IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Good morning ☀️ ️
Gavi, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and MedAccess are coming together to fight malaria.
The three companies have entered into a funding agreement to continue the production of the first safe malaria vaccine, RTS,S/AS01e. Malaria affects millions of people annually, killing hundreds of thousands who can’t get quality treatment. It’d be a boost to finally reduce the endemic.
In today’s edition:
- Quick Fire 🔥
- From startup founders to investment mogul
- MTN and eMedia launch video streaming service
- TC Insights: Funding Tracker
Quick Fire 🔥 with RAYMOND MALINGA
Explain your job to a five-year-old
I make drawings move and come to life.
What was going through your mind when you dropped out from studying computer science to pursue animation?
This may be my only chance to do this so I’m going to make the most out of it!
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received in your career?
“If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together”.
I have always been ‘build Uganda, build East Africa, and build Africa focused’. I however was challenged about my motivations early on in university when I did have a ‘me-centric’ approach to doing things. Learning to let others’ ideas shine and compliment my own changed the course of how I approached my ambitions. Building a team and seeking others that feel the same too.
What should people know about the animation space in Africa?
Every little effort counts! There are a scattered number of visionaries all over the continent that are working tirelessly to build a solid foundation for the next generation of opportunities through the animation industry.
It’s the right time for you to join that journey too! Whether you’re an artist, admin, lawyer, musician, etc there could be a place for you in this industry!
If you could collect any random object with no limit, what would you collect?
A time machine. I love time travel. And this way I get my pick of objects all through history!
I hope this isn’t cheating haha!
What’s one animation movie we should watch this weekend?
Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Raymond is an award winning cartoon storyteller from Uganda
Increase your online sales with a Paystack Storefront – a free, beautiful seller page that helps you bring creative ideas to life.
FROM STARTUP FOUNDER TO INVESTMENT MOGUL
“What turns me off is when someone just tells me they have this idea and they haven’t done anything but want me to invest. I always say you have to take a risk on yourself before anybody can take a risk on you.”
Last week, Oluyomi Soyombo announced Voltron Capital as a new pan-African venture capital fundthat will be investing in at least 20 startups in its first year.
How he get here?
At first, being a doctor was all Soyombo wanted to be until he was given a personal computer. He grew up in the 90s with access to a personal computer and to the internet, at a time when most people didn’t have access to such.
“At first I wanted to be a medical doctor but in secondary school, I got exposed to using the computer and then I knew I was going to do something in technology.”
Fast forward to 2014 when Soyombo and his business partner founded Bluechip Technologies, a company that provided data management solutions to companies.
Six years later to tap into the budding scene in Lagos, they created Leadpath, as an investment vehicle to invest in startups, at first the approach was to invest $25,000 – $100,000 in local tech startups, similar to the Y-combinator accelerator mode.
When the approach tanked because there were no other interested investors, Soyombo and his partner decided to become angel investors instead.
Back to venture capital
As an angel investor, he’s quietly backed over twenty notable startups including Paystack, Mono, TeamApt, and PiggyVest.
When word got out that he was one of Paystack’s earliest investors, he started getting requests from people who wanted to co-invest with him.
He tried to keep up with the requests but it soon became impossible to carry others along effectively without setting up a more formal structure. This tool the form of Voltron Capital.
He’s come full circle to his target back in 2014 and will be helping investors back promising startups in Africa’s maturing tech ecosystem.
Daniel in this article, shares the story of Olumide Soyombo: his early influences, his journey building his company and what he’s most excited about right now.
Meet some of the speakers at the Future of Commerce
On the 24th of September, we’re bringing together some of the most seasoned minds across e-commerce, logistics, payments, cryptocurrency, and some other exciting sectors. Let’s meet some of them:
Juliet Anammah – Chairwoman, Jumia Nigeria, and Group Chief Sustainability Officer
Juliet joined Jumia in 2015 as Chief Executive Officer of Jumia Nigeria. She has over 28 years of professional experience covering consulting, consumer goods, sales and marketing, and e-commerce and sits on several boards in a non-executive capacity.
Ray Youssef – CEO, Paxful
Ray started out as an entrepreneur in 2001; he founded a successful ringtone business and then had a series of start-ups before setting up Paxful with Artur Schaback. At Paxful, Ray is CEO and looks after growth, marketing, customer service, and operations.
Marcello Schermer – Head of International Expansion, Yoco
Marcello is in charge of international expansion at Yoco, a fintech startup that helps over 95,000 SMEs in South Africa accept digital payments. Marcello is tasked with expanding Yoco’s offering to SMEs across the continent and beyond.
Nakampe Molewa – General Manager (Sub-Saharan Africa), Uber Eats
Nakampe focuses on building the Uber Eats business across South Africa and Kenya. He previously worked in Strategy, Business Planning, Performance Management, and Logistics at Coca-Cola South Africa, Southern, East, and Central Africa.
Tracey Turner – Co-founder and Chairman, Copia Global
Tracey is a renowned entrepreneur and seasoned business executive who has been involved in leading social businesses, social investing, and international development for more than 25 years. Currently, she serves as Founder and Executive Chairman of Copia Global, which is bringing mobile to middle/low-income consumers starting in East Africa.
🔔Still having doubts? For your sake, we hope not. Book your slot now.
The Future of Commerce is brought to you in partnership with DAI Magister and Paystack and is sponsored by Paga, Chipper Cash and Klasha.
🤝Interested in sponsoring? Good call. Send an email now to favour@bigcabal.com.
Join the Future Africa Collective – an exclusive community of investors who invest in startups building the future of Africa. With a $1,000 annual or a $300 quarterly subscription fee, you get access to invest a minimum of $2,500 in up to 20 fast-growing African startups each year. Learn More
MTN AND EMEDIA LAUNCH VIDEO STREAMING SERVICE
MTN and eMedia Investments have launched a video streaming service called eVOD in South Africa.
I’ll be honest, I was a bit skeptical at first. With Netflix, Iroko TV, DSTV, Hulu, and even Disney+, how’s eVOD going to compete? What’s the it factor it’ll bring to the table?
Well, it appears it’s offering some of its content for free.
eMedia is the parent company of eTV so they already have the content part down. eVOD will be streaming eTV’s existing telenovelas and soap operas, as well as some Hollywood content as well.
If there’s free content, why would anyone pay?
It’s all in the pictures.
Literally. Video resolutions on eVOD will range from 360p to 720p. Now free viewers will only be able to view content on 360p so it’s definitely not the plan for anyone who values details.
On its paid subscription plans ranging from R5 ($0.34) per day to R29.99 ($2.06) per month, viewers will be able to get better viewpoints and also have access to mobile rental options and complete episodes of their favorite series.
There’s 4GB in play too
While eMedia handles the content part of the product, MTN is the tech partner and they’re giving all MTN users 4GB a month on eVOD until January 2022.
This definitely sweetens the deal the service is offering. There are numerous streaming services out there but very few offer data subscriptions as part of their services.
OPPORTUNITIES
Udacity is collaborating with Access Bank, a multinational commercial bank, to empower people in Africa who are interested in learning tech-forward skills to kick-start careers in the banking industry in 2021.
The collaboration aims at providing 1,000 Nanodegree program scholarships for Africans to build practical, in-demand, cutting-edge tech skills. Current available programs include Business Analytics, Intro to Programming, Product Manager, Digital Marketing, and Programming for Data Science with Python.
Find out here.
TC Insights: Funding Tracker
This week, Nigeria digital bank, Kuda raised its second round of funding in 2021. This $55milion Series B was led by Target Global and Valar Ventures with participation from SBI Investment and other angels.
The other deals for the week are:
- South African agritech startup KHULA! closed a $1.4million seed round from AECI and E Squared Investments.
- Wapi Pay, a Kenyan mobile payments startup, raised $2.2million from MSA Capital, Transsion Holding, Gobi Ventures, EchoVC Partners, Kepple Africa Ventures, and Future Hub.
- Creditfins, an Egyptian credit card management and financial wellness platform, raised an undisclosed pre-seed round from Flat6Labs, AUC Angels, TA Telecom Holding and other angel investors.
- South African digital insurance platform Naked secured an $11million Series A round from Naspers Foundry, Hollard Insurance, and Yellowwood.
- Egyptian e-commerce startup Teegara closed a five-figure pre-seed funding round from the Alexandria Angels Network and several other angel investors.
- MVX, a Nigerian digital freight startup, secured $1.3million in seed funding from Kepple Africa Ventures, Launch Africa Ventures, Founders Factory, The Continent Venture Partners, and Capital Oak.
That’s all we’ve got this week!
Follow TC Insights on Twitter and LinkedIn for more updates on funding deals.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Every week, TechCabal shares job opportunities in the African ecosystem.
- TechCabal – Senior Writer (Africa)
- TechCabal – Senior Editor (West Africa)
- PiggyVest – Writer – Deadline: August 10
- PiggyVest – Editor – Deadline: August 10
- Stears – Engineering Manager
- Kifta Technologies – IT Manager
There are more opportunities here. If you’d like to share a job opening or an opportunity, please fill this form.
What else we’re reading
- Getting your phone damaged could mean losing access to precious files. In this DIY article, Chidinma Ewuogwu explains How to move your data from a damaged phone to a new one.
- Puma is canceling a $2.7 million deal with the Athletic Federation of Nigeria. And it all might have started with a not-so-simple Tiktok video.
- Earlier this year, Flutterwave became a unicorn after raising $170 million in Series C Funding. Now, the fintech company is expanding into the US.
- One man’s meat is another man’s poison; Twitter may have shut down Fleets but TikTok is testing a stories feature.
HELP SHARE THIS!
Written by – Timi Odueso
Edited by – Daniel Adeyemi
