This Week in African Tech 🌍

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Your tour guide on African Tech 🧭

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Morning, and happy Sunday! Hope your weekend has been great.

Mine has been a little chaotic - organising everything for the US trip, which is why this is a day late 😅

I’m touching down in San Francisco on Thursday, and on Friday I’ll be hosting a Happy Hour with some friends.

If you are in San Francisco and want to pop by, come along! I would love to meet you over a drink or two. Register for more details here.

Plus, we have some very cool, bigger (and less impromptu) events to be announced! Stay tuned.

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Tech Roundup

• Copia, a B2C e-commerce platform focused on East Africa, announced that it is leaving Uganda due to the economic downturn and constrained capital markets. More than 350 employees will be impacted by the decision and have been provided with a severance package.

• Injini, an ed-tech non-profit has recruited 12 ed-tech startups to take part in the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship Program. Some of these startups include Code4Kids, Digify Africa, Yenza and others, and they will receive R1,000,000 (~$55,000) in equity-free funding.

• Flutterwave, an African fintech firm, is setting up its regional headquarter for East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. This announcement follows Flutterwave securing two additional licenses to operate in Rwanda.

Our friends Luke and Karl officially launched Young African Catalysts (YAC) last week!

Young Africa Catalysts is building an ecosystem for young Africans to upskill, hire talent and unlock investment.

This one also falls under ‘opportunities’ - Young African Catalysts has just launched an Aspiring Fellowship program for Africans looking to enter Venture Capital.

I’ve been a part of their community since last year and have found it super valuable. Congrats to Luke and Karl.

Deal Roundup

• The DRC-based Altech Group, a clean energy distributor, has raised US$18 million in debt financing and grants to expand access to energy across the country from Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund (EEGF) Triple Jump and Rabobank.

• Chekkit, a Nigerian anti-counterfeiting startup raised additional funding to scale its blockchain-powered technology.

• CoaChess, a Tunisian gaming platform, raised $191,000 in a pre-Seed funding round from Omicrone. The startup’s notable offering is its intelligent bot, which can mimic top chess champions and other influential figures in the history of the game.

Events and Opportunities

• I’m hosting a Happy Hour in San Francisco on Friday! Register here to join us.

• Infobip is offering $10,000+ worth of communication tools for platforms like WhatsApp, text and email. Infobip is the communication partner powering companies like Uber, Bolt and Meta - and they want to support startups on the continent next. Get your Infobip Perks here. 

• The Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) has announced the opening of registration for its annual conference and awards in Kigali, Rwanda on November 9-10.

• Afriblocks is hosting The Freelancers Summit 2023 on Saturday 6 May for African freelancers and the rise of Web3 technology, and will have over 1000 participants and 20+ expert speakers from companies like Google, LinkedIn, and Salesforce (as well as yours truly). Learn more here.

• The VC4A Venture Showcase Africa is looking for African founders to showcase their startups and scaleups to investors on the continent. The showcase is a great way to get visibility, mentorship and to connect with prospective investors and partners. Apply here before May 17th.

Interesting Reads this week

This week was slow, so here are a few things I found interesting and informative this week:

• Marvin, CEO of Raise, writes about the African VC funding nosedive in March, and why equity in African VC is broken. He proposes the idea of a Pan-African VC Standard, Equity Stack and Startup Act for a stronger era of African Tech.

• Umuganda - the monthly Rwandan holiday where shops close, public transport stops and everyone does community service work for three hours (even the President).

• Afropolitan’s Resident Artist Ebengho shares how he designed the Afropolitan NFT Collection. Afropolitan incorporates African history and traditions with a futuristic style so well. Disclaimer - I own one.

And that's a wrap for this week! We will be back with a feature story next week.

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Catch you soon!

👋🏾 Caleb