Kenya’s central bank has called on the public to share their views, before May 20th, on the possibility of adopting a digital currency, just one day after it emerged that Zambia is also testing its viability too. The Bank of Zambia is also carrying out research on digital currencies. Digital currency, unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, is developed by central banks and pegged on countries’ fiat currencies. The potential decision-making comes just a year after Nigeria became the first country in Africa to pilot its central bank digital currency . While Ghana
The company was founded in 2015 by Femi Kuti, Opeyemi Olumekun, and Matthew Mayaki and now – six years later – it has just raised $40 million. Headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, and Austin, Texas, Reliance Health began operations in Nigeria as a telemedicine-focused startup, Kangpe, it later expanded into a single-fee healthcare provider to better address the complex, evolving needs of patients. Reliance Health operates business-to-business and business-to-customers models. RelianceHMO is the company’s health insurance plan for both sets of customers where individuals can select monthly, quarterly, or yearly health plans. But businesses can
Casava, the self-described “Nigeria’s first 100% digital insurance company”, has raised a $4 million pre-seed round. It was first founded by Bode Pedro. Before starting Casava, Pedro ran VisaCover, an insurance brokerage company, in 2014. The idea for Casava came while VisaCover provided an alternative in the auto insurance market by allowing drivers of Uber, which was one of its partners, to make weekly insurance payments instead of quarterly or yearly payments insurance partners before it operated, according to TechCrunch. He left the VisaCover company in 2016 and Pedro brought on Olusegun
Bamboo, an investment platform that allows Nigerians to buy and trade US stocks in real-time from their mobile phones or computers, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round. Launched in January 2020 by CEO Richmond Bassey and COO Yanmo Omorogbe, the start-up has rapidly grown in popularity with retail investors, claiming over 300,000 accounts in Nigeria. Its users can access all equities available on the US stock exchanges, that is, the stocks of roughly 6,000 companies. Last year, the company launched Powered by Bamboo, it’s API solution that allows asset managers, fintech
The cohort includes 35 US creators who will get funding, training, and other resources through the program. The fund provides one year of support, including seed funding for channels, development programs, workshops, and networking opportunities. “Black creators have played an important role in shaping the culture on YouTube. From fashion and comedy to politics, learning, and wellness, Black creators have propelled our platform forward,” the company said in the announcement. A total of 26 African YouTube creators, including 10 Nigerian creators, were also picked. They were chosen to join a
India had eight unicorns in 2018, nine in 2019, and 11 in 2020. Last year, the country celebrated 42. Similarly, it took China five years to reach five unicorns between 2010 and 2015, but then saw 21 unicorns in 2016 – and 91 unicorns in 2019. While Latin America has followed a similar trajectory, raising $14.8 billion in 2021 – more than it had raised between 2014-2020 combined – and minting nine of the region’s 17 unicorns. Now Africa, once a continent that was lagging behind in the investment race, is reportedly seeing $1
Usman Dalhatu, a 20-year-old mechanical engineer student at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, invented and built a local ventilator. At the time of building the invention – his country – Nigeria reportedly had just 500 ventilators across its 36 states. In partnership with other Nigerian innovators, Dalhatu, 20, built a local ventilator, which he later transformed into a portable ultra-modern E-vent automatic ventilator. Dalhatu named the equipment RESPIRE-19. He collaborated with Dr. Yunusa Muhammad Garba of the Human Anatomy Department, Gombe State University and Aliyu Hassan, a graduate of Mechatronics Engineering.
Bfree, a Nigerian credit management fintech, has embarked on global expansion after raising $1.7 million in a pre-Series A round. It’s now on a massive recruitment drive for the 16 new markets in which it is setting up operations, including Ghana, India, Uganda, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Russia, Poland, Pakistan, and Indonesia. It was founded by Chukwudi Enyi, Moses Nmor, and Flosbach, who were reportedly looking to develop better, ethical, and tech-inspired debt-collection tools and processes after firsthand experience working for digital lenders in Nigeria. 4Di Capital, Octerra Capital, VestedWorld, Voltron Capital, Logos Ventures,
The recent events where Davido asked his loyal fans, friends, and colleagues for money – raising a whopping 200M Naira, which will be distributed to organizations helping vulnerable Nigerians, has shown the power of technology and how it can be used for good. On November 17 – the musician took to Instagram and Twitter and asked fans and friends who believe “I’ve given you a hit song” to send money to a bank account he detailed under his name. He asked them to send one million nairas each, and they
An African healthcare startup running several hospitals has secured $18 million in a Series A round. These funds will build its “tech-forward healthcare system” across Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. The funding round for Africal Health Holdings, led by Asia Pacific Land/Natural World Limited, saw the participation of several investors, including TRB Advisors, Breyer Capital, M3, Inc., Valiant Capital, Kepple Ventures, and SUNU Capital. Based in West Africa, Africa Health Holdings will use the new capital to expand its telemedicine service beyond Ghana to countries like Nigeria and Kenya. The startup’s MyCareMobile
