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Wednesday, 20 September 2023
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Supported By
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Good morning!
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We begin today with United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Wally Adeyemo's visit to Vibranium Valley yesterday, where he met with founders and spoke to the media. He didn't make any promises about what policies we should expect. But American banks refusing to open accounts for Nigerian startups was important to him.
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"My view is that American investors, American companies want to be partners in doing that work. We want to make sure that as the United States we are partnering [with them] to remove barriers. To make sure that Nigerian investors have the ability to access the US market [and vice versa]," he said.
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"It's an issue that I look forward to following up on when I get back to the United States," he added.
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Meanwhile, Abasi Ene-Obongn is back with a new startup. The co-founder and former CEO of 54gene, an African genomics startup, has launched Syndicate Bio, another genomics company. Ene-Obong stepped down from his role at 54gene after he was allegedly accused by employees of financial impropriety.
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Then, Bolt has launched an accelerator program in partnership with The Nest, which it said will "empower drivers on an entrepreneurial journey."
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Finally, Ivorian SaaS e-commerce platform, ANKA has raised $5 million in a pre-Series A extension round.
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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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- A court blamed Microsoft for leaks that occurred at the company
- FTX debtors have initiated legal proceedings against SBF's parents
- Abasi Ene-Obong, former CEO of 54gene has launched a new startup
- Zimbabwe authorities said that Starlink’s license application is under review
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Ecosystem
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Bolt for accelerator: Bolt has launched an accelerator program that it said will "empower drivers on an entrepreneurial journey." The program was launched in partnership with the Nest Innovation Park (‘the Nest’).
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Bolt will offer €25,000 seed fund to selected Nigerian drivers who complete the program to support their business plans. The business plans must, however, be relevant to Bolt’s Africa City Vision, based around sustainable transport.
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“Ride-hailing has always offered drivers the flexibility to earn whilst pursuing wider career opportunities. we hope this program will take this a step further, supporting concepts that will transform drivers’ lives, make a real difference to communities and could even one day be incorporated into its own operations,” Regional Director of Rides for Africa, Caroline Wanjihia said.
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Bolt said it will launch the Bolt Academy in November where drivers whose applications were successful will be trained. (Technext)
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- Mainstack, founded by Ayobami Oyaleke in the US, has made the top 20 startups out of the 200 global startups competing for $100.000 in equity-free funding at the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield competition. (Techpoint Africa)
- Abasi Ene-Obong, co-founder and former CEO of 54gene, an African genomics startup, disclosed the launch of Syndicate Bio, another genomics company. Ene-Obong stepped down from his role at 54gene after he was allegedly accused by employees of financial impropriety. (Techpoint Africa)
- Ivorian SaaS e-commerce platform, ANKA has raised $5 million in a pre-Series A extension round. ANKA hopes to onboard 100,000 African sellers by 2030, finance short-term cash cycles for activities such as shipping and payment float, enhance product development and expand its services, focusing on Nigeria, Kenya, and the United States. (Technext)
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Policy
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United States plans for the ecosystem: Wally Adeyemo, the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury who met with tech founders and media at Vibranium Valley yesterday, didn't make any promises. But he assured the public that he was going to take the barriers that they had communicated to him that they face interacting with the United States seriously.
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"There are so many potentials here in Nigeria," he said.
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Speaking on Nigerian founders being turned away by American financial institutions, a huge barrier to raising funds from Silicon Valley, he said that the United States is ready to enter partnerships that will remove those barriers.
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"My view is that American investors, American companies want to be partners in doing that work. We want to make sure that as the United States we are partnering [with them] to remove barriers. To make sure that Nigerian investors have the ability to access the US market," he said.
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"It's an issue that I look forward to following up on when I get back to the United States," he added.
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- NCC has kicked off the third edition of its Talent Hunt Research with a hackathon, a part of its Strategic Vision Plan 2023-2025. The plan was established to encourage the development of new technologies and indigenous content through research. (Technext)
- President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Ishaq Ningi, a former media aide to Vice President Kashim Shettima as the Senior Special Assistant on Digital Media and Emergency Management. He also appointed Nasir Yammama, an engineer and creative technologist as Special Assistant to the president on innovation. (Technext)
- Zimbabwe has received Starlink’s license application and it is currently under review by the country’s regulatory authority. (TS2)
- The Communication Authority Board in Kenya has chosen Christopher Wambua as the interim Director General after Ezra Chiloba’s suspension. Chiloba was suspended over alleged abuse of office and misuse of funds in the authority’s mortgage scheme. (Technext)
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Social Tech
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AI-related tokens on top: According to Kaiko, the trading volume of AI-related tokens increased from $570 million to $870 million from the end of July to the end of August. However, taking a broader look at the figures, it has decreased significantly since the beginning of 2023, when it exceeded $7 billion, and has stagnated since then.
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Per Dessislava Ianeva, an analyst from Kaiko, enthusiasm for AI tokens began to diminish in July, primarily due to a change in global risk sentiment. The total open interest for five of the biggest AI tokens, excluding WLD, dropped from $170 million in February to $60 million by August. (Technext)
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- Google said yesterday that Bard, its generative AI, will have the ability to fact-check its answers and analyze users' personal Google data. (Gadget360)
- WhatsApp has submitted a new update through the TestFlight beta Program that will make it compatible with iPad. (wabetaInfo)
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Global News
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The Bankman-Fried's ordeals: FTX debtors have initiated legal proceedings against the parents of the company’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), to recover funds allegedly fraudulently transferred and misappropriated.
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Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried who are both professors at Stanford Law School could be fully involved in the grand scheme fraud that was going on behind the once world’s largest crypto exchange, a report alleges.
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The debtors said that it is taking the decision to “recover millions of dollars in fraudulently transferred and misappropriated funds.”
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The court document which refers to SBF’s mother as “Fried,” and Allan Joseph Bankman as “Bankman” asks the court to award FTX the return of any property given or payment made to the parents by the company in the past, and punitive damages resulting from “conscious, willful, wanton, and malicious conduct.” (Technext)
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- The UK’s Online Safety Bill, which aims to make the UK “the safest place in the world to be online,” passed through the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday and imposes strict requirements on large social platforms to remove illegal content. It will be enforced by UK telecom regulatory agency Ofcom. (TheVerge)
- Microsoft is responsible for the huge trove of leaked documents that revealed things like a new disc-less Xbox Series X design, unannounced games from Bethesda, and executive musings about buying Nintendo, according to a new filing from the FTC v. Microsoft judge on Tuesday. (TheVerge)
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Latest in funding
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Other stories we are following
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