In an unusually quiet Week 43, only 4 startups announced fundraising across the continent. 3 of them raised a total of $3.02m and the last one an undisclosed amount. A breakdown of the fundraises;
An interesting one was GIGXPad, out of Nigeria who got accepted into Techstars Toronto. Born out of wanting to offer GIG Logistics over 500k customers’ a tool to send, receive, and exchange currency, GIGX Technologies has pioneered partnerships with the likes of Ernst & Young, Fire Blocks, and Quidax. GIGX Technologies gives its users the ability to store and transfer currency while retaining the absolute most value for customers. Essentially, their focus is on simplifying the processes of saving, investing, and spending value globally.
In other news from the ecosystem;
● After months of legal tussle, lots of rumors and not so minimal chaos, Elon Musk has closed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. Musk sealed the deal Thursday night, taking Twitter private and laying off a number of top executives (including CEO Parag Agrawal) in the process.
● Google Cloud has announced that it’s launching Blockchain Node Engine, which it’s billing as “a fully managed node-hosting for web3 development.” Earlier this year, the company announced that it was launching a new team dedicated to digital assets, and this tool is part of what has come out of that team’s work.
● Nigerian Central Bank governor in a press briefing on Wednesday shared that the apex bank would redesign the country’s currency.The redesign will impact the ₦200, ₦500, and ₦1000 notes, with the redesigned notes expected to be in circulation by December 15, 2022, while the current Naira notes will no longer serve as legal tender from January 31, 2023.
● Climate tech VC firm Satgana has announced the first closing of its fund, with a EUR30 million (US$29 million) target size, and plans investments in Africa and Europe. Headquartered in Luxembourg, Satgana is a climate tech VC fund, with the ambition to invest in startups providing technological solutions to the climate emergency. Focused on climate technologies, Satgana invests in the next generation of entrepreneurs, in Europe and Africa, building a more sustainable, equitable and regenerative future.
● Flourish Ventures, a global venture capital firm investing in mission-driven fintech entrepreneurs, has announced the launch of affiliate Madica, a structured investment programme for pre-seed stage technology companies in Africa. Flourish Ventures backs entrepreneurs whose innovations advance financial health and prosperity for individuals and small businesses, and has more than US$500 million under management.
● NALA, a Tanzanian fintech startup facilitating remittances from the African diaspora in the UK and US, has integrated Google Pay into its suite of payment options for users. With this announcement, NALA, is the first Tanzanian startup to enable a global payment service for users, and the first African startup to roll out Google Pay for all its customers.
● Mara, a new cryptocurrency wallet supported by companies like Coinbase Ventures and Alameda Research is about to onboard about 2 million users in Nigeria and Kenya. The creation of a bitcoin wallet for registered users in Nigeria is the first step towards the launch of Mara, a project to create a digital financial ecosystem.
