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This week: Jumia’s CEOs step down

By Ngozi Chukwu Nov 12, 2022

Image source: Techcabal

Editor’s Note

Week 45, 2022
Read time: 5 minutes

This week, there’s quite a lot to catch up on in techThis week, Kuda ventures into new vistas, MTN says 👋🏾 to Afghanistan and Jumia leaders scramble to get off a sinking ship. Just another week’s happenings in tech?

Read on to find out.

Pamela Tetteh Editor, TechCabal.

Editor’s Picks

	Jumia’s CEOs step down While the Jumia ship suffers the turbulence of persistent losses and a plummeting share price, some leaders are jumping off the board. The founder and co-founder CEOs of the African ecommerce giant have resigned, and the company has appointed a new management board. Find out what’s going on.
	Sendy gets funding from Japanese VC After laying off 30% of its workforce, Kenyan-based fulfilment and logistics startup, Sendy has received what appears to be bail-out funding from Japanese VC MOL PLUS. The company has been aggressively cutting costs over the past three months. More about it here.
	Stears launches elections tracker for Nigeria In 2023, 94 million Nigerian voters will participate in 1,477 elections among 14,822 candidates. Nigerian data and intelligence company, Stears, has launched Stears Elections, an elections data site that enables Nigerians to track the elections with a visual map. More details here.
	MTN sells its Afghanistan arm MTN is selling its arms in the Middle East. The company sold its business in Yemen in 2020 and halted operations in Syria and Afghanistan. On Friday, the telco finally announced that it has sold its Afghanistan business to Beirut-based investment company, M1 New Ventures. Learn why.

	2G and 3G networks to retire Legacy networks 2G and 3G are going into retirement across Africa. Many operators and governments are pushing to pull the plug on the older 2G and 3G spectrums to increase the adoption of the more efficient 4G and 5G networks. Learn why.

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	MTN gains 800,000 subscribers in SA South Africa’s second-largest mobile network operator, MTN, increased its subscriber base by 800,000 in the past three quarters of 2022. This brings its total subscriber count to 35.9 million. The company’s share price also gained 2% after this was announced on Friday. Here’s more.
	Quona Capital raises $332 million In the middle of a funding winter, Quona Capital, a venture capital (VC) firm focused on emerging markets, has pulled together its third fund, valued at $332 million. It surpassed its $250 million target and the $203 million it secured for its second fund in 2020. More here.
	Kuda expands to the UK Do you know the saying, “The sky is big enough for all birds to fly”? Nigerian neobank Kuda is about to find out if this is true in the London sky. Kuda has expanded to the UK to provide its digital banking services, including direct debits and local transfers, to diasporan Nigerians. Read more.
	Dark Fibre Africa grows larger in SA After Telkom-owned Openserve, Dark Fibre Africa is currently the second-largest fibre network operator in South Africa. This major boost is a result of Vodacom’s acquisition of Dark Fibre Africa’s operating licenses. Read more.
	Multichoice warns shareholders More customers doesn’t always mean more money. Multichoice has warned shareholders that its upcoming half-year financial results will see a reduction in earnings despite an increase in subscribers. Read more.

Who brought the money this week?

Yassir, an Algerian super app, received $150 million in series B funding. The round was led by BOND, with participation from DN Capital, Dorsal Capital, Quiet Capital, Stanford Alumni Ventures (aka Spike Ventures) and Y Combinator, among other investors.

Egyptian fintech firm Blnk closed $32 million in pre-seed and seed funding. The rounds were led by Emirates International Investment Company (EIIC) of Abu Dhabi and Sawari Ventures of Egypt, with participation from local and international angel investors.

Nigeria-based products and services firm, CutStruct raised $600,000 in a pre-seed funding round. The round was led by Zedcrest with participation from angel investors including Kola Aina.

Egypt-based food-tech startup, Brotinni raised $600,000 in a seed funding round led by Innlife Investments.

Kenyan logistics company, Sendy received an undisclosed amount in funding from MOL PLUS.

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What else to read this weekend?

Inside Nigeria’s used-iPhone market.
A new way to create sustainable African businesses.
African tech talents are leaving in droves, but these ones are staying to build.
Five online businesses you can start with almost no capital.
Catlog launches a search-by-hashtag feature for online shoppers.
Uganda wants to 3D print human tissue in space.
Eleven African startups win at Africa Tech Festival.
Kloud Commerce investors deny Board’s rebuttal.