Tech in Africa: All The News You Need To Know From The Past
Jan 4, 2016 19:15:38 GMT
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Post by dansoye1 on Jan 4, 2016 19:15:38 GMT
Tech in Africa: All The News You Need To Know From The Past Month.
Traditionally the slowest month when it comes to tech news, December saw a flurry of activity as a number of startups managed to get funding rounds over the line before the festivities began.
Solar companies were again very much in demand, with Tanzania’s Off Grid Electric raising a US$25 million round, as well as earning a US$5 million grant from USAID. Kenyan pay-as-you-go solar startup M-KOPA Solar raised US$19 million in the same month.
It wasn’t just solar startups that cleared up in December. Kenyan addressing startup OkHi raised US$750,000, as did Nairobi-based instant messaging service Ongair. Another Kenyan company, Kopo Kopo, raised US$2.1 million to push its merchant micro-loan product.
South African startups were on the fundraising trail too, with adventure marketplace Gummie raising funding and relaunching its site, and mobile shopping startup MySidekick raising US$280,000. GamezBoost and Eventerprise also raised, as did Nigeria’s Showroom.ng and Rwanda’s Mergims.
Plenty more where all that came from
There will be more to come in terms of funding for African tech startups in 2016, with developments in December further boosting that. Nigerian incubator Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) partnered Venture Garden Nigeria and Omidyar Network to launch a US$5 million social innovation fund, while Chinese instant messaging company WeChat launched a US$3.5 million fund for African tech startups looking to launch on the WeChat platform.
Meanwhile, investment firm CrossBoundary Energy announced the first close of a dedicated fund for commercial and industrial solar that will deploy over US$25 million in solar solutions to power African enterprises over the next 18 months, and impact-focused equity crowdfunding portal Malaik launched, aimed at connecting investors interested in impact investment opportunities with African entrepreneurs raising finance.
Facebook also continues to be busy, launching its Internet.org Innovation Challenge in Africa. The challenge looks to recognise African developers working on apps, websites and services for learning and economic empowerment and rewarding winners with US$150,000
thenextweb.com/insider/2016/01/04/tech-in-africa-all-the-news-you-need-to-know-from-the-past-month/#gref
Traditionally the slowest month when it comes to tech news, December saw a flurry of activity as a number of startups managed to get funding rounds over the line before the festivities began.
Solar companies were again very much in demand, with Tanzania’s Off Grid Electric raising a US$25 million round, as well as earning a US$5 million grant from USAID. Kenyan pay-as-you-go solar startup M-KOPA Solar raised US$19 million in the same month.
It wasn’t just solar startups that cleared up in December. Kenyan addressing startup OkHi raised US$750,000, as did Nairobi-based instant messaging service Ongair. Another Kenyan company, Kopo Kopo, raised US$2.1 million to push its merchant micro-loan product.
South African startups were on the fundraising trail too, with adventure marketplace Gummie raising funding and relaunching its site, and mobile shopping startup MySidekick raising US$280,000. GamezBoost and Eventerprise also raised, as did Nigeria’s Showroom.ng and Rwanda’s Mergims.
Plenty more where all that came from
There will be more to come in terms of funding for African tech startups in 2016, with developments in December further boosting that. Nigerian incubator Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) partnered Venture Garden Nigeria and Omidyar Network to launch a US$5 million social innovation fund, while Chinese instant messaging company WeChat launched a US$3.5 million fund for African tech startups looking to launch on the WeChat platform.
Meanwhile, investment firm CrossBoundary Energy announced the first close of a dedicated fund for commercial and industrial solar that will deploy over US$25 million in solar solutions to power African enterprises over the next 18 months, and impact-focused equity crowdfunding portal Malaik launched, aimed at connecting investors interested in impact investment opportunities with African entrepreneurs raising finance.
Facebook also continues to be busy, launching its Internet.org Innovation Challenge in Africa. The challenge looks to recognise African developers working on apps, websites and services for learning and economic empowerment and rewarding winners with US$150,000
thenextweb.com/insider/2016/01/04/tech-in-africa-all-the-news-you-need-to-know-from-the-past-month/#gref