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Thursday, 21 September 2023
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Supported By
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Good morning!
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Today is Thursday. This means tomorrow's edition of this newsletter will include our State of the Ecosystem section. We are having Wally Adeyemo, so don't miss it.
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Today, a new autotech funding boom is forging ahead. Just after Nigeria's Mecho Autotech announced its $2.4 million raise, a similar company, Fixit45 has raised $1.9 million to expand its offerings to Kenya and Uganda.
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Then, Payday is actively looking for a buyer. Its CEO, Favour Ori actively participated in a new report that also is a huge banner ad for prospective buyers, confirming that “active conversations are being had," for a sale.
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Also on funding, Ghana's Complete Farmer has closed a $10.4 million pre-Series A funding round. The funding comprises $7 million in equity and $3.4 million in debt.
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Looking to open a microfinance bank? No need to travel to CBN's office, sort off. The money regulator has unveiled a new online platform for the submission of microfinance bank (MFB) license applications, CBN Licensing, Approval and Other Requests Portal (CBN LARP).
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If this newsletter was forwarded to you, click here to subscribe now.
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Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.
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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.
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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!
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Summary of the news
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- Complete Farmer has closed a $10.4 million pre-Series A funding round
- John Grisham has joined a legal battle against OpenAI
- Payday said that it's actively looking for a buyer,
- Nigeria's Fixit45 has raised $1.9 million
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Ecosystem
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Agrotech injection: Ghana's Complete Farmer has closed a $10.4 million pre-Series A funding round. The funding comprises $7 million in equity and $3.4 million in debt.
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Part of the investment will be channelled into developing new products like a finance solution that promotes remittances from buyers to farmers. The startup also hopes to create a vendor outlet that facilitates the purchase of fertilizers and commodities by farmers to increase their farm efficiency.
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The debt financing will be used to fund capital expenditures and working capital investments. Additionally, it intends to increase the number of fulfilment centres in Ghana and expand into new markets like Togo. (Technext)
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- Leatherback has relaunched its mobile app that includes cross-border payments. "Students can pay tuition fees, migrants can use the Leatherback app to sort out their payments, and remote workers and freelancers can also use the Leatherback mobile app to get paid in any currency they choose," the company said. (Technext)
- Payday CEO, Favour Ori confirmed that the company is actively looking for a buyer, six months after raising $3 million in a seed round led by Moniepoint. “Active conversations are being had with people who reached out and expressed interest in buying,” he said. (TechCabal)
- Al Mada, the investment fund controlled by the Moroccan royal family, has announced a partnership with CNGR Advanced Material Co., a Chinese battery manufacturer, to establish an industrial EV base in Morocco worth $2 million. (Technext)
- Nigeria's autotech startup, Fixit45 has raised $1.9 million in equity and working capital targeted at expanding its operations to East Africa, particularly Kenya and Uganda. Fixit45 is a marketplace for car maintenance services. (Nairametrics)
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Policy
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Engaging businesses: The NCC has introduced a new numbering scheme with a ”02” prefix for fixed telephone lines (primarily utilized by businesses) in Nigeria. The NCC said in a statement that this adjustment aligns with the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) of 2003, which governs the management of numbering resources in Nigeria.
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This alteration means that Nigeria’s Fixed-Lines Numbering Format has transitioned from eight digits to ten digits. “It is important to note that the change only affects the Fixed Telephone Numbers. There is no change to the existing mobile numbering format,” Reuben Muoka, the Director of Public Affairs said.
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Starting on January 1, 2024, only the newly introduced numbering format, which begins with the “02” prefix, will be in operation and implemented across all networks. (Technext)
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- The exchange rate between the naira and the dollar plunged to a record low of N983/$1 at the black market based on quotes on Wednesday. Traders said there is no dollar to sell. (Nairametrics)
- The CBN has unveiled a new online platform for the submission of microfinance bank (MFB) license applications, CBN Licensing, Approval and Other Requests Portal (CBN LARP). It will replace the current manual process that includes applicants physically submitting applications. (Nairametrics)
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Social Tech
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Crypto defeats inflation: According to new data from Chainalysis, Nigeria’s volume of crypto transactions grew 9% year-over-year to $56.7 billion between July 2022 and June 2023, despite the inflation and currency devaluation.
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Uganda also saw remarkable growth within the same timeframe. The eastern African country recorded a 245% increase in crypto transactions within the period of July 2022 to June 2023.
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On the flip side, Kenya recorded a drop in crypto transactions. Cryptocurrency usage dropped by over 50% to $8.4 billion, per the report. (Technext)
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- More than a third of African countries have restricted the internet during elections. Out of the 20 countries that have done so since 2015, 18 are autocratic. The most recent cases happened in August when both Zimbabwe and Gabon restricted the internet during their elections. (Technext)
- X is ranked the lowest among all social media in combating climate change disinformation in a new study. (TheVerge)
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Global News
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One trouser with OpenAI: A group of prominent novelists, including John Grisham, Jonathan Franzen and Elin Hilderbrand, are joining the legal battle against OpenAI over its chatbot technology, as fears about the encroachment of artificial intelligence on creative industries continue to grow.
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More than a dozen authors filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company, which has been backed with billions of dollars in investment from Microsoft, of infringing on their copyrights by using their books to train its popular ChatGPT chatbot.
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The complaint, which was filed along with the Authors Guild, said that OpenAI’s chatbots can now produce “derivative works” that can mimic and summarize the authors’ books, potentially harming the market for authors’ work and that the writers were neither compensated nor notified by the company.
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“The success and profitability of OpenAI are predicated on mass copyright infringement without a word of permission from or a nickel of compensation to copyright owners,” the complaint said. (New York Times)
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- America's Federal Trade Commission disclosed new details in its lawsuit against Amazon.com to publicly name three executives who the agency says played a key role in a scheme to enrol customers unwittingly in the company’s Prime program and make it difficult for them to cancel their subscription. (Wall Street Journal)
- The UK has passed its Online Safety Bill to regulate online content, introducing age-verification requirements for pornography sites and other rules to reduce hate speech, harassment and other illicit material. The bill also applies to terrorist propaganda, online fraud and child safety. (New York Times)
- According to a Global Cryptocurrency Mining Market Report and Forecast 2023-2028, the global crypto mining market reached a value of USD 2.61 billion in 2022. At this rate, it could grow by 9% and reach $3.98 billion by 2028. (Technext)
- YouTube demonetised actor Russell Brand's account three days after British news organizations published an investigation in which several women accused him of sexual assault. (New York Times)
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Latest in funding
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Other stories we are following
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