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

Tamwilcom, Rabbit, ABAN, Alibaba, Mascotte Health, Alma Health, AMEA Power, Agthia Group PJSC, YouTube, were some of the names that made the headlines this week.

Twitter, the Elon Musk-owned social media platform, has unveiled its Creator Ads Revenue Sharing program, as it seeks to expand its range of creator monetization options.

Also, Unipal, a startup originally from Bahrain, has announced securing a follow-on investment of US$500,000 from prominent investors Tenmou and Flat6labs, with participation from GTS and angel investors.

 

Let’s get into details.

 

Unipal, a startup originally from Bahrain, has announced securing a follow-on investment of US$500,000 from prominent investors Tenmou and Flat6labs, with participation from GTS and angel investors.

The funding round aims to expedite the expansion of Unipal’s operations into Saudi Arabia.

Established in 2020, Unipal offers an innovative online education application that provides university students with exclusive discounts and special offers on a wide range of products.

Ali Alalawi, the CEO and Co-founder of Unipal, expressed enthusiasm for the expansion into Riyadh and eventually throughout Saudi Arabia.

 

Egypt has signed contracts to sell stakes in state-owned assets amounting to a total value of $1.9 billion.

This initiative, according to the government, is part of Egypt’s comprehensive economic reform plan under the $3 billion loan program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly stated that of the total amount, $1.65 billion will be paid in foreign currency.

The government’s target is to generate $2 billion from stake sales by the end of June, with recent months witnessing some delays in the process.

 

Twitter, the Elon Musk-owned social media platform, has unveiled its Creator Ads Revenue Sharing program, as it seeks to expand its range of creator monetization options.

The platform, helmed by CEO Elon Musk, announced via a tweet its intention to include ads revenue sharing for creators, enabling them to earn a share of advertising revenue generated from replies to their posts.

Twitter’s latest initiative is part of its ongoing commitment to helping individuals earn a living directly on the platform. The Creator Ads Revenue Sharing program will be available in all countries where Stripe supports payouts.

 

YouTube, American leading video-sharing platform, has introduced a revised monetization eligibility criteria for the renowned YouTube Partner Program (YPP).

Previously, creators seeking monetization had to accumulate a minimum of 1,000 subscribers, along with either 4,000 watch hours in the past year or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.

Under the newly introduced guidelines, however, creators can now qualify for monetization by meeting a minimum of 500 subscribers and uploading at least three public videos within the last 90 days.

 

Knife Capital, a Cape Town-based venture capital firm, has secured a fresh $50 million fund as it seeks to focus on pan-African investments. 

This new funding followed its investment in the East African region, highlighting the company’s commitment to driving innovation and growth throughout the continent.

The newly established fund, known as Knife Capital has set its sights on supporting and investing in high-growth technology companies.

 

Fawry, a banking and electronic payment technology service startup, has announced the launch of the myfawry “yellowcard.”

The new product, according to the startup, comes in collaboration with Banque Misr and the Egyptian Banks Company (EBC).

This partnership, which underscores Fawry’s commitment to developing electronic payment solutions, will help it facilitate financial transactions for individuals and merchants with the goal of building a cashless society. 

 

A diversified food and beverage company, Agthia Group PJSC, has launched Agthia Ventures, a corporate venture capital fund (“CVC”) designed to expand Agthia’s innovation capabilities and create mutual value with startups as the company continues to drive profitable growth in both new and existing markets.

Funded by Agthia and its parent company ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, Agthia Ventures will be managed together with Touchdown Ventures.

Agthia Ventures is expected to build on Agthia’s four decades of experience, creating a program to help the best and brightest entrepreneurs in food and related industries scale their operations and accelerate their product development and market adoption.

 

AMEA Power has announced raised US$75 million equity funding from Japan’s SoftBank.

The Dubai-based renewable energy developer will use the new fund to advance its investment in wind, solar, energy storage, green hydrogen, and water desalination.

The company has a generating capacity in operation and under construction of approximately 1.45 GW.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that the company had a clean energy pipeline of nearly 6 GW across 15 countries.

 

UAE-based direct-to-patient digital healthcare company, Alma Health, has announced closing its Series A funding round at $10 million.

The round was co-led by Knuru Capital and Hambro Perks Oryx Fund, with participation from e& Capital, S3 Ventures, Pinnacle Capital, and Khwarizmi Ventures.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that KCP Capital played the role of the company’s financial advisor to close the round.

 

Mascotte Health, a tech-enabled veterinary practice operator, has announced its emergence from stealth as it completed its pilot program, which was carried out in collaboration with select veterinary practices.

The company also announced the completion of its oversubscribed $1.2M pre-seed funding round, led by Nuwa Capital, with participation from angel investors from Uber, Turo, and Airbnb.

Mascotte Health currently offered veterinary clinics tech-enabled support infrastructure solutions, including virtual triage and customer experience.

 

Alibaba has launched an artificial intelligence tool dubbed Tongyi Wanxiang that could generate images from text prompts.

The AI tool allows users to input prompts in Chinese and English to generate an image in various styles such as a sketch or 3D cartoon.

Alibaba’s cloud division, which launched the product, said on Tuesday, it was available for enterprise customers in China for beta testing.

Tongyi Wanxiang was Alibaba’s latest generative AI offering as tech giants in China and the U.S. looked to race ahead with the technology.

 

The Africa Business Angels Network (ABAN), a pan-African association of angel investors, and Rwanda Finance Ltd (RFL), a company dedicated to establishing Rwanda as a premier financial destination in Africa, has officially entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate and advance their respective initiatives across the continent.

ABAN, which was established in 2015, served as a prominent network of angel investors focused on Africa, encompassing over 35 African countries and the diaspora.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that the organization is dedicated to market education on angel investment and the development of an early-stage investment ecosystem throughout the continent.

 

An ominous surge in cyberattacks cast a dark shadow over the crypto landscape, with losses exceeding $600 million in the first half of 2023.

According to a report by Atlas VPN, the cryptocurrency space, which is notorious for its volatility, reeled under the shock of these astronomical losses.

The digital coin Binance Smart Chain (BSC) emerged as the most vulnerable, registering the highest number of cyberattacks.

Ethereum, a pioneer in decentralized platforms, bore the brunt of the most significant financial loss.

 

Egypt-based e-commerce platform Rabbit has launched RabbitAI, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered shopping assistant aimed at transforming the shopping experience.

Leveraging OpenAI’s advanced ChatGPT technology, RabbitAI offers users real-time assistance, personalized recommendations, and valuable insights at no cost.

This integration marks a significant milestone in AI application within the e-commerce industry, showcasing the future of retail.

Lead product owner, Louay Ali, expressed excitement about the transformative power of AI in various sectors, particularly e-commerce.

 

In Morocco, Tamwilcom has announced the launch of the new edition of the Innov Invest Fund (F2I), showcasing its continued commitment to supporting startups and fostering the innovation ecosystem.

This initiative aims to provide financial backing to innovative projects and startups, with the goal of financing a total of 800 startups over a five-year period.

As part of this endeavour, Tamwilcom has initiated a campaign to label support structures responsible for implementing a new range of financing products targeted at innovative entrepreneurs.

 

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