TechCabal Daily - Biting into the competition

10 MARCH, 2021

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Good morning ☀️ ️

Per one account, it looks like Twitter might be getting Business Accounts. 👀

In today’s edition:

Food delivery in Nigeria
Cryptoexchanges in SA
Some cleantech news

Bolt Food is coming to Nigeria

In December 2020, we mentioned that Bolt raised $182 million to help with its expansion plans. We also said at the time that the startup was focusing on its food delivery service.

Now those plans are becoming concrete after it put up a job ad in Nigeria which spoke to a launch of Bolt Food. The ad also comes on the heels of a $23 million investment it received from the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

What’s food delivery like in Nigeria anyway?The food delivery market is primarily served by Jumia, OyaNow and Gokada. Jumia Food saw some impressive growth during the lockdowns in Lagos with orders growing 30% month-on-month.

In other news of launches, Casava, the insurtech company that wants to insure people against job losses has also launched. The company’s launch was planned for last year but undisclosed regulatory issues delayed the launch.

Now that the company has unveiled its product, it’s time to ask them all of the questions and top of mind is, how will unemployment insurance work? We’ll have some of the answers for you in a few days when we speak to them!

PARTNER CONTENT

Want to get smarter about fintech in Africa? Listen to the Decode Fintech Podcast by Paystack!

How do you leverage customer interactions to grow your business? In this episode, Paystack’s Customer Success Manager shares the key metrics he tracks, the tools his team uses, how to turn unhappy customers into brand advocates, and how Paystack uses customer service data to improve the product.

▶️ Listen to Episode 3: How Paystack Drives Growth with Customer Service

South Africa’s crypto exchanges are moving their HQs

Uncertainty over government regulations of cryptocurrency has been a global hot topic since 2019 and we’re increasingly seeing definitive policies from governments. Nigeria’s Central Banks moved against crypto exchanges last month and now, SA is feeling the pressure.

According to one publication, South Africa’s burgeoning exchanges say they are having to move headquarters abroad due to uncertainty over potential government regulation.

But it’s important to say that SA has not made any concrete policies on crypto and it is this uncertainty that’s causing exchanges to preempt regulators. One CEO said, “in an unregulated environment, a customer arrives at our platform with skepticism, and rightfully so.”

EVENTS

The questions around data and technology implicate us all and they are more urgent than ever.

Join us and the World Ethical Data Forum in defining the most crucial discussion of our time on March 17-19 at the digital edition of the World Ethical Data Forum 2021.

Buy your tickets for the 3-Day Digital Event here.

Exclusive Promo Code: BIGCABAL20

The WEDF is also inviting individuals & organizations to act as patrons for this year’s forum.

For more info, visit the event website here

Nigerian cleantech startup, Havenhill raises $4.6 million

In February, I wrote about how Cleantech, which was pretty popular with investors in 2020 continued to get attention in 2021.

Cleantech’s popularity as an investment destination has continued to grow in 2021, with Nigeria’s DayStar Power raising $38 million in a Series B funding round.

The Ugandan startup, gnuGrid also raised a US$250,000 funding round as it works to scale its solution. Yet another cleantech startup, SunCulture has now received $11 million in funding to expand solar irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The latest fundraise in the African cleantech space is from Havenhill Synergy Limited, which has raised $4.6m from Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NDIF) to aid the construction of 22 smart solar mini-grids in Nigeria.

Havenhill’s solar mini-grid solution promises to connect up to 70,000 people as well as establishments in various communities to clean and reliable energy.