TechCabal Daily – In Rwanda, Vuba Vuba Hopes To Succeed Where Jumia Failed

Venture Capitalists Expect 2020 To Be A Good Year For Tech Investments In Africa 

What is driving this sentiment? According to Ventureburn, we can expect to see a lot of action in the African tech scene in 2020.

They talked to EWB Ventures and TLCom to get a pulse on what VC’s expect this year. One of the sources of positive sentiment is the expected IPO of payments giant, Interswitch.

This excitement is not unfounded. In 2019, African tech companies raised $1.2-billion in funding in 167 disclosed deals.
 

While the bill contains sections which touch on digital taxes, Techpoint believes it might lead to a turf war between the Federal and State governments.

One of the most interesting aspects of the finance bill is this: it exempts companies with less than ₦25m ($68,900) annual turnover from payment of income tax, while companies with annual turnover within the range of ₦25m to ₦100m ($277,000) will now pay 20% as income tax rather than 30%. 

Yet it presents an interesting problem. Enterprises with less than ₦25m annual turnover will have to pay income tax to its state government, while a company of a similar size is exempted by the Act from paying income tax to the federal government.

A break in the West African Cable System (WACS) led to slow internet speeds for some users in South Africa, with Telkom users the worst affected.

While repairs to the fibre optic cables won’t happen before February 8, South Africa is giving itself props. 

“It is worth pausing for a moment to consider how far we have come. A Sat-3 cable break 15 years ago would have meant no international connectivity at all and extremely limited local content and services. In 2020, however, redundancy created by multiple undersea cable systems and a mature yet dynamic local peering ecosystem means that breaks in two different cable systems has had a limited and manageable impact on local users,” 

In what will be a bid to compete with Netflix, DSTV announced last year that it would launch its streaming service, DSTV Now as a standalone service.
At the moment, DSTV Now is available to customers with active DSTV subscriptions, but this will change by March 2020.

An analyst takes us through his projections for DSTV Now as well as how much the service might cost when it launches.

Read all about it here. 

Rwanda’s food delivery space has undergone changes in the past year. In December, Jumia foods ended operations in the country.

Shortly after, SafeMotos also shut down following an inability to raise funds. It leaves new entrant, Vuba Vuba with big shoes to fill. 

Read all about it here.

The countdown to Afrobytes 2020 continues. Afrobytes is the premier event that brings together entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, and more to explore business opportunities between the African tech ecosystem and players in the global tech world. Here are key reasons why you should attend Afrobytes 2020:

• Finance: pitch world-leading Africa-focused tech funds
• Network: connect with global companies and African tech leaders
• Scale: find tech partners at the largest startup campus
• Feature: talk to international media covering African markets

Get your early bird ticket here

London Venture Capital firm, Xecced Ventures is looking to Africa with its $70m fund, with an eye on businesses in the start-up phase as well as companies that have reached an optimal level of development.

Tickets are expected to be between $ 500,000 and $ 5 million with a focus on companies which offer solutions in the fields of artificial intelligence, the Internet of things and cognitive computing. 

Get the scoop here.

Chuta Chimezie is the protem Chairman for Organization of Blockchain Technology Users (OBTU) and the Africa Lead, Technology & Innovation at Blockspace Africa Technologies ltd.

He was previously the Regional Director for Africa at Paxful Inc and is an Advisory Board Member at Kinesis Money for West Africa.

Tickets to TC Townhall: Emerging Tech are now available for purchase  and a 15% early bird discount is available for readers who buy their tickets by January 31st with the code TCEM15%OFF. 

Further discounts apply for companies/individuals buying at least 5 tickets. Click here to redeem our 20% corporate discount.