Ngeni dev roundup corner
week ending 19th+ investments flood into Africa's startup +accelerators +Binance free masterclass +project of the week +upcoming events +incase you missed
We provide weekly news resources for African developers, breaking down all news that is related to web3, blockchain, fintech, and the Exchange Trading ecosystem.
Hello,😃 welcome to the weekly recap of innovative technologies propelling Africa ahead.
✨RELEVANT NEWS funding announcements
Luno launches investment arm to support fintech and crypto startups
Luno ,a subsidiary of Digital Currency link Group (DCG) today announced that it is launching luno expeditions, an early investment arm to back finance and crypto,web3 startups globally.
The fund will leverage DCG’s seven-year experience of backing web3, DeFi and crypto startups as it looks to expand its investment activity to reach more early-stage businesses at pre-seed and seed. ➤ TechCrunch March 16,2022
Kenya-based FinTech 4G Capital to scale lending after raising $18.5M from Light rock.
Kenya-based fintech company 4G Capital, which provides unsecured credit to micro-enterprises, has raised $18.5 million in Series C funding from global private equity firm Light rock. ➤ Techcrunch March 16, 2022.
Kenyan’s E-commerce Startup Sokowatch raises $125M rebrands to Wasoko
Sokowatch has announced the close of a $215 million Series B Equity Round. This is the largest venture Tiger Global, financing round ever raised by a non-fintech startup in Africa.
The new capital will enable Wasoko to drive further geographic expansions and product growth across the continent. ➤ Rest of the world March 16, 2022
‘Link -in bio startup linktree raises $110 million in funding round.
Linktree – the link in bio category creator – today announced $110 million USD funding led by Index Ventures and Coatue as well as investment from Peanut CEO Michelle Kennedy and 20VC Founder Harry Stebbings. The company now has a valuation of $1.3 billion USD.
The company’s fast-paced growth trajectory to 24 million users in the past year ensured follow-on investment from previous backers AirTree Ventures and Insight Partners, and new participation from Greenoaks Capital, renowned for investments in Coupang, Canva and Airwallex. ➤ Nasdaq March 16,2022
IN ACCELERATORS
The Telecell accelerator has selected 11 startups for the 2nd Startupbootcamp Afri Tech
Startupbootcamp AfriTech and Telecel Group have chosen 11 African startups to participate in the second edition of the Africa startup initiative Program (ASIP),which provides cash and support to participants. ➤ Tech Gist Africa March 17,2022
Google has selected 15 startups for the startup’s Accelerator Africa class 7 program
The Google for Startups Accelerator Africa class 7 participants have been announced, with the selected startups set to receive mentorship and professional advice throughout the course of the three-month program.
The seventh class consists of 15 tech startups from seven African nations, who were chosen from hundreds of applications based on product stage, program alignment, and market fit.
Read more to find out the startups that were chosen. ➤Tech Gist Africa March 17, 2022
Twelve African startups have been selected to participate in Microsoft’s FAST startup accelerator
The inaugural cohort of the FAST startup accelerator, created by Microsoft in collaboration with Flap max to build and scale Africa's digital ecosystem, has been selected.
The FAST accelerator cohort will participate in a variety of activities to help them scale quickly and sustainably, including training, company development, cloud, and AI integration, fundraising, and community-building events. ➤ Tech Gist Africa March 17, 2022
📚Be on the know✅
This contains lots of stories on the fast-paced world of technology, firsthand knowledge, and opinions to give a comprehensive view of this rapidly changing ecosystem.
Crypto Exchange Firm FTX to invest in Educating College Students so as to drive Adoption of Crypto in Africa.
The rapid adoption of cryptocurrency in Africa has set the region apart s an emerging market favorable for crypto investments .organizations are seizing the opportunity to be part of the growth in the continent
The driving force behind the fast growth rate is the youth. Cryptocurrency exchange firm FTX has taken note of the huge role youths play in driving the use of crypto in Africa and they set to invest in educating the youth about blockchain and cryptocurrency.
➤ Crypto in Afrika March 16, 2022
African Startup Basqet Launches Crypto Payment Gateway
Basquet has rolled out a cryptocurrency payments processor that will make it possible for businesses to be paid using cryptocurrencies by their customers.
The crypto startup launched its payment getaway with 118 businesses already registered and set to receive payments in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
➤ Crypto in Afrika March 16, 2022
Binance set to host a free masterclass on play-to-Earn crypto Gaming
Binance, the world's leading blockchain ecosystem, and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, is hosting a free GameFi masterclass for blockchain enthusiasts across Africa
➤ Africa business insider March 17, 2022
Quidax Becomes First African Crypto Exchange on CoinMarketCap
Quidax, an African-founded crypto exchange, announced last week that its crypto markets had been listed on CoinMarketCap. CoinMarketCap is the world’s most-referenced price-tracking website for crypto assets.
The listing has made Quidax the first fully African-owned crypto exchange to get listed on CoinMarketCap signifying a huge milestone for the crypto ecosystem in
➤ Africa bitcoin Africa.io March 11,2022
“Kenyans lost $120 Million in the last financial year to cryptocurrency scams” says ICT Cabinet Secretary.
Joe Mucheru, cabinet secretary, ministry of information and technology in Kenya, said that Kenyans are getting defrauded by crypto scams. He mentioned that the reason why people fall for scams was little or no knowledge on crypto .” Educating the masses on crypto is a great way to at least reduce the scams.“ ➤ NTV Kenya March 14, 2022
➧Here are some of the places developers or tech enthusiasts hang out over the weekend.
IhubKenya
Moringa School.
Nairobi Garage.
Bishop Magwa
Andela (Thika Road)
🏆 NGENI PROJECT OF THE WEEK🏆
Tik Tok Meets NFT Marketplace powered by Ethereum Blockchain
This week, we’ll take a look at the Once App project.
Our developers created an App[OnceApp] that is combined with tik tok(that seek kind of imagery) and has overlaying menus and smart features. The end-user of the app is able to capture moments and then turn the moments into NFTs which can then be traded by selling the moments yourself or buying.
FEATURES OF ONCE APP
Ability to capture moments just like tik tok or Instagram.
Ability to have moments in video like in the form of pictures.
Ability to mint the videos and the pictures directly into the blockchain.
Ability to display a list of minted moments per user
Ability to show the end-user images that they have already seen.
Ability to show the end-user images that they have liked.
Ability to show comments on images.
Ability to the geolocation of the end-user.
Ability to estimate what the other NFTs are going for so that one could start getting the idea of evaluation of what the NFTs are.
Ability to mint a moment.
😉IN CASE YOU MISSED IT .events and hackathons
Here we talk about the week's biggest events and try to get under the skin of what happened.
➧ Blockchain Africa Conference
This event took place on 17th and 18th of March ,2022 and was online.
The event brought together top thought leaders and pioneers in the global industry where they created an ecosystem for all in attendance to learn ,network ,and collaborate with each other.
The platform gave everyone an opportunity to network and ask questions on the attest trends and developments in blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies ,both in Africa and globally
Most speakers from the event showcased and explained how to use their products and services and had a group of people from their company answer the questions in the lounge and booths.
⏭️WHAT'S ON THE HORIZONS
Here are some of the events that will be in from 21st to 26th March 2022
➧Nairobi Business Forum
March 23th 2022 from 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue The Node, Westlands (opposite Jacaranda Hotel)
Nairobi Business Forum is a business networking group where they organize speakers who are established in their careers /industry sector to address members on how to succeed in the Kenyan business space.
Why attend
Cryptocurrency the next innovation discussions as you contribute to the discussion
Cutting-edge Blockchain Industry Research presentations from leading Blockchain institutions.
➧International Women's Day Nairobi 2022
Sat, Mar 26, 8:00 AM (EAT) and it's going to be virtual.
Women Tech makers annual event campaign where we aim to that create connections, educate and inspire, and recognize that we still have a ways to go to close the gender gap.
Theme: #ProgressNotPerfection
This year our theme celebrates all kinds of progress - big or small - and the strength we demonstrate when we don’t let fear hold us back from following our dreams.
One of our developers, Vincent Sipoi is going to be a speaker at the event. You don't want to miss that.
➧Track and Trace hackathon
This hackathon with start from 25th March to April 8th, 2022 and it’s going to be online
Track and Trace is a hackathon focused on building Applications around Web 3 that enhance efficiency in supply chain and logistics management.
The current Tech infrastructure being used by some logistics companies may not be robust enough to ensure there are reduced operational costs, perfect product inventory management, accurate traceability, and many other key aspects to ensure a supply management framework is flawless.
Why attend
The logistics industry is expected to be valued at $15.5 Trillion by next year. By leveraging Blockchain, we believe there is a great opportunity for developers to build various products or solutions that can bring efficiency in supply chain management.
🌍INSIDE/OUTSIDE AFRICA
👏 INNOVATION OF THE WEEK.
US-Based Kenyan software Guru Joseph Gitonga,24, makes Forbes Top 30 Under 30.
Joseph Gitonga was recognized for his innovation, Vitable Health, a digital platform that seeks to provide health care coverage for millions of US citizens who do not have medical cover..
The Philadelphia-based company sends medical providers directly to members’ homes and workplaces or via telemedicine to provide acute and preventative care at a lower cost.
Gitonga relocated to the US with his family aged 13, where his parents started a home-care business for the elderly who do not have caregivers.
While still at Penn State in 2018, Gitonga won $10,000 (Ksh.1.1 million) in a college competition to bring his then-idea into life.
“At the start of the semester, I didn’t know if Vitable Health was even possible – the idea was Uber for urgent care, where we’d bring the provider to you. I didn’t know if I could hire providers, I didn’t know corporate practice of medicine laws, there were just a lot of variables I didn’t know,” he said in a previous interview after the win.
“In fall of 2018, I built the tech product that would enable Vitable, found a lawyer, and applied to Inc.U. I remember going to the taping the next semester, and that was the first week we’d launched.”
The company has so far attracted $9 million (Ksh.1.02 billion) funding from investors.
Gitonga also boasts of previous stints at Microsoft, where he worked three stints as an intern between 2017 and 2019. The 24-year-old dropped out of the Pennsylvania State University to found the business after watching his parents struggling to set a home healthcare small business going.
😎Other Articles
Here’s a list of all the tech companies taking action against Russia
Four Kenyan Startups among 12 Selected for Microsoft Accelerator Programme.
War on Ukraine is bringing out the bad and good of cryptocurrencies
Africa's tech media are plotting to be as influential as the startups they cover
Thanks for reading 🙌🏽 if you want to chat generally or if you’re interested in web3, FinTech, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and Exchange Trading, feel free to reach out: Twitter (https://twitter.com/ngenidevs)
LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/ngeni-developers-bb2a9421b/
Email, info@ngeni.io
— Shiko Karanja ✍🏼
Great article... To the moon!!!!