Jumia’s IPO has been delayed
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African Alliance, an insurance company which has been in existence since 1960 has given insurance a new look by unveiling a new digitally-savvy corporate identity. The company offers dual benefits for its investment products by giving customers the opportunity to invest and enjoy the benefits while they are alive, and secure a life cover in cases of uncertainties. Visit https://www.africanallianceplc.com/ to start your investment journey! Follow African Alliance Instagram page HERE. Follow on Twitter HERE.
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| Tunisa-based private equity firm Africinvest and Paris-based Cathay Innovation have launched a new Africa tech fund with a target raise of $168M. The fund will focus primarily on Series A to C-stage investments and on sectors such as fintech, logistics, AI, agtech and edutech. AfricInvest has over $1.2 billion in assets under management across 17 funds. They also have over 140 portfolio investments and 80+ exits. In May last year it announced that it was launching the AfricInvest Venture Capital Fund to focus invest in innovative high-growth African SMEs. In October, it received €15M from the European Investment Bank out of its target of €120M for the fund. Africa-focused VC funds are becoming increasingly local, almost half of them are locally run and headquartered according to data by Crunchbase/TechCrunch. |
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| Google’s AI Lab in Accra is now open for business. Google first announced the AI Lab in June 2018. The company will bring together top machine learning researchers and engineers in this new lab dedicated to AI research and its applications. It will also collaborate with local universities and research centers, as well as work with policy makers on the potential uses of AI in Africa. Victor Asemota in this article tried to explain why Google launched the AI Lab in Africa. Summary; Ghana has a robust network of academic institutions and decent infrastructure. |
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In more AI news, Facebook is using artificial intelligence to map population density in Africa and around the world with a new type of world map, as part of its Connectivity Lab Project. The new map captures nearly all of Africa’s 1.3 billion people and their precise locations. Facebook is hoping to offer the information to everyone from local governments in development planning to aid organizations in remote locations.
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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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South Africa’s Iyeza Health and Nigeria’s Medsaf have each received $10k from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They were awarded the prizes at the recently-held Seedstars Global competition. Iyeza Health delivers critical medical supplies to communities across South Africa and it plans to use the funds to build its platform. Medsaf is a medication marketplace launched in 2017. The company before now had raised $320,000 in funding. Learn more about Medsaf and other Nigerian health tech startups here.
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| Jumia’s IPO has now been delayed. The IPO was initially slated to happen today but will now take place tomorrow. The company said the delay was because it wanted to update the market with some numbers for its first quarter of 2019 and they’ll require a day to digest it. Investors who have backed global e-commerce giants believe Jumia’s stock will receive a good amount of interest. |
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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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| Metta Nairobi has launched a Clean Energy Accelerator Program in partnership with What Design Can Do (WDCD), Social Enterprise NL and IKEA Foundation. Kenyan startups, Solar Freeze and Energy Food Nexus who won the clean energy global challenge represent the first cohort of the program. The 4-month program includes online workshops, a Bootcamp in Amsterdam, networking events etc. |
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In today’s odd news, a young man was reportedly arrested in South-West Nigeria after people found out he withdrew some money from an ATM without a card. He must have performed a cardless transaction which is possible on most ATMs. Marcello Schermer’s take on the issue is quite apt; “…shows how important consumer education is when bringing innovation into payments.”
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That’s It.
We’ll see you tomorrow.
– Olanrewaju
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