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Vehicle maintenance startup, Mecho Autotech, closes $2.15m seed funding. 2 other things and a trivia

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This line-up of stories will help you discover the latest happenings around the tech world, today.

1. Vehicle maintenance startup, Mecho Autotech, closes $2.15m seed funding

Mecho Autotech, a Nigerian vehicle repair and maintenance firm, has closed a US$2.15 million seed funding round.

The investment comes as the startup seeks to expand its capacities and acquire more customers.

The startup was founded in 2021 by Olusegun Owoade and Ayoola Akinkunmi, who sought to offer repair and maintenance services to businesses and consumers.

According to the startup, it serves its clientele through in-house and third-party service capacity which has passed rigorous assessments.

Running a workshop – Mecho Shops – and a mobile service – Mecho Mobile – the startup has since inception onboarded over 7,000 third-party mechanics to its platform.

In 2021, the autotech startup participated in the S21 batch of the Y Combinator accelerator, raising funding from Ingressive Capital.

The new raiser saw the participation of Future Africa, Hoaq Capital, Cathexis Ventures, V8 Capital, Silver Squid and Tekedia Capital.

Tech Trivia: What term may be used as a synonym for a software patch?

A Honeypot
B Hotfix
C Halftone
D Hyperlink
Answer: See end of post

2. Kenya’s BasiGo closes $4.3m seed round

Towards achieving its ambition to commercialise electric bus model, Kenyan startup, BasiGo, has closed a fresh US$4.3 million seed funding round.

READ ALSO: GitOps company, Weaveworks, acquires security startup Magalix. 2 other things and a trivia

BasiGo is an electric vehicle technology and financing company, seeking to bring electric bus services to Sub-Saharan Africa.

The fund is expected to help BasiGo commercialise its business model and begin local assembly of electric buses.

The startup was founded in 2021 in Nairobi, Kenya.

In November 2021, the startup secured KES100 million (US$900,000) in funding to accelerate its plans.

Providing state-of-the-art electric buses along with charging and maintenance services for bus operators, the startup is known for making vehicles affordable.

To do this, the startup operates through a financing model that allows operators to pay for the battery and charging separately from the bus through a pay-as-you-go financing arrangement.

According to local media, the US$4.3 million seed round was led by Novastar Ventures with participation from several Silicon Valley investors, including Moxxie Ventures, Nimble Partners, Spring Ventures, Climate Capital, and Third Derivative.

3. Egypt’s Thndr banks $20m to expand across MENA region

Thndr, an Egyptian digital investment platform, has banked a US$20 million Series A funding round.

It was gathered that the round was co-led by Tiger Global, BECO Capital and Prosus Ventures, and will be used to fund the startup’s product development plans and expansion across MENA.

The round saw the participation of Base Capital, firstminute and existing investors Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Raba Partnerships and JIMCO.

The digital investment company was launched in 2020 by Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr, following its participation in the Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator accelerator.

Before launch, however, the startup offered users a commission-free, mobile first equities trading platform that makes it easy to invest in stocks, bonds, and funds.

Trivia Answer: Hotfix

A hotfix is a software update designed to fix a bug or security hole in a program. Unlike typical version updates, hotfixes are urgently developed and released as soon as possible to limit the effects of the software issue. They are often released between incremental version updates.

You may receive a hotfix notification by email or as an alert in the program itself. It may be labeled as a “critical update” or “security update.” Some applications allow you to update the software by simply clicking Update in the program. Other applications may require you to download the hotfix package and run the update as an executable file.

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