👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – DStv’s push for Disney+

CRYPTO MARKET

Bitcoin	$19,338	+ 2.75%
Ether	$1,356	+ 4.34%
BNB	$269	+ 2.73%
Solana	$32.39	+ 4.10%
Cardano	$0.44	+ 2.06%
Name of the coin Price of the coin 24-hour percentage change		Source: CoinMarketCap

* Data as of 05:20 AM WAT, September 20, 2022.

DSTV IS ADDING DISNEY+ TO SUBSCRIBERS BILLS WITHOUT CONSENT

According to MyBroadband, several DStv customers have complained that the pay-TV service has added Disney+ subscriptions to their accounts without permission.

How it’s supposed to work

In May when Disney+ launched in South Africa, DStv parent company, MultiChoice, partnered with the streaming service to offer DStv’s Premium subscribers three months of Disney+ for free.

Customers could also bundle a Disney+ subscription with their DStv package and add it to their bill, getting a R49 ($2.77) discount on the overall monthly fee for Premium, Compact Plus, and Compact customers in the process.

The subscription was supposed to be completely optional and required customers to opt-in by manually adding their cellphone numbers to link their DStv account and Disney+ sub.

What DStv did instead

However, in the past few weeks, several DStv customers complained on the MyBroadband forum and Twitter of subscriptions being added to their bill without any input or consent from them.

One user tried to remove the subscription from their account, but a DStv agent told them they could only unlink their subscription, and the customer had to cancel it directly with Disney+.

After querying it with Disney+ South Africa’s online support team, they were told that DStv had to action the cancellation.

Another customer said their attempts to remove the subscription from their bill through DStv’s customer centre had been unsuccessful, even after Disney confirmed they had cancelled it.

Zoom out: DStv is no stranger to billing problems. The company’s Hellopeter page, which has a trust rating of 3.1/10 with 73% of its ratings being “1 star”, is filled with claims of incorrect charges on customer accounts.

E-NAIRA TO BE POWERED BY FLUTTERWAVE AND CLICKATELL

In October 2021, Nigeria’s central bank became the first in Africa to issue a digital currency. It was really big news then, and frankly, still is. After all, the West African country etched its name in Africa’s tech history books. 

The problem now is that most Nigerians don’t know—or care— about it, and the e-naira’s adoption has been slow. With a partnership with Flutterwave and Clickatell, are things about to change?

Mhmm. A partnership?

Well, that’s what it looks like. Let’s start with Clickatell.

Clickatell is a global player in the communication-platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) and chat commerce sector. It provides a suite of products, including integrated SMS messaging, USSD services, and chat desk solutions for enterprises. In this case, it is helping the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enable USSD services for its e-naira—something the apex bank promised as an imminent upgrade four months ago.

Why USSD? Well, the CBN, like hundreds of financial institutions and neobanks across Africa, wants to “bank the unbanked”. So, transacting the national crypto asset via USSD is a great way to do that. 

Once done, Nigerians can dial *997# on their phones to create an e-naira wallet and initiate transactions. Simple use case: the illiterate cash-only trader with no bank account or tech savviness will be able to use their feature phones to make payments with Nigeria’s cryptocurrency. Sounds like a great plan, doesn’t it?

Where does Flutterwave come in?

Flutterwave has one of Nigeria’s largest aggregations of online sellers and buyers. They’re helping to scale the e-naira adoption across their platforms by enabling buyers and sellers to link the e-naira to their platforms and transact with the e-currency directly.

YELLOWCARD RAISES $40 MILLION

Pan-African cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card has announced the close of its $40 million Series B funding led by Polychain Capital. Other investors participating in the round include Valar Ventures, Third Prime, Sozo Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Fabric Ventures, DG Daiwa Ventures, The Raba Partnership, and others.

According to a statement seen by TechCabal, the company will use the funding to drive business growth, continue its expansion across the continent, develop new products, and advance strategic partnerships across Africa.

Since closing its $15 million Series A round in August 2021, the cryptocurrency exchange claims to have achieved a couple of milestones, including growing its presence from 12 to 16 countries on the continent and granting stock options to every full-time employee. It also launched Yellow Pay, a crypto-powered way to send value across borders, and in March 2022, it surpassed 1 million customers. 

Speaking on the Series B round, Chris Maurice, CEO and co-founder of Yellow Card, stated, “For the past three years, our team has worked tirelessly to make this technology accessible to anyone and create a world-class product. This fund raise, in the current market environment, not only showcases the resilience of our team but also clearly demonstrates the appetite and necessity for cryptocurrency in Africa.”

For the lead investor Polychain Capital, partner Will Wolf mentioned that the size of the round, especially in a funding downturn, points to the level of business confidence expressed by new and existing investors in the company.

“Yellow Card is the best executing team on the continent. We are impressed by the way they seamlessly adjust and adapt to the unique opportunities and demands of the various African markets. We’ve barely touched the surface of what is possible when it comes to crypto in Africa, and we’re excited for what’s to come,” he added.

$200 MILLION FOR HEALTH

Yesterday, OurCrowd, a leading global venture firm, announced the launch of a Global Health Equity Fund (GHEF) in collaboration with the WHO Foundation. 

The GHEF is a $200 million unique financial-first impact venture capital investment fund, focusing on breakthrough technology solutions that can impact healthcare globally. It will fuel innovation and increase investment in the health sector, with the shared goals of delivering competitive returns to investors and ensuring equitable access to medical care.

The news was shared at the first major Clinton Global Initiative meeting convened since 2016, held in New York City alongside the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). 

“COVID-19 was a wake-up call for me as an investor,” said Jon Medved, founder and CEO of

OurCrowd. “The pandemic opened my eyes to health inequity around the world and reinforced the potential of innovative technology to save lives. I am proud of our track record of identifying healthcare investments that have delivered value to

patients and investors. This new fund builds on that success with the explicit orientation of having impact. The collaboration with the WHO Foundation will allow us to identify even more exciting investments and facilitate the commitment of investors and entrepreneurs to equitable access to the technologies we support.”

The Global Health Equity Fund will focus on healthcare and the industries that are direct determinants of health, including energy transition and food agriculture, which together address markets worth trillions of dollars globally. 

The target portfolio companies will therefore not only innovate to improve medical care but will also work to mitigate current global health risks related to climate, fossil fuels, and looming food shortages.

Presently, OurCrowd has invested in about 350 companies across its 39 funds for its more than 215,000 members, making it one of Israel’s most active investors.

EVENT: T-MINUS 3 DAYS UNTIL #FOC2022

If you haven’t signed up to attend #FOC2022, what are you waiting for?

At this year’s Future of Commerce 2022, our conversations will centre around ‘money on the streets.’ 

More than 30 business leaders and experts will discuss how innovation in payments, social media, and logistics are powering Africa’s commerce. We will discuss the current state, challenges, and solutions, from the key players in the commerce ecosystem.

#FOC2022 is a conference you don’t want to miss, so click here to sign up now. 

IN OTHER NEWS FROM TECHCABAL

The Next Wave: North Africa’s untapped leverage.

How to play Lotto online in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria.

What to expect from the social commerce session at the Future of Commerce 2022.

OPPORTUNITIES

• Applications are open for the UK Research and Innovation African Research Leaders’ Programme. Talented researchers in sub-Saharan Africa who are leading quality health research in the region can apply to get up to £750,000 in funding. Apply by December 1.

• The USADF Accelerate Africa Entrepreneurship Challenge 2022 is now open to applications from MSMEs in Africa who are prioritising job creation and job and youth productivity on the continent. Winning applications will receive grants of up to $250,000. Apply by Sepetember 30. 

• Applications are now open for Meta’s AR/VR Africa Metathon. XR developers, programmers, UI/UX designers, artists, animators, storytellers, and professionals resident in Africa can sign up to get curated learning resources from XR experts who will provide mentorship, and facilitate masterclasses and workshops. Apply here. 

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