$20 million fund for cleantech

Thursday, 31 August 2023

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Good morning!

It feels like Africa is at the edge of the cliff with this rising tide of popular coups across the continent. Yesterday, military leaders in Garbon announced that they have seized power from Ali Bongo, who has been president of the oil-rich country since 2009. In Garbon, the presidential term is 7 years and Bongo was declared winner by the electoral body for his 3rd term this week.

Of course, it was a controversial announcement that received huge backlash from the public and the opposition. What I found very striking in all of this is that the so-called civilian leader Bongo shut down the internet as allegations of malpractice at the polls started to rise over the weekend.

One of the first acts of the military government was to reinstate the internet. Bongo is now under house arrest.

Meanwhile, MTN Nigeria has raised N125 billion via series 6&7 commercial paper notes to diversify its financing options.

Then the US-based VC firm, Black Ostrich Ventures has launched a $20 million fund to invest in early-stage startups outside of the “Big Four” bubble. The firm said it will focus its investments on startups in cleantech, supply chain, agritech, and edtech based in Tanzania, Zambia, Morocco, and Uganda.

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Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.

A word from MyCover.ai

We are thrilled to share that MyCover.ai has successfully raised pre-seed funding of $1.25M! This round was led by Ventures Platform and Founders Factory Africa, with participation from TechStars Toronto.

With this funding, we can strengthen our operations in Nigeria and strategically fuel our expansion into other African markets. Join us on this exciting journey as we tackle the issue of inadequate insurance access, coverage and affordability in Africa and beyond!

Summary of the news

Google has set Oct. 4 as the date for its annual fall hardware event
MTN Nigeria has raised N125 billion
OpenAI is currently on pace to generate more than $1 billion in revenue
Nigeria House of Reps has summoned 54 CEOs of insurance companies over an unremitted N267 billion investment in NHF

Ecosystem

New money for MTN: MTN Nigeria has raised N125 billion via series 6&7 commercial paper notes to diversify its financing options.

According to the statement, the issuance of commercial paper notes is in line with the company’s strategy to continue diversifying its funding sources and reducing its average cost of debt.

"MTN Nigeria sought to raise N100 billion, and the offer recorded 146% subscription with N125 billion issued across both series. This represents the largest aggregate CP issuance within a calendar year by any corporation in Nigeria’s debt capital markets,” MTN said. (Nairametrics)

Other ecosystem news:

US-based VC firm, Black Ostrich Ventures has launched a $20 million fund to invest in early-stage startups outside of the “Big Four” bubble. The firm said it will focus its investments on startups in cleantech, supply chain, agritech, and edtech based in Tanzania, Zambia, Morocco, and Uganda. (Benjamin Dada)
Drive Electric has announced a $1.05 million grant for seven electric mobility projects in Africa and Latin America. This is part of growing efforts to advance the adoption of electric mobility solutions in those markets. (Technext)

Policy

Gabon in time of coup: Less than a day after declaring a coup in Gabon, the country’s military officers have restored internet access. Checks from Netblocks, a site dedicated to mapping internet freedom, showed that “connectivity had been largely restored.” Until recently, the ousted President Ali Bongo-led government ordered a nationwide restriction on the internet.

Enforced on election weekend, the restriction order prevented citizens from discussing the election and its potential outcome online. Upon the conclusion of the voting process for presidential and legislative positions, the government ordered network providers to cut off internet access.

The military officers in oil-producing Gabon said they had seized power on Wednesday, placing the President (who had held the position since 2009) under house arrest and naming a new leader after the Central African state's election body announced Bongo had won a third term. (Technext)

Other policy news:

The House of Representatives Ad hoc committee investigating non-remittance to the National Housing Fund (NHF) and utilization of the funds from 2011 has summoned 54 CEOs of insurance companies. They will answer questions on why over N267 billion of workers’ investment in NHF was unremitted in 2019. (Nairametrics)
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has declared that customers with faulty meters are eligible for prompt repairs within 2 days and at no extra cost. (Technext)
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced that the country has achieved system stability for 400 days without recording any collapses. (Nairametrics)

❗Giveaway with Yellowcard ❗

Social Tech

NIMC's hard at work: The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has reported over 743,085 NINs issued in the month of August. The latest figures bring the total number of NIN enrollments to 102.39 million Nigerians registered since the beginning of the year.

While the data released by NIMC shows that the enrollment rate for NIN had slowed down since July 2023, the August number is nonetheless an improvement from July which witnessed 634,603 enrollments.

Additionally, the enrollment numbers in the last two months were lower than usual, because in previous months, about 1 million people were enrolling on average.

NIMC’s data highlights that Lagos State remains at the forefront with the highest number of enrollments in Nigeria, having captured a total of 11.17 million Nigerians within its borders. Kano State takes the second position with 9.07 million registered National Identification Numbers (NIN). These figures illustrate the strong enrollment response in both states. (Technext)

Other social tech news:

Netflix is strategically poised to claim a substantial share of the African streaming on-demand video market, with projections indicating a commanding 41.9% by 2029. (Nairametrics)
X has lifted its ban on paid political advertisements. (Technext)

Global News

OpenAI's big break: OpenAI is currently on pace to generate more than $1 billion in revenue over the next 12 months from the sale of artificial intelligence software and the computing capacity that powers it. That’s far ahead of revenue projections the company previously shared with its shareholders, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.

The billion-dollar revenue figure implies that the Microsoft-backed company, which was valued on paper at $27 billion when investors bought stock from existing shareholders earlier this year, is generating more than $80 million in revenue per month. OpenAI generated just $28 million in revenue last year before it started charging for its groundbreaking chatbot, ChatGPT.

The rapid growth in revenue suggests app developers and companies—including secretive ones like Jane Street, a Wall Street firm—are increasingly finding ways to use OpenAI’s conversational text technology to make money or save on costs. Microsoft, Google and countless other businesses trying to make money from the same technology are closely watching OpenAI’s growth. (Information)

Other global news:

Sam Bankman-Fried and his lawyers are disappointed by the internet quality in prison. In a letter to the judge, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers say they are unable to adequately prepare for trial because Bankman-Fried doesn’t have enough internet access. Also, the battery life on his laptop isn’t good enough. His lawyers are asking that he be released to prepare for trial. (TheVerge)
Google has set Oct. 4 as the date for its annual fall hardware event, where the company is likely to introduce the next Pixel phone and its latest watch. (CNBC)