Tanzania’s government arrests Vodacom’s Managing Director.
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Hello! How was your week? Welcome to today’s edition of TC Daily. If you haven’t, please take a moment to subscribe so you have this delivered directly to your mailbox.
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| As part of Paga’s 10 year anniversary, CEO & Founder Tayo Oviosu is sharing a 5 part series on his journey of the first years at Paga. In part 3 of this series, he shares the struggle every entrepreneur is familiar with; raising financing, including the struggle with staying true to your idea and and keeping the team motivated while running on empty pockets and a good dose of faith. Dig into the story HERE. Click HERE and HERE to read part 1 and 2. |
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News broke last week that Nigerian fintech company Kudi raised $5.8 million from Partech. The Partech Africa team has made an official announcement explaining why they invested in Kudi. Launched in 2017 by Adeyinka Adewale and Pelumi Aboluwarin, the startup originally started off as a chatbot to make online payments easier before pivoting to building an agent network to serve the unbanked. Kudi has grown its network from 211 agents in January 2018 to 4500 agents today and it went from processing about $1 million in monthly payments a year ago to over $30 million today. This is Partech’s second known investment in a Nigerian company (the first being Tradedepot) since it launched its Africa Fund early last year. The fund closed at $143 million in February.
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| Volkswagen’s global ride-hailing service, Move, which it launched in Rwanda, is gaining traction despite a few challenges. Last year, it launched an assembly plant in Rwanda and then in July of the same year, it launched Move Share, a fully-managed fleet service for corporate organisations. It then began offering riders on-demand hailing service in October 2018 with ‘Move Ride’. The app so far has garnered 14,000 downloads and the service has 30 cars driven in two shifts by 70 drivers. There are plans to launch, Move Kids – a children pick and drop service and Move Drive – a car rental service. Volkswagen owns and manages the entire value chain: from supplying their own cars and drivers to providing insurance, refueling, and maintenance services. |
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Yele Bademosi (Director, Binance Labs & Founder, Microtraction) and a group of volunteers have launched Resplash, a talent accelerator for future leaders in tech. The initiative will award scholarships and mentorship opportunities to talented individuals interested in learning how to code, design and potentially join or found a world-class tech startup. Its first project, the Resplash Leadership Program will will award 40 scholarships to only women for its first cycle while subsequent ones will maintain a 50:50 gender parity. The program is an interesting case study for grooming more women leaders in Africa’s tech ecosystem. Apply to the program before April 30. Donations to support the program can be done using this link.
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| Binance Labs has kicked off the Lagos leg of its incubation program. Binance Labs is the venture arm of Binance (cryptocurrency exchange) that incubates, invests, and empowers blockchain and cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, projects, and communities. The initiative provides seed investment, mentoring, networking opportunities and other resources to startup founders. |
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On the 18th of April, 2019, The British High Commission to Nigeria and EFInA (Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access) are convening an interactive session that brings fintech operators, investors, policy makers and hubs to explore the ways in which increased funding and enhanced regulatory harmony can grow the Nigerian Fintech ecosystem. Also, EFInA will announce the winners of its $2 million Fintech Challenge Fund; fintech companies who have built solutions to improve financial inclusion among low-income earners in Nigeria. Sign up here to indicate interest to attend. Please note that only limited seats are available therefore EFInA is unable to accommodate every applicant..
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Tanzania’s government has accused Vodacom Tanzania’s MD, Hisham Hendi and four other executives of depriving it of more than $4.8 million in revenue. The accused who have been arrested on a request by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, were charged with an allegation of organising a criminal racket and allowing third parties unauthorized use of network services. Two years ago, the telco was forced to list on Tanzania’s stock exchange due to government pressure. The telco has announced Jacques Marais, its CFO, as acting MD.
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Jumia: How to Build an Ecosystem by Olaoluwa Samuel-Biyi, Director, Sure Group. Samuel-Biyi writes about his time at Jumia and how the company built a talent pool of technology entrepreneurs and executives in Nigeria. He argues that while the company may not be Africa-owned, it is Africa-built.
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| TechCabal is pleased to introduce its first paid report, The State of Health Tech in Nigeria. This essential report looks deeply into the state of Nigeria’s health industry, the challenges facing that industry and the innovative startups working to find solutions to those challenges. The report profiles 75 active and 15 inactive health tech startups across 12 subsectors. It further examines the challenges these startups face, the opportunities in the space and makes actionable recommendations for entrepreneurs, investors and regulators to consider. Get the report here. |
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South Africa’s Fancam has raised $100,000 from Stadia Ventures and also joined the latest cohort of the VC’s sports accelerator. Fancam uses facial recognition technology and computer vision to help brands and teams (e.g. NFL, NBA) connect with their fans by providing them high-quality, branded ‘fan’ images which their fans can share on social media. Ninety percent of Fancam’s revenue is generated in the US.
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Have a great weekend.
We’ll see you next week.
– Olanrewaju
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