| Timon Capital is an early-stage venture firm that’s been active in Africa for the last 18 months, closing over six investments in Sub-Saharan Africa in that time. This week, they’ve released a compensation survey with 50 participating companies across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa as a tool for entrepreneurs, hiring managers, investors, and job seekers. You can find more about the survey at: https://www.timoncapital.com/african-startup-compensation-survey
timoncapital.com | @timoncap |
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| Blockchain startup, BitPesa has rebranded as AZA Group and raised US$15 million in debt funding from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). AZA Group will now house BitPesa, its flagship product and two others including TransferZero and BFX. Through its product offerings, AZA Group will leverage blockchain settlement to lower the cost and increase the speed of business payments to and from frontier markets. AZA was launched in November 2013 in Kenya, allowing users to buy Shillings with bitcoin and have it delivered to mobile wallets instantly. |
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| In its 2019 affordability report, the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) finds that in countries where there is a sole provider of broadband access, customers pay $3.42 more per GB than in countries with more competition. Across sub-Saharan Africa, people living in markets with no competition could be paying an additional 5.83% of their monthly income for 1GB, on average. Using A4AI’s latest report, Alex Onukwue analyzes why Africans pay the most for internet data globally in this TechCabal article. |
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| Following his departure from Gokada, Kayode Adegbola has launched his own startup, Golborne Road Advisory (GRA). GRA is an advisory company that will help tech startups and blue-chip organisations deal with regulatory issues while they focus on their core operations. Adegbola joined Gokada in June as Director, Regulatory and Government Affairs. Adegbola is a lawyer and a member of one of the major political parties in the country. |
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| Applications are now open for early stage startups in the South-South/South-East Nigeria to pitch at #StartupSouth5. Interested startups comprising at least two founders can learn more and apply here. The winner will receive a cash prize and access to potential investors. |
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| Monrovia’s finest hotel, Ducor is now a shadow of itself. Fuád visited what remains of the building and leaves us with a reminder of the devastating effects of the civil war. Meanwhile, not too far away from the border between Sierra Leone and Liberia, the #JollofRoad team discovered a surfers’ town called Robertsport. Toke writes about it here. Follow Fu’ad, Toke, Kayode, Tosin, Captain Taiwo and Black on their journey through 14 mainland West African countries. Visit jollofroad.com every day to catch up on all the stories from the road! |
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| Nigerian fintech startup, Carbon has launched a financial services platform targeted at businesses. Carbon for Business will provide payment APIs to businesses so they can receive online payments from Visa, Verve and Mastercard. It will also provide loans of up to ₦20 million to SMEs and an overdraft facility for qualified businesses. Furthermore, it launched CarbonIVS, an ID verification platform for businesses to perform KYC. The launch of Carbon for Business follows the company’s partnership with Open Banking Nigeria. The startup first started in 2016 as a consumer lending platform. It added investment and payment services after closing a US$5 million round earlier this year. |
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| Marieme Diop, VC Investor at Orange Digital Ventures has suggested an alternative approach for African startups to raise capital from public listings. At TechCrunch’s Disrupt SF event, Diop said that Silicon Valley’s unicorn IPO model might not be right for African startups.“We should have a discussion of setting a right valuation, a valuation that is more appropriate to African startups,” she said. Read it all here (paywall). |
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| Prosus, the European offshoot of South African tech giant Naspers, has launched a hostile bid to acquire UK startup, Just Eats. Prosus made a 4.9 billion pound ($6.3 billion) offer to challenge a deal with Takeaway.com. Just Eats said it had previously rejected three proposals from Prosus before the latest offer. Some analysts say Prosus’ offer is better than Takeaway’s one but isn’t high enough. Naspers has made a fortune acquiring and investing in internet companies across the world. It turned around a $32 million investment in China’s Tencent into a stake that is now worth about $124 billion. A successful bid for Just Eat would surpass the $2.8 billion it has so far spent on the sector. |
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| The Lagos regional round of SoGAL’s global pitch competition will be held on October 26, 2019 at Seedspace. The following startups will pitch at the event: Bitmama, Bricify, CodeLn, Gigpro, Lucy and Partners, MÇare Health, shecluded, Datespace, Natal Cares, The Pave Network, Foodlocker and Gitgirl. The winner will secure a slot in SoGal’s final global competition and bootcamp in Silicon Valley as well as a chance to win over half a million dollars in investment capital. Free tickets to the Lagos regional round are available here. |
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| Fintech First Dive, a subsidised training about fintech fundamentals holds on October 31st in Lagos, Nigeria. The event is organized by the team behind the Nigeria Fintech Week. The training will cover a rich curriculum on “all you need to know” about fintech. Participants do not need to have any prior knowledge of Fintech. To register, visit www.fintechinstituteng.org. |
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| Vodacom has reportedly released South Africa’s first smart 4G feature phone. The feature phone called Vodacom Vibe 4G is priced at R299 ($51) and will include support for WhatsApp, Facebook, and other social media platforms. The company has also announced that it will turn off its 2G network in the next five years. Vodacom says all its data and voice customers will be moved from the 2G network to 3G and 4G. |
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That’s All,
We’ll be back tomorrow.
– Olanrewaju
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