This Week in Tech: Nigeria's inflation rises for the 10th straight month to 21.47%, Flutterwave expand to Rwanda
The annual inflation rate in Nigeria accelerated for the second month to a near 17-1/2-year high of 21.91% in February 2023, from 21.82% in the prior month and surpassing market expectations of 21.85%
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The annual inflation rate in Nigeria accelerated for the second month to a near 17-1/2-year high of 21.91% in February 2023, from 21.82% in the prior month and surpassing market expectations of 21.85% (Source). Flutterwave is expanding its operations to East Africa - Rwanda this time, through its acquisition of Electronic Money Issuer and Remittance licenses from the National Bank of Rwanda. News sources are suggesting that Chippeercash - an African unicorn, is considering a sale but its CEO has denied it; "We had a very limited amount of money (only about $1M) held in our SVB account at the time the bank was taken over by the California regulator," Serunjogi explained. - This Week in Tech.
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Mobile Money Transactions Volume Rose by 70% in Feb
Data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has shown that the volume of mobile money transactions for the month of February, rose by 70 per cent to 183.69 million compared to 108.13 million recorded in the month of January. Thisday
Flat6Labs launches $95m fund to support African tech startups
Flat6Labs, a MENA-focused seed investor, has launched a $95m fund to support the growth and development of early-stage tech startups on the African continent. The new Africa Seed Fund (ASF) will focus on three main investment territories in Africa – North Africa, West Africa, and East Africa. Flat6Labs will be extending its reach into several new territories, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, and Senegal, amongst others. Flat6Labs will be investing in 160 companies that are in pre-seed up to pre-Series A stages, with tickets ranging from $150,000 to $500,000. Fintech Global
African online pharmacies are leapfrogging an e-commerce giant
African online pharmacies such as MyDawa, AddPharma, and myMedicines, as well as online storefronts of many brick-and-mortar pharmacy chains like GoodLife and HealthPlus, have brought traditional pharmacy retail into the modern world of e-commerce. Significant funding has flowed, with MyDawa leading the pack at over $9 million raised to date. Investors are hoping to cash in on the 34% of Africans who are active e-commerce users. QZ
CBN bars agents from using PoS terminals for transactions
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has barred agents from using Point of Sale (PoS) terminals meant for merchants to carry out cash-in and cash-out transactions. According to the CBN, the agent banking initiative has resulted in the proliferation of financial services agents across Nigeria, resulting in a significant and growing portion of financial transactions being conducted through the agents. Vanguard
Microsoft Launches Student Hackathon, Targets Solutions For The Health Sector
University students from across Kenya and some parts of Africa can now apply to participate in season 4 of the Microsoft Africa Development Centre’s (ADC) Game of Learners (GOL) student hackathon competition. The GOL initiative provides an opportunity for African university students, aspiring software engineers, and solution builders to improve their technical and coding abilities while creating solutions to current challenges facing the continent and the world. MCGH
SVB collapse forces African startups to rethink their banking options
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last week sent ripples in startup ecosystems around the world, and it is emerging that millions of dollars held by African startups and venture capital funds at the bank were at stake, until the U.S. Federal Reserve acted to save the day. In the wake of the bank’s collapse, founders in Africa have been forced to review their banking options to cushion their startups from such eventualities. Nala, a U.K.-based and Africa-focused mobile money transfer startup that managed to pull its funds out of SVB before it collapsed, told TechCrunch it’s exploring partnerships with new large corporate banks, while the Pan-African fund Future Africa, which suffered “minimal exposure” also hinted that it was keen on opening an account with a global banking institution. TechCrunch
Flutterwave secures two additional licenses in Rwanda: Electronic Money Issuer, Remittance Licenses
Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, has announced its acquisition of Electronic Money Issuer and Remittance Licenses from the National Bank of Rwanda. This will help the company expand its operations in East Africa. With these new licenses, in addition to being a payment service provider, Flutterwave can offer money deposit and withdrawal, electronic funds transfer, as well as inbound and outbound remittance services to the 13.46 million people living and working in Rwanda. Premium Times
Chipper Cash, Silicon Valley Bank, and Silvergate Bank: What the future holds
Chipper CEO Ham Serunjogi released a statement on Sunday downplaying the impact of SVB's recent failure, saying the bank's collapse had an "insignificant" effect on the payments company. "We had a very limited amount of money (only about $1M) held in our SVB account at the time the bank was taken over by the California regulator," Serunjogi explained, adding that SVB's funds were delivered immediately. "What is happening now doesn’t change that," he wrote. "Additionally, SVB wasn’t the only investor in that round." Business Insider
SA ed-tech incubator Injini partners Mastercard Foundation for fellowship programme
South African ed-tech incubator Injini has partnered with the Mastercard Foundation to launch the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship Programme, which offers selected companies access to funding and other types of support. In partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, Injini is now on the search for innovative ed-tech startups to apply for its latest programme – this time focused on impacting education in South Africa. This initiative, known as the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship Programme, will provide eligible startups with direct grant funding. Disrupt-Africa
Counting the cost of cash scarcity as electronic payment transactions decline by 5% in February
According to the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CCPE), the Nigerian economy has lost N20 trillion, due to the ongoing cash scarcity crisis. According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBBS), 108.135 million transfers were made in January, representing a 237% increase when compared to the 32 million recorded during the same period in the previous year. The value of mobile transactions rose by 124.8% to N2.4 trillion from N1.1 trillion in the period under review. Ventures Africa
Nigeria's inflation rises for the 10th straight month to 21.47%
Nigeria’s inflation rate rose for the 10th consecutive month in November to 21.47 per cent from 21.09 per cent recorded a month earlier amid a continuing increase in food and energy prices, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday. Nigeria’s lingering fuel scarcity became worse in recent weeks as several filling stations have failed to sell petroleum products or have sold at high prices. The shortage has seen transport cost rise, thereby affecting goods and commodities. NBS said that on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in November 2022 was 1.39 per cent, 0.15 per cent higher than the rate recorded in October 2022 (1.24 per cent). PremiumTimes
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