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

From equity raiser, which is now becoming a weekly affairs, to opportunity windows for African entrepreneurs; the week was characterised by a long list of events.

Nigerian Fintech startup, Paychant, launched a new service platform, Quick, to enable users in Nigeria to buy air-time, data, cable TV, and electricity with Bitcoin.
Also, Bankly, Nigerian fintech startup, secured US$2 million in seed funding to accelerate its consumer acquisition as it leads its growth process.
Below is a digest for the week, highlighting the major tech build up.

The Bitcoin legal tender

During the week, Nigerian Fintech startup, Paychant, launched a new service platform, Quick, to enable users in Nigeria purchase air-time, data, cable TV, and electricity with Bitcoin.

With the development, the platform is expected to support everyday purchases in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Aside catering for users in Nigeria, the platform will serve 10 other African countries, making it possible for users to buy airtime, internet data, electricity, tv subscription, airline tickets, book hotels, food, and event tickets using their bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies.

Another Nigerian scaling up venture in the diaspora

Sayo Folawiyo, co-founder of Kandua, an online marketplace for home service, is another Nigerian doing well abroad.
His venture, Kandua, based in South Africa, has recorded another milestone with its recent disclosure of creating $12m in work opportunities in 12 months.

Nigerian fintech startup Bankly raises $2m in seed funding round. 2 other things and a trivia

The seven year old startup helps anyone who needs work done in their home – from small fixes to major renovations – to find a vetted, background-checked professionally.

Bankly’s new $2m raiser

Also, Bankly, Nigerian fintech startup, secured US$2 million in seed funding to accelerate its consumer acquisition as it leads its growth process.
The fund, which is expected to help the startup scale, will see to how it can offer direct-to-consumer (DTC) products to Nigeria’s unbanked and underbanked populations.

The three-year-old bank was founded to digitise the informal “thrift collections” system – known as ajo, esusu and adashe – that is widely used among Nigerians working in the informal sector.

Opportunity window through Startupbootcamp AfriTech

Startupbootcamp AfriTech has partnered with Telecel Group to launch the Africa Startup Initiative Programme (ASIP), opening call for applications into the startup accelerator programme.

The initiative, which aims to support the next generation of early-stage African tech startups, will be seeking to support ideas capable of disrupting a wide range of sectors.

Today, however, with the new partnership deal with telecoms firm Telecel Group, ASIP aims to support young startups with innovative ideas that are creating a difference in their communities.

The big miss

Pan-African Fintech Accelerator selected 10 startups in Africa to partake in its maiden edition of the Pan-African Fintech Accelerator.

The initiative, which is said to be hosted by the Entrepreneurship Academy of the SANAD Fund for MSME, comes in partnership with IMPACT Lab and MEST.

Sadly, however, Nigerian startups did not feature as six of the selected companies are from Ghana while Senegal and Ivory Coast were represented by 2 startups each.

VSAT launch

In a bid to address key challenges in the information technology sector and empowering youth in the country, the Federal Government on Monday, launched a national policy on Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) installation core skills.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, who led the possession in Abuja, noted that the development was designed to improve the country’s digital economy.

He revealed that the VSAT installation core skills are manpower resources required by staff of the Nigerian Communication Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) in the satellite industry.

Remarks
These stories, and many others, made headlines during the week. Join us next week for another edition of TechNigeria.

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