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un-enfant-immature · 5 years ago

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CcHub funds tech to curb COVID-19 on concerns of an Africa outbreak

Africa’s largest innovation incubator, CcHub, will offer funding and engineering support to tech projects aimed at curbing COVID-19 and its social and economic impact.

The Lagos and Nairobi based organization posted an open application on its website this week, CcHub CEO Bosun Tijani told TechCrunch on a call.

CcHub will provide $5000 to $100,000 funding blocks to companies with COVID-19 related projects covering last mile communication, support for the infected and the most vulnerable, production of essential medical supplies and support for disrupted food supply-chains.

The organization, and its iHub affiliate, will also open up engineering support and resources from its CcHub Design Lab to funded companies, according to Tijani.

He noted that established startups who want to create COVID-19 related projects on the side of their core-business can apply.

The initiative stems from concerns Africa could be less prepared than other regions in dealing with an outbreak of the virus that has spread in China, Europe and the U.S. and is wreaking economic havoc globally.

Tijani hopes CcHub can employ its network and resources to limit the spread and damage of COVID-19 in Africa.

The Lagos based innovation-space acquired Kenya’s iHub in 2019, bringing together two of Africa’s most powerful tech hubs by membership networks, VC, volume of programs, startups incubated and global visibility.

“Quite a number of African countries, if they get to the level of Italy or the UK, I don’t think the system…is resilient enough to provide support to something like that,” Tijani said.

Reported cases in major population countries, such as Kenya and Nigeria, were in single-digits as late as last week, but those numbers are spiking. By the World Health Organization’s latest stats Wednesday there were 463 COVID-19 cases in Africa and 10 confirmed deaths related to the virus.

Governments are taking action. South Africa, which has the second-largest reported coranvirus outbreak on the continent, declared a national disaster this week, banned public gatherings and announced travel restrictions on the U.S. and UK. Kenya has also imposed its own travel and crowd restrictions.

Only two cases have been recorded in Nigeria, but CcHub’s Tijani fears the actual scenario for the West African country and Kenya could be much worse.

“I think Lagos and Nigeria are in denial. Some governments in Africa are taking action, but the focus in Africa has been relying on port of entry [measures], which isn’t reliable because…I suspect its already here…people may not have symptoms yet,” said Tijani.

If there is a rapid outbreak, he fears it will overwhelm a number of systems in countries such as Nigeria and Kenya.

“We don’t have the health systems to contain it. We don’t have the the welfare system that can work for the most vulnerable, such as elderly…we don’t manufacture most of these medical supplies and our food [supply-chain] is not reliable,” Tijani added.

Addressing these pending challenges related to COVID-19 in Africa is what CcHub hopes to support in its latest open call to fund projects.

The innovation incubator isn’t the only tech player on the continent shifting to respond to a possible coronavirus crises.

Kenya turns to M-Pesa mobile-money to stem the spread of COVID-19

Pan-African on-demand trucking logistics company Kobo360 has asked employees who can work remotely to do so in Ghana and Nigeria, according to the Chief Strategy Officer Kagure Wamunyu. The Goldman Sachs backed startup is also planning contingencies to ensure supply-chain continuity, should COVID-19 disrupt business and mobility in its markets.

In Kenya, the country is turning to its leading mobile-money product, M-Pesa, to reduce the the chances of an outbreak. Safaricom waived transaction fees on the app this week to increase digital-payments use and lower the risk of spreading the COVID-19 through physical handling of cash.

#TechCrunch

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magzoso-tech · 5 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/2019-africa-roundup-jumia-ipos-china-goes-digital-nigeria-becomes-fintech-capital/

2019 Africa Roundup: Jumia IPOs, China goes digital, Nigeria becomes fintech capital

2019 brought more global attention to Africa’s tech scene than perhaps any previous year.

A high-profile IPO, visits by both Jacks (Ma and Dorsey) and big Chinese startup investment energized that.

The last 12 months served as a grande finale to 10 years that saw triple-digit increases in startup formation and VC on the continent.

Here’s an overview of the 2019 market events that captured attention and capped off a decade of rapid growth in African tech.

IPOs

The story of the year is the April IPO on the NYSE of Pan-African e-commerce company Jumia. This was the first listing of a VC-backed tech company operating in Africa on a major global exchange — which brought its own unpredictability.

Founded in 2012, Jumia pioneered much of its infrastructure to sell goods to consumers online in Africa.

With Nigeria as its base market, the Rocket Internet-backed company created accompanying delivery and payments services and went on to expand online verticals into 14 African countries (though it recently exited a few). Jumia now sells everything from mobile phones to diapers, and offers online services such as food-delivery and classifieds.

Seven years after its operational launch, Jumia’s stock debut kicked off with fanfare in 2019, only to be followed by volatility.

The online retailer gained investor confidence out of the gate, more than doubling its $14.95 opening share price post-IPO.

That lasted until May, when Jumia’s stock came under attack from short-seller Andrew Left, whose firm Citron Research issued a report accusing the company of fraud. The American activist investor’s case was bolstered, in part, by a debate that played out across Africa’s tech ecosystem on Jumia’s legitimacy as an African startup, given its (primarily) European senior management.

The entire affair was further complicated by Jumia’s second-quarter earnings call when the company disclosed a fraud perpetrated by some of its employees and sales agents. Jumia’s CEO Sacha Poignonnec emphasized the matter was closed, financially marginal and not the same as Andrew Left’s short-sell claims.

Whatever the balance, Jumia’s 2019 ups and downs cast a cloud over its stock with investors. Since the company’s third-quarter earnings-call, Jumia’s NYSE share-price has lingered at around $6 — less than half of its original $14.95 opening, and roughly 80% lower than its high.

Even with Jumia’s post-IPO rocky road, the continent’s leading e-commerce company still has a heap of capital and is on pace to generate more than $100 million in revenues in 2019 (albeit with big losses).

The company plans to reduce costs by generating more revenue from higher-margin internet services, such as payments and classifieds.

There’s a fairly simple equation for Jumia to rebuild shareholder confidence in 2020: avoid scandals and increase revenues over losses. And now that the company is publicly traded — with financial reporting requirements — there’ll be four earnings calls a year to evaluate Jumia’s progress.

Jumia may not be the continent’s standout IPO for much longer. Events in 2019 point to Interswitch becoming the second African digital company to list on a global exchange in 2020. The Nigerian fintech firm confirmed to TechCrunch in November it had reached a billion-dollar unicorn valuation, after a (reported) $200 million investment by Visa.

Founded in 2002 by Mitchell Elegbe, Interswitch created much of the initial infrastructure to digitize Nigeria’s (then) predominantly cash-based economy. Interswitch has been teasing a public listing since 2016, but delayed it for various reasons. With the company’s billion-dollar valuation in 2019, that pause is likely to end.

“An [Interswitch] IPO is still very much in the cards; likely sometime in the first half of 2020,” a source with knowledge of the situation told TechCrunch.

China-Africa goes digital

2019 was the year when Chinese actors pivoted to African tech. China is known for its strategic relationship with Africa, based (largely) on trade and infrastructure. Over the last 10 years, the country has been less engaged in the continent’s digital scene.

That was until a torrent of investment and partnerships this past year.

July saw Chinese-owned Opera raise $50 million in venture spending to support its growing West African digital commercial network, which includes browser, payments and ride-hail services.

In August, San Francisco and Lagos-based fintech startup Flutterwave partnered with Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba’s Alipay to offer digital payments between Africa and China.

In September, China’s Transsion — the largest smartphone seller in Africa — listed in an IPO on Shanghai’s new STAR Market. The company raised ≈ $394 million, some of which it is directing toward venture funding and operational expansion in Africa.

The last quarter of 2019 brought a November surprise from China in African tech. More than 15 Chinese investors placed over $240 million in three rounds. Transsion-backed consumer payments startup PalmPay raised a $40 million seed, stating its goal to become “Africa’s largest financial services platform.”

Chinese investors also backed Opera-owned OPay’s $120 million raise and East-African trucking logistics company Lori Systems’ (reported) $30 million Series B.

In the new year, TechCrunch will continue to cover the business arc of this surge in Chinese tech investment in Africa. There’ll surely be a number of fresh macro news points to develop, given the debate (and critique) of China’s engagement with Africa.

Nigeria and fintech

On debate, the case could be made that 2019 was the year when Nigeria become Africa’s unofficial capital for fintech investment and digital finance startups.

Kenya has held this title hereto, with the local success and global acclaim of its M-Pesa mobile-money product. But more founders and VCs are opting for Nigeria as the epicenter for digital finance growth on the continent.

A rough tally of 2019 TechCrunch coverage — including previously mentioned rounds — pegs fintech-related investment in the West African country at around $400 million over the last 12 months. That’s equivalent to roughly one-third of all startup VC raised for the entire continent in 2018, according to Partech stats.

From OPay to PalmPay to Visa — startups, big finance companies and investors are making Nigeria home-base for their digital finance operations and Africa expansion strategies.

The founder of early-stage payment startup ChipperCash, Ham Serunjogi, explained the imperative to operating there. “Nigeria is the largest economy and most populous country in Africa. Its fintech industry is one of the most advanced in Africa, up there with Kenya and South Africa,” he told TechCrunch in May.

When all the 2019 VC numbers are counted, it will be worth matching up fintech stats for Nigeria to Kenya to see how the countries compared.

Acquisitions

Tech acquisitions continue to be somewhat rare in Africa, but there were several to note in 2019. Two of the continent’s powerhouse tech incubators joined forces in September, when Nigerian innovation center and seed-fund CcHub acquired Nairobi-based iHub, for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition brought together Africa’s most powerful tech hubs by membership networks, volume of programs, startups incubated and global visibility. It also elevated the standing of CcHub’s Bosun Tijani across Africa’s tech ecosystem, as the CEO of the new joint entity, which also has a VC arm.

CcHub/iHub CEO Bosun Tijani

In other acquisition activity, French television company Canal+ acquired the ROK film studio from Nigerian VOD company IROKOtv for an undisclosed amount. The deal put ROK founder and producer Mary Njoku in charge of a new organization with larger scope and resources.

Many outside Africa aren’t aware that Nigeria’s Nollywood is the Hollywood of the continent, and one of the largest film industries in the world (by production volume). Canal+ told TechCrunch it looks to bring Mary and the Nollywood production ethos to produce content in French-speaking African countries.

Other notable 2019 African tech takeovers included Kenyan internet company BRCK’s acquisition of ISP Surf, Nigerian digital-lending startup OneFi’s Amplify buy and Merck KGaa’s purchase of Kenya-based online healthtech company ConnectMed.

Moto ride-hail mania

In 2019, Africa’s motorcycle ride-hail market — worth an estimated $4 billion — saw a flurry of investment and expansion by startups looking to scale on-demand taxi services. Uber and Bolt got into the motorcycle taxi business in Africa in 2018.

Ampersand in Rwanda

A number of local and foreign startups have continued to grow in key countries, such as Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya.

A battle for funding and market share emerged in Nigeria in 2019, between key moto ride-hail startups MAX.ng, Gokada and Opera-owned ORide.

The on-demand motorcycle market in Africa has attracted foreign investment and moved toward EV development. In May, MAX.ng raised a $7 million Series A round with participation from Yamaha and is using a portion to pilot renewable energy powered e-motorcycles in Africa.

In August, the government of Rwanda announced a national policy to phase out gas-motorcycle taxis altogether in favor of e-motos, in partnership with early-stage EV startup Ampersand.

New funds

The past year saw several new funding initiatives for Africa’s startups. Senegalese VC investor Marieme Diop spearheaded Dakar Network Angels, a seed-fund for startups in French-speaking Africa — or 24 of the continent’s 54 countries.

Africinvest teamed up with Cathay Innovation to announce the Cathay Africinvest Innovation Fund, a $100+ million capital pool aimed at Series A to C-stage startup investments in fintech, logistics, AI, ag tech and education tech.

Accion Venture Lab launched a $24 million fintech fund open to African startups.

And Naspers offered more details on who can pitch to its 1.4 billion rand (≈$100 million) Naspers Foundry fund, which made its first investment in online cleaning services company SweepSouth.

Closed up shop

Like any tech ecosystem, not every startup in Africa killed it or even continued to tread water in 2019. Two e-commerce companies — DealDey in Nigeria and Afrimarket in Ivory Coast — closed up digital shop.

Southern Africa’s Econet Media shut down its Kwese TV digital entertainment business in August.

And South Africa-based, Pan African-focused cryptocurrency payment startup Wala ceased operations in June. Founder Tricia Martinez named the continent’s poor infrastructure as one of the culprits to shutting down. A possible signal to the startup’s demise could have been its 2017 ICO, where Wala netted only 4% of its $30 million token offering.

Africa’s startups go global

2019 saw more startups expand to new markets abroad products and business models developed in Africa. In March, FlexClub — a South African venture that matches investors and drivers to cars for ride-hailing services — announced its expansion to Mexico in a partnership with Uber.

In May, Extra Crunch profiled three African-founded fintech startups — Flutterwave, Migo and ChipperCash — developing their business models strategically in Africa toward plans to expand globally.

By December, Migo (formerly branded Mines) had announced its expansion to Brazil on a $20 million Series B raise.

2020 and beyond

As we look to what could come in the new year and decade for African tech, it’s telling to look back. Ten years ago, there were a lot of “if” questions on whether the continent’s ecosystem could produce certain events: billion-dollar startup valuations, IPOs on major exchanges, global expansion, investment from the world’s top VCs.

All those questionable events of the past have become reality in African tech, even if some of them are still in low abundance.

There’s no crystal ball for any innovation ecosystem — not the least Africa’s — but there are several things I’ll be on the lookout for in 2020 and beyond.

In the near term I’ll start with what Twitter/Square CEO Jack Dorsey may do around Bitcoin and cryptocurrency on his return to Africa (lookout for an upcoming TechCrunch feature on this).

I’ll also follow the next-phase of e-commerce in Africa, which could pit Jumia more competitively against DHL’s Africa eShop, Opera and China’s Alibaba (which hasn’t yet entered Africa in full).

On a longer-term basis, a development to follow is how the continent’s first wave of millionaire and billionaire tech-founders could disrupt 21st century dynamics in Africa around politics, power and philanthropy — hopefully for the better.

More notable 2019 Africa-related coverage @TechCrunch

#Miscellaneous

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workfromhom · 5 years ago

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Bosun Tijani talks strategy as CEO of Africa’s new largest tech hub

With CcHub‘s acquisition of iHub in September, Nigerian Bosun Tijani is at the helm of (arguably) the largest tech network in Africa.

He is now CEO of both organizations, including their robust membership rosters, startup incubation programs, global partnerships, and VC activities from Nigeria to Kenya .

One could conclude Tijani has become one of the most powerful figures in African tech with the CcHub iHub merger. But that would be a little shortsighted.

The techie from Lagos still faces plenty of challenges and unknowns in integrating two innovation hubs that lie 3,818 flight kilometers apart. Several sources speaking on background over the last year have indicated iHub was experiencing financial difficulties.

Tijani offered TechCrunch some initial details last month on how the acquisition will fall together.

Nigeria’s CcHub acquires Kenya’s iHub to create mega Africa incubator

But more recently he shared greater detail on his strategy for operating the multi-country innovation network. A big test for Tijani will be aligning the organizations on a path to sustainability. The buzzword is usually code for generating consistent operating income beyond expenses.

The growth of innovation spaces, accelerators and incubators in Africa — which tally 618 per GSMA stats — is often lauded as an achievement for the continent’s tech ecosystem.

But debate on how these focal points for startup formation, training and IT activity fund themselves is ever-present.

Grant income has served as a dominant revenue source for Africa’s tech hubs — including iHub in its early days — though many have worked to diversify.

That includes CcHub, according to Tijani, who plans to continue the trend across the expanded CcHub, iHub organization.

“When people talk about sustainability, we’ve been in business for 9 years,” he notes of CcHub Nigeria.

“We de-emphasized grant funding six years ago; most of our revenue is actually earned revenue.”

On income sources Tijani looks to foster across both organizations, he named consulting services (for corporates, governments, and development agencies), events services, and generating greater return on investment.

iHub has been active with startup seed-investments and CcHub has a portfolio of companies through its Growth Capital Fund.

“Our size will become a major part of us being able to invest in startups and the longer we stay invested the more we will start to see significant returns and exits,” said Tijani.

The CcHub iHub nexus will also use its size to leverage more partnerships. Tijani and team have already mastered gaining collaborations with big African and global tech names, such as MainOne and Facebook.

Tijani will look to connect iHub to CcHub’s Google sponsored Pitch Drive — which has done African startup tours of Asia and Europe — and potentially take the show to the U.S.

“We’re talking about it,” Tijani said, of a U.S. pitch trip. And this could lead to a permanent presence in San Francisco for the new CcHub, iHub entity.

“Beyond just a tour, we want to build strong presence in the Bay Area,” Tijani said, but didn’t offer more specifics on what that could mean.

So on the list of things to emerge from the CcHub-iHub acquisition, African tech planting a big flag in San Francisco is a future possibility.

A more immediate result of the union between the innovation spaces will be Bosun Tijani becoming a regular sight on flights between Lagos and Nairobi.

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letscreateafricaorg · 7 years ago

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Everybody deserves #Hope and that's why for the second year running, and with guest appearances from the previous cohort, and partial funding for the best ventures, we are here because of you... With the December 2nd deadline closing in fast, we want to give you an opportunity to make your move towards greatness... For more info. kindly check out our website and apply at: https://www.venturevillage.org/event/venture-village-bootcamp-africa-nairobi-kenya/ #V²A #VentureVillageAfrica #letscreateafrica #investments #africanstartups #digitization #eastafrica #startuplifestyle #startuplife #workhard #stayhumble #stayhungry #entrepreneurship shout out to #Innovators #Ideators #startups #PostRevenueCompanies @Regranned from @harmonyhaul - I love this quote. #HarmonyHaul - #regrann (at iHub)

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dizzedcom · 5 years ago

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Nigeria’s CcHub acquires Kenya’s iHub to create mega Africa incubator

Two of Africa’s powerhouse tech incubators will join forces. Nigerian innovation center and seed-fund CcHub has acquired Nairobi based iHub — CcHub CEO Bosun Tijani confirmed to TechCrunch.

The purchase amount is undisclosed, but Tijani said CcHub will finance the deal out of its real-estate project to build a new 10 story innovation center to replace its Herbert Macaulay Way building in Lagos.

D…

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mojamoza · 2 years ago

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Is Kenya The Technology Hub For East Africa

Kenya has long been recognized as one of the most prominent hubs for technology innovations in Africa. Its business environment is supportive of new technologies, and it has also attracted specialized technology funds and private equity to invest in the ICT sector. Tech innovation in Kenya is driven by a strong corporate base, as well as a vibrant tech community. A growing number of entrepreneurs are adopting new technologies, which creates new jobs and business opportunities. The government supports the development of technology in the country, and continues to invest in the industry. The government has announced a new curriculum that will focus on teaching students coding and other technical skills. In addition, a new regional office was established to coordinate activities at the hub. This initiative will help to establish a new business climate. There are now a total of 50 tech hubs in Kenya. These hubs enable public and private sectors to work together, as well as engage with each other. One of these hubs is iHub, an incubator and co-working space that is located in Nairobi. iHub has been receiving funding from Invested Development, a U.S.-based fund. According to iHub, it has handled more than 50 projects over the last three years. The innovation centre is home to tens of thousands of members. It also boasts a robust revenue stream, with more than $1 million in annual revenue. Kenya is a strategic location for companies to engage with techies in the region. It is home to a state-of-the-art virtual reality simulator, which trains physicians and medical professionals. Read the full article

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hostingnewsfeed · 6 years ago

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The Techies Turning Kenya Into a Silicon Savannah

New Post has been published on http://unchainedmusic.com/the-techies-turning-kenya-into-a-silicon-savannah/

The Techies Turning Kenya Into a Silicon Savannah

People hunched over greasy computer screens, crunching data, writing code: The scenes in Janek Stroisch’s photographic series Co.Ke are familiar to anyone who’s ever been to a coffee shop in Silicon Valley. But this isn’t San Francisco. It’s Nairobi, in Kenya’s Silicon Savannah.

Kenya’s $1 billion tech hub is home to more than 200 startups, as well as established firms like IBM, Intel and Microsoft. They’re working to solve problems through tech, though here the problems are a little different than finding a parking spot or getting your laundry folded. The company BRCK, for instance, is connecting off-the-grid schools to the internet through solar-powered routers and tablets. AB3D turns electronic waste into affordable 3D printers that spit out artificial limbs. According to Stroisch, AB3D founder Roy Mwangi “wants Kenya to be understood as a country that has innovation and creative potential.”

That creative potential was unleashed about a decade ago, thanks to a strong private sector, government support, and outside investment. The first major successes came in 2007 with the wildly popular money-transferring app M-PESA and crowdsourcing platform Ushahidi; the latter, launched to track election violence, has since been used to monitor disasters and conflicts everywhere from Haiti to Syria. The Kenyan government poured diesel on the flames in 2009 with TEAMS, the undersea fiber-optic cable that gave Kenyans cheap, reliable broadband—with average speeds faster than those in the US. The next year, incubator and coworking space iHub set up shop and began spawning dozens of companies. Though growth recently slowed, the government hopes to spur development with the construction of a $10 billion smart city 40 miles south of the capital.

All this was news to Stroisch when he heard about it two years ago at a tech panel in Munich, where he lives. And that bothered him. His understanding of Kenya had been shaped by photojournalistic images of poverty, war, and disease—depictions that didn’t paint a full picture of the country. “There was no space for technical innovation in my old-fashioned image of Kenya,” he says. So last year, he traveled to Kenya last year to update that image.

Over two months in Nairobi, Stroisch visited 10 companies, tech hubs, and coworking spaces where developers race to build the next big app, stopping only for coffee and pizza. He photographed them with a DSLR, fixed lens, and two-camera-triggered flashes. “The light stands for knowledge and enlightenment,” he says.

The images present a brighter vision of Kenya, one that narrows the gap between western perceptions of the country and a silicon-shaped reality that is strikingly familiar.

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livioacerbo · 5 years ago

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Africa Roundup: CcHub’s iHub acquisition, Andela’s $50M run-rate and layoffs, Transsion’s IPO

Two of Africa’s powerhouse tech incubators joined forces in September. Nigerian innovation center and seed-fund CcHub acquired Nairobi based iHub.

The purchase amount was undisclosed, but CcHub will finance the deal out of its real-estate project to build a new 10-story HQ in Lagos, CcHub CEO Bosun Tijani told TechCrunch.

Details are emerging on how the two entities will operate together, but…

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#feed #full #livio acerbo #techcrunch

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lazilysillyprince · 6 years ago

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The Techies Turning Kenya Into a Silicon Savannah

New Post has been published on http://unchainedmusic.com/the-techies-turning-kenya-into-a-silicon-savannah/

The Techies Turning Kenya Into a Silicon Savannah

The images present a brighter vision of Kenya, one that narrows the gap between western perceptions of the country and a silicon-shaped reality that is strikingly familiar.

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awesomecolorfulcollectorwombat · 6 years ago

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The Techies Turning Kenya Into a Silicon Savannah

New Post has been published on http://therushrace.com/the-techies-turning-kenya-into-a-silicon-savannah/

The Techies Turning Kenya Into a Silicon Savannah

The images present a brighter vision of Kenya, one that narrows the gap between western perceptions of the country and a silicon-shaped reality that is strikingly familiar.

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