This week: Sama leaves Fb

Editor’s Observe

Week 02, 2023
Learn time: 5 minutes

Completely happy New 12 months and welcome to the primary version of TC Weekender in 2023! Earlier than we delve in, I hope the 12 months has began nice for you and also you’re on monitor to have a beautiful 12 months.

On this version, we kick the 12 months off with information of acquisitions and profitable funding rounds as BioNTech acquires Instadeep and Jetstream and Releaf elevate hundreds of thousands. In different information, yet one more speaking stage involves an finish as Telkom and Rain finish their merger talks. These and extra information await you on this weekend’s version.

Completely happy studying!

Pamela Tetteh Editor, TechCabal.

Editor’s Picks

	Sama quits Meta and content material moderation Sama, Fb’s largest content material moderator in Africa, is strolling away from its $3.9 million contract with Meta. Sama additionally plans to let go of 200 members of its employees as it’s discontinuing all its content material moderation providers. The corporate blames the financial local weather, however a number of folks assume it’s due to the content material moderation-related lawsuits it’s at the moment embroiled in with Fb’s guardian firm, Meta. Learn more.
	Tunisia’s InstaDeep’s £582 million acquisition German biotech firm BioNTech has acquired all of the shares of the Tunisian synthetic intelligence (AI) startup InstaDeep for £582 million ($682 million). The deal entails an upfront fee of money and unspecified BioNTech shares value £362 million, with a steadiness of £200 million payable based mostly on InstaDeep’s future efficiency. Learn more.
	Telkom and Rain terminate merger talks Telkom and Rain have ended their speaking stage and can be going their separate methods. The community operators had been deliberating on merging because the data-only community Rain proposed it in October, nevertheless it seems they couldn’t make it work. Telkom shareholders appear to be comfortable concerning the cut up, as Telkom’s shares elevated by 11% proper after the information was introduced. Learn more.
	Bolt affords BNPL to Nigerians Nigerians can Bolt now and pay later as a result of ride-hailing startup’s new partnership with Nigeria-based BPNL startup Credpal. Credpal can pay for its customers’ day-to-day Bolt rides and request bulk reimbursement by every month’s finish. Learn more.

The State of Tech in Africa Report

TechCabal Insights’ State of Tech report for Q3 2022 continues to be accessible for obtain.

The report entails analyses of knowledge on acquisitions, expansions, and funding in Africa’s tech ecosystem. These insights are contexualised based mostly on discussions with stakeholders within the ecosystem.

The report is accessible for obtain here.

Hackers steal hundreds of thousands from Microsoft for crypto

A South Africa-based hacker group known as “Automated Libra” stole sources from cloud suppliers like Microsoft and Salesforce value hundreds of thousands to fund an elaborate crypto mining scheme often known as “PurpleUrchin”.

Learn more.

Jetstream raises $13 million

Jetstream Africa, a Ghanaian e-commerce logistics know-how firm, raised $13 million in fairness and debt funding pre-Collection A. The corporate said that it ensured that its main buyers have funding or operational expertise with the issue it’s fixing.

Learn more.

African meals tech startup Releaf raises $3.3 million

Releaf, an agritech startup disrupting Africa’s oil manufacturing business, has secured $3.3 million in a reportedly oversubscribed pre-Collection A funding spherical. It had beforehand raised $4.2 million in a seed spherical in 2021.

Who introduced the cash this week?

Jetstream, a Ghanaian logistics startup, received $13 million in a pre-Collection A funding spherical from Cauris and French growth establishment Proparco, Octerra, Wuri Ventures, Seed9, The MBA Fund, ASCVC, Alitheia IDF, and Golden Palm.

Nigerian agri-tech firm Releaf raised $3.3 million in a pre-Collection A funding spherical led by Samurai Incubate Africa. Different taking part buyers embrace Consonance Funding Managers Stephen Pagliuca (chairman of Bain Capital), Jeff Ubben, and Rena Yoneyama.