This Week in African Tech 🌍

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Hey there! Caleb here.

Welcome to This Week in African Tech!

A little announcement (and a lot of registration links 😅) from this side.

I’m pumped to be traveling to South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana over the next month!

No travel is complete without bringing the community together - so we'll be holding Tech Safari Mixers in each city we’re traveling to.

The first one is in Cape Town on Thursday this week - come along for a fun evening of conversation, insights, and connection.

If you’re in Cape Town, RSVP Here (we’re almost at capacity)

And before the mixer in Cape Town, we're hosting an in-person workshop with our friends at FDC on Audience Building for Scale.

We’ll talk about how companies can build an audience to scale - from getting customers to landing investors to hiring great talent.

We have limited seats to this one too - register to come along here.

If you’re in Lagos or Accra and want to hear about our events in these cities, join the waitlist here and be the first to hear about them 🎉 

Alright! Let’s dive into it.

Tech Roundup

• Binance has announced that it will stop all Naira services on its platform from the 8th of March, following its regulatory troubles in Nigeria. If you’re a Binance user and still holding Naira to withdraw, trade, or convert - you’re probably too late.

• Canal+ has upped its bid to buy MultiChoice to $2.9 billion. The French media giant is not backing down, adding over a billion to its initial offer of $1.7 billion. Canal+ said it will make an official offer to MultiChoice no later than the 8th of April.

• South Africa's business registry, the CIPC, announced that it suffered a hack which targeted the personal information of its clients and employees. Details on what info was compromised, and who was behind the hack are yet to be revealed.

• Deel, the global payroll platform, has bought PaySpace, a South African company providing payroll and HR software. The details are unknown, but it's Deel's biggest buy yet and a great win for Africa’s startup ecosystem.

• French VC firm, Ring Capital, has launched an impact investment fund, Ring Africa, valued at €50 million and aimed at agriculture and climate-focused startups in French-speaking West Africa.

Deal Roundup

• tookeez, a Moroccan blockchain startup, raises $1.5 million in a fundraising round led by Azur Innovation Fund. The startup plans to use the funds to develop its blockchain tech and expand into Morocco and the MENA region.

• TowerCo of Africa Uganda raises $40 million in long-term financing. The funding was provided by the European Investment Bank and ACP Trust Fund, among others. The company will use the funds to improve mobile phone network coverage in rural areas within Uganda.

• MDaaS Global, a Nigerian healthtech startup, raises $3 million in pre-Series A funding. Aruwa Capital Management and Newtown Partners co-led the round, while Ventures Platform participated. The startup plans to use the funds to expand its healthcare network to all Nigerian states.

• RemotePass, a UAE-based startup, raises $5.5 million in a Series A funding round led by 212 VC, Endeavor Catalyst, and a cohort of other investors. With the funds raised, RemotePass plans to improve its product's enterprise readiness and expand to Saudi Arabia.

• BRKZ, a construction tech startup, raises $8 million in a Series A round led by Beco Capital and 9900 Capital. BRKZ plans to use the funding to expand in Saudi Arabia, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

• RecoMed, a South African digital healthcare marketplace company, raises an undisclosed amount of funding from Eisai. The funding will be used to make RecoMed the first digital healthcare platform to address breast cancer.

Events and Opportunities

• London Africa Network 2024 is now open for applications! The network provides a platform for members to engage with one another, and for the ecosystem to support and engage with the community. To find out more and apply to be a member, please visit the website here. The deadline for applications is the 22nd of March, 2024.

• Villgro Africa is looking for female founders leading innovative health startups across the continent. Selected ventures will gain access to support networks, mentorship and guidance, as well as funding opportunities. If you’re an African female founder who fits the bill, register here for an info session on how to apply.

• Egyptian startups are invited to apply for the third edition of the DMZ Cairo incubation programme. Selected participants will get the opportunity to join DMZ YYZ, a soft-landing programme in Toronto, Canada, which helps startups explore the North American market. Applications are open here until the 12th of March, 2024.

• Applications for the fourth edition of the BIC Africa Acceleration Programme 2024 are now open. The programme will support 20 female entrepreneurs from across Africa willing to scale their businesses while contributing to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). If you’re interested, please apply here by the 19th of March 2024.

And that's a wrap for this week!

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