Cortical Labs, has secured $10 million in funding.

Hon Weng Chong, CEO and founder of Cortical Labs disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

Cortical claims to have created a class of artificial intelligence (AI) called “Organoid Intelligence (OI)” by fusing synthetic biology and human neurons.

Twitter’s CEO, Elon Musk, has announced plans to “create an alternative choice” of ChatGPT, a development that might compete with existing models from OpenAI and Google.

In a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Tuesday, Musk said that he’s thinking of calling the AI brand “TruthGPT.”

Considering that the new ambition is “starting late,” Musk conceded that he would have a big advantage over his competitors.

Leading payments technology provider in Africa, Flutterwave, has announced that its regional base would be in Nairobi, the Kenyan country capital.

Chief Regulatory and Government Relations Officer, Flutterwave, Oluwabankole Falade, disclosed this in a release seen by Ripples Nigeria on Tuesday.

According to Falade, Flutterwave’s vision is in line with that of the East Africa region, guaranteeing that SMEs are given access to effective, straightforward, and cost-effective digital solutions that help their companies become profitable on a global scale.

A global B2B securities lending fintech, Sharegain, has formed a strategic alliance with J.P. Morgan. Boaz Yaari, CEO & Founder of Sharegain, disclosed this in a press release on Tuesday.

Sharegain bills itself as a leading B2B global securities lending fintech company based in England and Wales.

J.P. Morgan said it would be able to improve its securities agency loan offering by opening it up to new wealth managers and online broker participants thanks to the SLTech solution from Sharegain Ltd.

Japanese gaming giant, Sega, has announced its plans to acquire Angry Birds-maker, Rovio, in a deal worth €706 million ($775 million) in cash.

Haruki Satomi, president, and group CEO of Sega’s parent company Sega Sammy Holdings confirmed the acquisition in a press release on Monday.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that Sega’s offer is 63.1% higher than Rovio’s closing price on January 19, the last trading day before news of a prospective acquisition first broke, and 19% higher than Rovio’s actual closing price on Friday, April 14.

Cassava Technologies through its business units – Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Africa Data Centres, and Distributed Power Africa has committed to invest R4.5 billion ($250 million) in South Africa.

Hardy Pemhiwa, President & Group CEO of Cassava Technologies, confirmed the investment in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Monday.

The renewable energy, cloud & cyber security, data centers, and broadband connection business segments of the organization are among those that Cassava hopes to continue introducing to South Africa with this investment according to Pemhiwa.

A London-based healthtech Scan.com has secured $12 million in a Series A round of funding to expand infrastructure.

Scan .com CEO Charlie Bullock confirmed the funding in a statement on Monday.

The medical imaging startup claims it connects patients with scanning centers, covering MRI, ultrasound, CT, and X-ray.

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