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TechCabal Daily – upOwa, a solar energy startup from Cameroon secures $2.77 million funding

16th December 2019









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TOGETHER WITH VENTURES PLATFORM AND FLUTTERWAVE

16 – 12 – 2019

Good morning and welcome to your daily dose of tech news from across Africa. Please take a moment to subscribe if you haven’t. Also, join us on Telegram. Don’t miss out on all the tech news and analysis on digital innovations from around the continent!

Nigeria’s biggest asset managers, ARM, and Ventures Platform, one of Africa’s most active early-stage investors, have launched Labs by ARM 2.0, a fintech focused accelerator.

Selected startups will get access to distribution capabilities, $20,000+ in funding, deep industry insight, mentorship and lots more.

Application ends 30th of December 2019.  Apply here: www.armlabs.com.ng.

Follow @vp_fund and @armengage on Twitter to keep up with activities.

Did you miss the TC Townhall: Edtech and the Future of Work? This is your one chance to catch up on what went down. Here’s (almost) everything that you missed.

Egyptian startup, DentaCart has secured $450,000 funding from 500Startups, AUC Angels, and Asia Africa Investment & Consulting. The startup is a dental marketplace. It sells dental products to clinics and dentists in Egypt. It claims to have over 10,000 products on its catalogue and says it has served over 1,000 customers so far.

The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has approved the proposed merger of Airtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya. The merger of the two companies had piqued the government’s interest when it was first announced. To secure CAK approval, specific Telkom Kenya assets and government services were excluded from the deal. The regulatory body also included some rules to protect employees and barred the merged company from entering any other sale deal for the next five years.

MallforAfrica provides a platform for Africans to purchase items directly from international online retailers – companies that, otherwise, would be inaccessible to the African population. By powering MallforAfrica’s payments, Flutterwave gives users access to hundreds of US and UK e-commerce retailers and more than 8.5 billion products combined.

Start shopping here.

UTU, a Kenya-based artificial intelligence startup has raised $500,000 in bridge funding from a couple of investors. These investors include Kepple Africa Ventures, SoftBank Group’s SubsidiaryDeepCore, Artesian, Animoca among others. UTU is developing a trust AI algorithm that mimics how people develop trust in other humans or things. The solution is useful for services that interface with human beings like virtual assistants, financial services among others. The bridge funding would help the company stay focused on developing its solution in the runup to its Series A round next year.

upOwa, a Cameroon-based solar energy company has raised $2.77 million as part of its Series A round. upOwa offers pay as you go (PAYG) financing options to customers in the country, allowing low income families to get access to sustainable electricity. Some of the investors in the round include Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP) and Colam Impact (a French impact investor). upOwa says it will use the new funds to scale and expand.

Heads up!
The next TechCabal townhall holds on February 28, 2020

What’s the focus for February 2020?
Emerging technologies including 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality, Cryptocurrencies, Robotics and 3D Printing. TC Townhall: Emerging Tech will examine how these technologies are changing (and will change) how Africans live and do business. From financial institutions to entrepreneurs, investors and even regulators, TC Townhall: Emerging Tech will bring together everybody that matters in for this conversation.

Want to attend?
Indicate interest by filling this form. Are you a member of the press, fill this form to qualify for a pass. Do you have a startup or project with any of these technologies at the core? Tell us about your project or startup here. 

Got any startup or tech leader you would like to hear speak at TC Townhall: Emerging Tech? Have any ideas or suggestions about the event? Send us an email via team@techcabal.com and we just might make your wish come true. For sponsorship inquiries, please email Chidi via chidi@bigcabal.com.

And just before we go…

Everything we do at TechCabal is for you, dear reader, and as 2019 inches to a close, we’d like to hear from you.

What do you like about our work? How can we improve? Please let us know by filling this form.

Tell your friends to tell their friends.

That’s it for today
 
Do have a great week ahead!
 
– Abubakar

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