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Hello, welcome to today’s edition of TC Daily! If this mail was forwarded to you, please take a moment to subscribe and have this delivered directly to your mail box every weekday.
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| Kenya is quickly becoming a battleground for African freight logistics startups. Startups are looking to get a slice of the volume of goods handled at the Port of Mombassa estimated at 13 million tonnes a year and said to be the busiest in East Africa.
Following its recent funding round of US$30 million, Kobo360 has opened a new regional office in Kenya. The company has been in beta in Kenya for 5 months with access to over 3,000 trucks and truck owners. It originally launched in Nigeria in 2017 and is now present in four countries, Togo, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. Kobo360 faces competition from Nairobi-based Lori Systems which was founded in 2016 and is also expanding across the continent. Lori appointed Nigerian Uche Ogboi as COO and Efayomi Carr as Head of Strategic Finance to lead its expansion across Africa.
Sendy, another logistics startup in Kenya, announced this week that it was launching freight logistics services. The startup says it started piloting the service this January and that it was launching it in response to requests from its existing customers.
The increase in activity in the sub-sector follows a wider trend of activity in Africa’s transport and logistics tech industry. |
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“Trolling, no matter how inciting or rude, usually does not cross into illegality until the perpetrator makes a comment that is defamatory or in some way harmful to the target.” Nigeria’s laws are sparse on the topic, but the Cybercrime Act of 2015 provides for cyberstalking which incorporates some acts that may typically pass as internet trolling. Wole has more in this TechCabal story.
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| In the Little Bitcoin Book, Timi Ajiboye, co-founder at Buycoins Africa and co-authors, describe in simple terms what Bitcoin is, how it works, why it is valuable, and how it affects individual freedom and opportunities of people everywhere. There’s also a Q & A section with some of the most frequently asked questions about Bitcoin in the book. Its co-authors include Luiz Buenaventura, Alex Gladstein, Lily Liu, Alexander Lloyd, Alejandro Machado, Jimmy Song, Alena Vranova. You can purchase the book on Amazon via this link. |
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| Join Dr Omobola Johnson, Nigeria’s former minister of communications and Senior Partner, TLcom Capital at TC Townhall: Mobility on the 27th of September, 2019. At TC Townhall: Mobility, TechCabal is bringing together the most knowledgeable and influential entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers in the mobility industry. Some other confirmed speakers include Obi Ozor, CEO at Kobo360 and Uche Ogboi, COO at Lori Systems. You can get tickets here and our 10% early bird discount offer is now available until September 9. To redeem the offer use the code TCMobility. Further discounts apply for companies/individuals buying at least 5 tickets. If you require the discount code for that, please fill this form |
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| Bus-hailing startup, Swvl is moving its headquarters to Dubai from Cairo. Although the company didn’t say why it was doing so, the reason might not be far from the fact that Dubai is one of the major startup and VC hubs within the MENA region. Swvl’s operations and engineering hub will continue to remain in Cairo. The startup announced yesterday that it will inject $15 million to expand its operations in Kenya including outside Nairobi. It is also planning to launch in Lagos later this year. Swvl is the best-funded transport startup in Africa based on publicly available information and is looking to expand across Africa and Asia. It has raised more than US$80 million to date. |
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| Itanna, a Lagos-based accelerator backed by the Honeywell Group has admitted four companies into its second cohort. They include health tech startup Gerocare, edtech company Simbi Interactive, real estate startup E-Estate and Carido, a marketplace for automobile technicians. The accelerator will invest $30,000 in each of the companies. |
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| A group of Nigerian girls called Brain Squad have won the People’s Choice awards at this year’s global Technovation program in California. The girls created an app called ‘Handsout’. The app makes it easy to donate books, stationery and other essentials, to Nigerian children. |
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| STEM Cafe is looking for STEAM Educators with a passion for science, technology and facilitation in Dakar, Kampala and Kigali. Founded in Nigeria earlier this year, STEM Cafe is a nonlinear science discovery maker space for kids aged 5-18. Interested in the vacancy? Apply here. |
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Impact Investors Foundations is holding its 2nd annual convening on October 10, 2019. There will be a deal day session to connect social enterprises and investors. Get in here. Impact Investors Foundation (IIF) is a nonprofit organization founded through a partnership involving Bank of Industry (BOI), African Capital Alliance (ACA), Business Day Media Ltd, Dalberg Development Advisors and Ford Foundation, with the overarching goal of accelerating the growth and excellence of impact investing in Nigeria.
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Have a great weekend,
We’ll see you next week.
– Olanrewaju
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