👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – US kicks off TikTok ban in Montana

MONTANA BANS TIKTOK

Montana has become the first US state to ban TikTok. Yesterday, Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill banning the social media platform in the state. The bill will become effective by January 2024.

The bill referred to as SB 419, restricts TikTok from operating within Montana’s jurisdiction and requires mobile app stores to make the app unavailable to residents of the state.

Governor Gianforte also shared screenshots of the directive he issued to Montana’s Chief Information Officer, instructing the ban of the platform.

According to the law, users of TikTok will not face penalties. However, app store operators and TikTok itself may be subject to fines of $10,000 per violation per day. 

A new precedent: The passage of this controversial law represents the strongest effort by a state government to restrict TikTok based on security concerns. While there is no established legal precedent for a ban like this targeting TikTok, it is highly likely that the ban will face immediate legal challenges.

ICYMI: Earlier this year TikTok CEO Shou Chew appeared before US Congress to defend his social media platform against allegations that it has deep ties to the Chinese government, as well as spying on US citizens and harvesting their data for potentially nefarious ends.

Although TikTok hasn’t said it will sue, it calls the rule an “egregious government overreach” and said that it would fight it.

SA WARNS CITIZENS AGAINST MILO DESIGNS

Another day, another online scam in southern Africa. After receiving numerous complaints from customers, SA’s National Consumer Commission (NCC) is warning South Africans to not make use of Milo Designs when purchasing furniture online.

This comes after Botswana victims also lost millions of pulas through a supposed “investment” scheme into a company called Ecoplexus.

The modus operandi

Milo Designs claims to sell furniture via its social media channels, but following several complaints from customers, an investigation from the NCC asserts that the company is in fact operating as a scam.

“Upon investigating their conduct, the Commission’s preliminary assessment indicates that the operators of this scam, LM Kotze and MC Wood, are not cooperating with the Commission [and] both LM Kotze and MC Wood have no intention of delivering the goods or refunding the consumers,” the NCC’s Thezi Mabuza.

Zoom out: According to Interpol’s Online Scams report, Africa loses over $500 million of its GDP per annum to online scams such as email scams, romance fraud, social media scams, malware attacks, and so on.

AFRICA DATA CENTRES EXPANDS TO GHANA

Africa Data Centres has revealed its plans to commence construction on recently acquired land in Accra, Ghana’s central business district.

Designed with an initial capacity of 10 MW, expandable up to 30 MW based on demand, the upcoming facility will be the largest in West Africa, excluding Nigeria, to date. The company aims to complete the first phase of construction within a 12-month timeframe.

Africa Data Centres‘ continental expansion strategy encompasses 10 of Africa’s key economic hubs, including South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Rwanda, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Angola, and now, Accra in Ghana. The newly announced facility in Accra is a part of this expansive plan.

This unrivalled expansion, partly funded by the United States government’s US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), is a significant initiative to accelerate private sector-led digital infrastructure and services in Africa.

ICYMI: In January this year, Africa Data Centres also broke ground on an additional data centre facility in Nairobi. The new build will see the existing facility on the adjacent piece of land expanded up to an extra 15MW of IT load.

TC INSIGHTS: FUNDING TRACKER

This week, Kenya-based fintech company M-KOPA raised $250 million in debt and equity funding. The round was led by the Japanese-based trading house Sumitomo Corporation. Other participating investors include Standard Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC), FMO, BII, Lion’s Head Global Partners, Mirova SunFunder (fund management), and Nithio. 

Here are the other deals this week:

• Jia, a Kenyan fintech startup, received $4.3 million in seed funding. The round was led by TCG Crypto. Other participating investors include BlockTower, Hashed Emergent, Saison Capital, Global Coin Research, Packy McCormick, Anand Iye, Jared Hecht, and Rory Eakin.
• Figorr Nigerian cold chain technology company raised $1.5 million in seed funding. The round was led by Atlantica Ventures. Other participating investors include Vested World, Jaza Rift, and Katapult.
• Egypt’s auto-tech company Helpoo raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Saudi firm Morni.
• Chari, a Moroccan B2B e-commerce company, raised undisclosed follow-on funding from Plug and Play. 
• South-African cybersecurity company Port443 raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Iziko2.0, a technology investment firm, and RMB Ventures.

That’s it for this week!

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. You can also visit DealFlow, our real-time funding tracker.

THE WORLD WIDE WEB3

Bitcoin	$26,856	– 1.68%
Ether	$1,803	– 1.13%
BNB	$309	– 1.15%
Cardano	$0.37	– 1.87%
Name of the coin Price of the coin 24-hour percentage change		Source: CoinMarketCap

* Data as of 06:10 AM WAT, May 19, 2023.

The Pakistani government has reinforced its ban against cryptocurrencies. CoinDesk reports that the country’s minister of finance, on Wednesday, reiterated that the country would never legalise crypto even amidst its devaluing currency and political issues. 

The former chief financial officer of a Seattle-based startup has been indicted for fraud in the US. CoinTelegraph reports that Nevin Shetty is facing charges for allegedly diverting approximately $35 million from the startup’s coffers to a cryptocurrency platform under his personal control. 

EVENT: THE LAGOS STARTUP EXPO

Techpoint Africa is set to host The Lagos Startup Expo (LSE), a premier event for Nigerian and international entrepreneurs, investors, and tech enthusiasts. 

Join Techpoint on May 20, 2023, to network with top startups, see innovative products and learn about the latest industry trends.

LSE will also feature a masterclass session led by Odun Eweniyi, COO at PiggyVest, Olu Oyinsan, Managing Partner at Oui Capital, and Oshone Anavhe, VP of Operations at ThriveAgric.

Register here. 

IN OTHER NEWS FROM TECHCABAL

The “Big Four” are not reducing steam, but new leaders are emerging in Africa’s tech ecosystem.

Scaling with success: Wasoko’s rise in Africa’s B2B e-commerce.

JOB OPENINGS

• Kuda – Lead Product Manager – Credit – Nigeria (Remote)

• Headhunters – Junior UI/UX Designer – Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa (On-site)

• M-KOPA – Senior Analytics Engineer – Accra, Ghana (Remote)

• Ilara Health – Senior Software Engineer – Nairobi, Kenya (On-site)

• KOKO Networks – Senior Technology Product Manager: KOKO Labs – Kenya (Hybrid)

• ENGIE Energy Access (Africa) – Uganda Customer Finance Data Analyst – Kampala, Uganda (On-site)

• Think-it – Senior Software Engineer (Full-stack) – Lagos, Nigeria (Remote)

• IO Global – Product Manager – Africa Ops – Kenya (Remote)

• Zappi – Backend Engineer – Ruby on Rails – Cape Town, South Africa (Remote)

• Dangote Group – IT Technical Support – Edo, Nigeria (on-site)

There are more jobs on TechCabal’s job board. If you have job opportunities to share, please submit them at bit.ly/tcxjobs. 

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