Nigeria launches $672 million tech fund

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Editor’s Observe

Week 11, 2023
Learn time: 5 minutes

One other week, one other lineup of attention-grabbing, insightful, and generally controversial tech tales from across the continent. Welcome to a different version of TC Weekender.

Take pleasure in!

Pamela Tetteh Editor, TechCabal.

Editor’s Picks

	Nigeria’s $672 million fund Nigeria has launched a $672 million fund for 18 to 35–yr olds in its tech and artistic sectors. The fund, named The Funding in Digital and Inventive Enterprises (i-DICE), will see investments throughout 200 tech and artistic startups, and 450 tech-powered SMEs. Learn more.
	Rain finds its voice Information-only telecom Rain has expanded into the cellular voice market months after merger talks with cellular community operator Telkom collapsed. This makes Rain the latest within the South African telecoms market, which is at present being dominated by the duopoly of MTN and Vodacom. Learn more.
	Flutterwave acquires licences in Rwanda A month after buying two licences in Egypt, Flutterwave has obtained its Digital Cash Issuer and Remittance Licences from the Nationwide Financial institution of Rwanda. Learn more.
	Nigeria welcomes again outdated notes Nigeria’s money disaster is over. Ten days after Nigeria’s Supreme Courtroom dominated that the ₦200, ₦500 and ‎‎₦1,000 notes will stay authorized tender till December 31, 2023, the nation’s apex financial institution acknowledged the court docket’s ruling. Learn more.
	SA’s largest VC fund shuts down Africa’s most useful firm by market capitalisation, Naspers, has shut down its $100 million enterprise capital fund, Naspers Foundry, in an effort to scale down its operations. Learn more.
	Y Combinator lays off employees Y Combinator is chopping 17 employees members, nearly 20% of its headcount. It would additionally write fewer cheques for late-stage corporations and deal with early-stage startups Learn more.

Occasion: TechCabal At 10

Right here’s a listing of all of the Twitter Areas we’ll be holding to rejoice our Tenth-year anniversary.

March 14—Beyond Funding: Meet the staff main TechCabal’s newsroom. Why is TechCabal telling the sorts of tales we’re telling now, and the way this pondering has influenced our enlargement drive? How is TechCabal’s editorial management driving this?

March 16—Building newsletters readers want. How has TechCabal grown to construct seven e-newsletter merchandise, and what drove this progress? How does TechCabal measure success with regards to its e-newsletter merchandise, and what are its plans?

March 21—Meet the team telling African tech stories that matter. TechCabal captures the gamers, human influence and enterprise of tech in Africa. We offer the content material, reporting, knowledge, and context to assist the world perceive how tech is altering Africa. Who’re the journalists doing all of this necessary work?

March 23—What is the future of tech in Africa? Within the final 10 years, the African tech ecosystem has developed shortly. We all know this firsthand at TechCabal. What does the longer term seem like? Be part of us for an insightful dialog with Ola Brown, Stephen Deng, Hope Ditlhakanyane, and Ngozi Dozie the place we reply these questions.

March 30—The role of the media in covering African tech. How can the media assist Africa’s growing tech ecosystem? What accountability does the media owe the ecosystem, and what can the media anticipate in return? Ought to the media solely cowl good tales?

	MTN Nigeria raises $271 million MTN is attempting to boost cash to fund its industrial paper issuance. Final week, MTN Nigeria introduced that it had raised ₦125 billion ($271 million). Now it’s divesting its property too as a part of its fundraising efforts. Learn more.
	HSBC buys SVB for $1 The UK arm of Silicon Valley Financial institution (SVB) has discovered a brand new dwelling. HSBC UK Financial institution, a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings, has acquired Silicon Valley Financial institution UK for £1 ($1.21) after the financial institution was closed down by regulators because of panic withdrawals. Learn more.
	Chipper Money is contemplating a sale African unicorn Chipper Money is reportedly contemplating promoting the corporate or in search of new buyers. This information comes after TechCabal reported that Flutterwave, one other fintech unicorn, could have to boost cash under its $3 billion valuation this yr. Learn more.
	Are African buyers sticking with SVB? Regardless of the crash, some African buyers stay assured in Silicon Valley Financial institution (SVB) or its new entity, Silicon Valley Bridge Financial institution. Some have even requested their portfolio corporations to return any deposits they wired out of SVB. Read more.

Who introduced the cash this week?

This week, Nuru, an power firm based mostly within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), secured $1.5 million in a Sequence B funding spherical. The corporate is on observe to construct 13.7MWp of remoted solar-hybrid grids by mid-2024 and goals to supply world-class connectivity to 5 million shoppers within the DRC.

The Renewable Vitality Efficiency Platform (REPP), Proparco, and E3 Capital every invested $500,000 in Nuru, bridging the financing hole for its $25 million Sequence B fairness fundraising.