TC Daily

TechCabal Daily – Naspers invests $5.6 million in agritech startup, Aerobotics

21st May 2020

Social media reportedly shutdown in Burundi
in partnership
with
FLUTTERWAVE & RENSOURCE ENERGY		 21.05.2020
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Medplus – A wholesale & retail pharmacy that not only sells locally manufactured & imported drugs but also your everyday essentials. Now you can order your COVID-19 essentials & have it delivered to you in one click.
My Life in Tech
After a brief venture into fintech, Boye Oshinaga was determined to prove that scale and profitability were possible in edtech although he had tried to find it several times. Oshinaga then backed an ed-tech company called SchoolsCompass and ended up helping the company scale their presence from 300 to 3,000 in under a year. The process taught Oshinaga that there was hope in
the edtech space.

This fresh revelation led him to Gradely which he currently runs as co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. In April, early-stage investors Microtraction made a US$25, 000 investment in the company. Gradely prides itself as a tailored learning platform using artificial intelligence technology to create learning modules and quizzes specific to each learner.

Kay Ugwuede spoke with the founder for this week’s #MyLifeinTech.
CRYPTOCURRENCY

Luno, a Naspers-backed cryptocurrency platform is planning to expand into Kenya and Ghana. The company currently employs 400 people, across seven offices in Africa, Europe and Asia. It recently launched in Zambia and Uganda after operating in South Africa and Nigeria for some years.

According to GM, Marius Reitz, the pandemic has boosted activity on the
market as people look for digital ways to transact and limit human contact. The seven-yeard old company says it has added about 1 million customers as a result of the pandemic, bringing its total number of users to 4 million. Luno closed a US$3-million funding round in 2015, led by Naspers.
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FUNDING
Napsers has invested $5.6 million (R100 million) in South Africa-based Aerobotics. The money was invested through Naspers’ $77.9 million (R1.4 billion) funding initiative for early-stage tech businesses, Naspers Foundry. The deal is still pending approval by local authorities.

Aerobotics is a subscription-based artificial
intelligence (AI) company that provides intelligent tools for the agricultural industry to manage its crops. Founded by James Paterson and Benji Meltzer in 2014, the startup provides a platform that uses AI, drones and software to help farmers manage their farms, trees and fruit more efficiently.
Kenya’s Apollo Agriculture has closed a $6 million Series A round led by Anthemis. Other participants in the round are Accion Venture Lab, Leaps by Bayer, and Flourish Ventures. Apollo will use the funds to invest in growth in Kenya by hiring talent, product development, boosting its lending
portfolio as well as scaling its sales and marketing efforts.
Founded in 2016, Apollo Agriculture is a mobile-based technology company helping small-scale farmers maximize their profits. It bundles everything a farmer needs including financing, farm inputs, advice, insurance, and market access, when possible.
Join our next TechCabal Live session this Friday, May 22 at 11 am (WAT). This edition will feature Odunayo Eweniyi, COO at PiggyVest. Odunayo will share her company’s experience navigating the ongoing crisis. She will answer questions including; how do startups respond during this crisis? How and why should you focus bullishly on your customer needs during the crisis? Register here to join the session.
BULLISH ON AFRICA

On May 15, 2020, at 12 pm (WAT), TechCabal and Pariti brought tech thinkers and doers from across the world together for the Bullish on Africa digital conference. The event was to drive critical thinking about getting to a stronger industry from where we are today; in the midst of a global health and economic crisis.

The event started with a keynote address by Kola Aina, Founder, Ventures Platform who set the tone for the event by saying that, “it’s a matter of perspective: you can see the cup as half full or half empty, but the only way you get out of a rut is by building.” Here is a recap of the event in case you missed it.
INTERNET SHUTDOWN
An unconfirmed report says social media has been shut down in Burundi. Residents are reportedly using VPN to access social media platforms. The shutdown follows a letter written by a group of journalists urging the government to keep the internet on during the elections scheduled to hold on May 20. At least three websites were blocked as of May 19 and reports say elections are taking place amid a hostile environment for the media.
Thanks for reading,

STay safe. We’ll see you tomorrow.
#flattenthecurve
– Olanrewaju

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