Weekly Roundup 👇

more fundings +mastercard +understanding DAOs +more opportunities+be on the know

Friends, we're back! We're back to our regularly scheduled programming, if you’re new, welcome 🙌  you’ll receive a weekly like this one every Friday. For past essays and roundups, visit the previous articles.

Funding announcements🎉

➥Moroccan prop-tech startup Agenz has secured $1.3 million pre-Series A funding.

Founded in 2021 by Malik and Badr Belkeziz, Agenz ’s innovative use of artificial intelligence for precise estimations, backed by a robust database and analyzed market data, has made it a reference point for property buyers and sellers across Morocco. 

Agenz’s platform, agenz.ma offers a comprehensive real estate experience, encompassing not only estimation services but also curated property listings and access to real estate credit.The funding will be instrumental in scaling the startup's AI-powered real estate platform

➥Senegal has secured $50 million in funding from the World Bank to accelerate the digitization of its healthcare system.

Senegal is working hard to fully digitize its healthcare system. To achieve its objectives quickly, the government has turned to the World Bank for financial support.

The Senegalese government has allocated CFAF30 billion ($49.8 million) of World Bank financing to its national health digitization system PDSS. The information was disclosed by Dr. Ibrahima Khaliloulah Dia, coordinator of the Health and Welfare Map and Digital Health Unit CSSDOS, at a recent information workshop in Thiès.

Other News📚

➥Kenya Introduces Standardized QR Code System for Easy and Secure Digital Payments

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has announced the issuance and implementation of a new standard, the Kenya Quick Response Code Standard 2023. This standard will guide how Payment Service Providers and banks regulated by the CBK will issue Quick Response (QR) Codes to businesses and consumers accepting digital payments.

➥Samsung Bans Staff’s AI Use After Spotting ChatGPT Data Leak

Samsung has decided to ban the use of popular generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Bing, by its employees after discovering staff uploaded sensitive code to these platforms. The company fears that data transmitted to AI platforms, which is stored on external servers, could be difficult to retrieve and delete, and may end up being disclosed to other users

➥The YALI AFRICA has partnered with Microsoft Africa Development Center (ADC) to improve the digital skills of young people in the East African region.

The Microsoft Africa Development Centre (ADC) has partnered with the Young African Leaders Initiative Regional Leadership Centre East Africa (YALI) to improve digital skills among the youth.

The two signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to provide digital skills programs and solutions to young leaders in the region.According to the MoU, the ADC will provide YALI participants with capacity-building opportunities in digital skills such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, access to its innovation hub at the Microsoft Garage and avail mentorship and training opportunities.

➥YellowCard Seeks to Expand in Nigeria with a Fiat Treasury Management Service

Yellowcard, an African-focussed cryptocurrency exchange, is currently seeking approval to broaden its offerings in Nigeria, where regulators have partially restricted digital token trading. The company, which has a focus on Africa and currently operates in 16 countries on the continent, has commenced talks with Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission to establish a cryptocurrency exchange.

YellowCard also boasts to be the first company in Africa to get a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license on the continent, following a regulatory approval in Botswana in October 2022.

➥Machankura, Africa’s Leading Bitcoin USSD Service, Goes Live in Ghana

Machankura has launched a new USSD code – *920*8333# – to facilitate Bitcoin transactions for feature phone users. This innovative move is expected to revolutionize the way people in Ghana transact in cryptocurrencies, especially in remote areas where access to the internet is limited. The USSD code operates through the Lightning Network, a layer two scaling solution for Bitcoin that allows for faster and cheaper transactions. This means that feature phone users can now send and receive Bitcoin (BTC) without needing access to the internet or a smartphone. Transactions on the Lightning Network are also highly secure, making them ideal for small transactions and micropayments.

➥StorsPay, a Nigerian Decentralized Retail Investing Platform, Raises $320,000 and Gets Accepted into Techstars NYC Accelerator.

StorsPay, a fintech startup by Nigerian, Sam Alonge, has secured a funding round of US$320,000 and is selected to participate in the Techstars NYC accelerator. The accelerator is supported by the JP Morgan Accelerator. Fintech has developed a decentralized platform for retail lending infrastructure which aims to connect small businesses worldwide with retail investors seeking alternative asset investment opportunities. The platform is designed to provide affordable capital to small businesses that need funding to grow their operations.

➥Mastercard launches Web3 user verification solution to curb bad actors

Global financial services giant Mastercard has launched a new Web3 solution aimed at enhancing user verification standards and “reducing the opportunities for bad actors” in the digital asset space. The firm outlined that its “building a way for Web3 and blockchain service providers to help secure transactions between users, verified according to standards set by Mastercard.

➥Nigeria’s Bitcoin-Focussed Entity, Fedi, Raises $17 Million in Series A Round to Build Out Bitcoin Chat App for Communities.

Fedi, a financial and data technology company founded by Nigerian Bitcoin advocate, Obi Nwosu, has secured $17 million in a Series A funding round and is preparing to launch an alpha version of Fedi for builders later in May 2023. Fedi, which is interoperable with the Bitcoin Lightning Network, thanks to the Fedimint Protocol, is described as a technology company that builds global bitcoin adoption technology. The Fedi mobile app is the company’s main product and it is designed to help billions of people use bitcoin securely, privately, and scalably. The company, which Nwosu co-founded with Eric Sirion and Justin Moon, aims to be the world’s first federated operating system empowering individuals to collaborate through ‘federations made up of friends, families, neighbors, non-profit organisations, social clubs, businesses, conferences and other forms of community to take control of their money, their data, and their digital lives while still protecting user privacy and autonomy.’

➥Nigeria approves National Blockchain Policy

The federal government on Wednesday in Abuja approved the implementation of the National Blockchain Policy for Nigeria. A blockchain is a decentralized, distributed and public digital ledger used to record transactions across many computers. Such records cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of subsequent blocks and the consensus of the network.

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Decentralized Autonomous Organization(DAO)

 A DAO is a group organized around a mission that coordinates through a shared set of rules enforced on a blockchain.

The blockchain and cryptocurrency rave is not ending anytime soon. And as more people are being introduced to revolutionary technologies in the digital space, new improvements to these technologies are also being introduced.

In the last couple of years, the DeFi and NFT industries have experienced immense levels of growth and, currently, metaverses and Web3 are the technologies making the digital space light up. 

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Shiko Karanja✍