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Egypt’s Flat6Labs Program Introduces 9 Tech Startups at Latest Demo Day

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe
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Egypt’s Flat6Labs Program Introduces 9 Tech Startups at Latest Demo Day

Cairo-based Flat6Labs program introduces nine (9) of their most innovative tech startups at the latest demo day. This is the first in-person dem since the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak that took place on the 24th of Nov at Nile Ritz-Carlton hotel.

The nine(9) graduate startups from the 17th cycle of the Cairo Seed Program were chanced to take the stage and present their new products and services to various potential stakeholders such as investors, corporates, customers, and lots more who will be looking forward to supporting the scalability of the business.

The highly-tailored Flat6Labs program offers training and coaching sessions, multiple networking opportunities, perks and services, and legal support to the cohort to get maximum value to grow and make an impact.

The Flat6Labs Cairo program provides startups with cash funding of about EGP1.5 million (US$95,000) in exchange for up to 10 percent(10%) equity. 

 “Our present Fund size allows us to provide a better suitable investment to our startups at this current times, helping them get the right talent and survive longer. Flat6Labs Egypt now offers seed tickets up to EGP 1.5 million and our follow-on funding tickets to selected startups can reach 3 million Egyptian pounds,” says the managing Partner of Flat6Labs Egypt, Marie Therese Fam.

The outstanding cohort of the graduating startups for the fall 2021 cycle of the Cairo Seed program which started on 24th August 2021 has worked on developing their solutions across various sectors which include E-commerce, Health Tech, IoT devices, Food & Beverages, SaaS, and EduTech(Education Technology).

The Nine(9) graduate startups include:

  • Edupay fintech: which aims at simplifying transactions and interactions in education through empowerment to education seekers and rendering assistance throughout their journey
  • Elmawkaa: a B2B web/mobile app on e-commerce that connects contractors with suppliers seamlessly.
  • Kokens: a Kitchen as a Service(KaaS) online platform that transforms online food recipes into a menu available to everyone to launch their virtual food brands.
  • PacknSave: web/mobile app on e-commerce store that provides for online bulk grocery buying.
  • Qubx: this is an on-demand 3D radiological service provider that helps surgeons easily plan for their surgeries.
  • Venu:  a platform that aids modern tech solutions to enhance users’ experience with restaurants while increasing the restaurant’s productivity, profitability, as well as customer engagement.
  • Zatona Eats: is an all-in-one meal planning and ordering application that provides an end-to-end solution for personalized meal plans, cooked meals, scheduled delivery, nutrition therapy, as well as medical supervision. 
  • Zr3i: this is a web/mobile app that provides crop monitoring, management, and farm-to-fork product traceability services to the Egyptian Market and the Arab world.
  • Waseya: this is an online will maker that allows users to write a legally binding will, calculate one’s Net Asset Worth, and compute the Islamic shares of each inheritor while complying with local laws and the Islamic jurisprudence.

 His excellency Dr. Amr Talaat, Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, and Ahmed El Alfi, Flat6Labs’ Founder honored the flat6Labs team with their presence and commended the creative solutions provided by the startups to tackle some of Egypt and the region’s most pressing issues.

The next cycle of the Cairo Seed Program will commence in February 2022 and prospective startups are encouraged to apply through this link

 

Microsoft Imagine Cup Global Students Contest 2022

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe
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Microsoft Imagine Cup Global Students Contest 2022

The Microsoft Imagine Cup contest for global students is a skilled-based competition that will help to develop your own skills to prepare you and the world as part of your journey to the future.

Imagine Cup contest seeks to honor ground-breaking, accessible, most innovative, and appealing software that is built with the aid of Microsoft tools and technology.

Over the past 20years, over 2 million student competitors have signed up for this challenge to build and learn together making an innovative impact as well as a significant difference in their communities.

To build your skills: get access to curated training and mentorship from Microsoft experts to help bring your ideas to reality.

Shape the world: Reinvent solutions to solve pressing challenges in a community and build a project to carry along in your career portfolio.

Discover your Passion with Microsoft Imagine Cup

Bring to life your reimagined ideas with a purpose-driven application through the use of Microsoft Azure technology.

You could win and get access to

  • Mentorship and training from distinguished Microsoft Experts
  • Industry pro’s through strong networking
  • Privilege to showcase your ideas
  • Funds to continue with your project and take it to the next level

Additional resources

Build technology skills

Try Microsoft learn helps you get started in the cloud, utilizing free learning paths and tutorials in Azure Cognitive services and more. So, Sign up and get your studentship verified, you get access to $100 cloud credit along with free downloadable developer tools to help in your project.

Details About the Competition

The Application Deadline is January 2022.

The rules and regulations for eligibility and judging criteria for the 2022 Microsoft Imagine Cup can be found in IC22 Official Rules and Regulations-79d82ae8bbd7
The training content spells out everything required to create a successful project for any competition or hackathon.

You will be exposed to information about strategies to create a team down to the best ways to pitch your products to the judges if you follow through with the training.

Schedule for the Competition

  1. Registration and Submission, Join the Discord community, take part in Build Your Epic kick-off event and Epic Challenge now – January 2022
  2. Announcement of Online Semifinals: All submissions are judged – February 2022 
  3. Announcement of World finals: Teams in the top category begins to compete to advance – Date to be announced 
  4. World Championship: The 2022 winner is announced and crowned – Date to be announced 

 

For more information, click HERE

 

 

 

 

 

TradeDepot Raises $110M Series B Funding round, from IFC, Novastar

Hassan Barakat
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TradeDepot Raises $110M Series B Funding round, from IFC, Novastar

TradeDepot has raised a $110M Series B funding round from IFC Novastar to extend Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) service to retailers in Nigeria.

The company, which is based in Nigeria and the United States, connects consumer products brands with thousands of shops and assists with distribution.

The Series B funding comes almost 18 months after Partech Africa and the International Finance Corporation co-led a $10 million fundraising round (IFC).

This time, IFC led the round, with participation from Novastar, Sahel Capital, CDC Group, Endeavor Catalyst,, and prior investors Partech and MSA Capital. Arcadia Funds, a lender that specialized in P2P and marketplace lending as well as insurance-linked products, led the debt financing.

Wale Ayeni, IFC’s head of Africa Venture Capital Investment,, and Brian Odhiambo, Novastar Ventures’ West Africa director, will join TradeDepot’s board as part of the investment.

TradeDepot is a B2B marketplace that connects small businesses, kiosks,, and retailers with global consumer brand wholesalers who supply food, beverages,, and personal care products. To carry out distribution, the corporation possesses warehouses and fleets of drivers.

TradeDepot
TradeDepot warehouse

According to CEO Onyekachi Izukanne, the company had more than 40,000 merchants on its platform last year and currently has more than 100,000.

TradeDepot’s main focus over the last five years has been on integrating technology into the supply chain and onboarding retailers one by one.

The company currently offers a full variety of products to customers who have been onboarded, including digital wallets and financial services, credit and BNPL options.

The BNPL service is integrated into the company’s ShopTopUp platform, which gives retailers access to a credit line for any consumer goods purchased through the app.

TradeDepot, like any other B2B e-commerce platform that offers BNPL services, does not issue cash advances to these merchants. Instead, it delivers customers the things and allows them to pay in installments. The effective interest rate on a monthly basis is over 5%.

“Because of this access, merchants are able to double or triple their typical purchases.” The CEO stated, “We believe that these integrated financial services will be a critical part of this narrative: supply chain on the one hand, and everything linked to financial services to make these businesses run on the other.” “We believe they complement each other. And we’ve spent the last year and a half concentrating on bringing more of these embedded financial products to market.”

When the five-year-old company revealed plans to issue credit in 2020, it established scoring models by financing credit to shops off its balance sheets with equity. According to the company, its BNPL model has resulted in a 200 percent boost in transaction volumes for retailers.

TradeDepot is setting up a debt structure to execute at scale on the back of 18 months of lending to these shops (looking at their purchase history, historical payback performance, and other related data points to predict their creditworthiness).

In Nigeria and across Africa, the vast majority of small and medium-sized enterprises are offline. These industries create $1 trillion in annual sales and $2.6 trillion in nominal GDP on the continent.

TradeDepot Divers
TradeDepot Divers

TradeDepot’s Series B investment is the largest in both equity and debt for any B2B e-commerce platform in Africa right now. The company started out supplying milk to small shops in Lagos, Nigeria, and was one of the first in the field.

Izukanne feels that the rise of new firms that target the market at numerous touchpoints, while also incorporating convenience, and innovative pricing, has made it easier for investors to perceive the value in offline retail digitization.

“If you had a conversation with an investor four or five years ago, there was a lot of education required to convince them why this was an opportunity and why they should come on board,” said the CEO, who co-founded the company with Michael Ukpong and Ruke Awaritefe.

“I believe what we’re witnessing today is the market waking up to that opportunity.” You’ve had more parties coming in, including a few significant ones, and they’re all eager to help you build this. To find the models that work, a lot of iteration is required. And having additional parties hacking at this kind of thing accelerates up innovation in the sector, which is extremely beneficial.

TradeDepot operates in 12 cities. In Ghana, South Africa, and Nigeria(Accra, Johannesburg, and 10 cities in Nigeria). TradeDepot will double down on activities in these three nations and expand its reach across Nigeria, according to Izukanne, in order to capture more of the 5 million SMEs it views as its target market. The debt funding will help the BNPL service be delivered to these retailers.

Deji Alli ARM Young Talent Award (DAAYTA) 2022 for Innovative Nigerian Startups

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe
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Deji Alli ARM Young Talent Award (DAAYTA) 2022 for Innovative Nigerian Startups

Another edition of the DAAYTA for the year 2022 is here again! The Deji Alli ARM Young Talent Award is an ARM drive in partnership with TechnoVision’s TVC Labs which aims at offering young Nigerians an opportunity to build and grow innovative start-up ideas that will add economic value to the country.

The Deji Alli ARM Young Talent Award (DAAYTA) program founded in 2015 is a youth awards initiative in line with ARM’s dedication to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)  in honor of its founding CEO, Deji Alli. The initiative came to be with the aim of bringing together a generation of distinct leaders who will be working together to build a great future.

The goal of the initiative is to provide support to young entrepreneurs that possess intentional ideas which have a positive impact on people’s lives, their communities, and also generate financial returns.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and similar to the previous edition, DAAYTA 2022 final event will be virtual and applications are welcomed from all parts of Nigeria.

Application Requirements

Application deadline is 7th January 2022

The eligibility for the ARM Young Talent Awards are:

  • Applicants must be a Nigerian
  • The age of the applicant must be between 18- 30 years
  • Applications submitted must be applicants original work
  • Applicants must have a minimum viable product(MVP) i.e have users
  • Be capable of sponsoring travel expenses and other associated costs if necessary
  • Applicants (with co-founder/team where they exist) must be available for the 2-day pitch workshop as well as the final pitch event slated for March and April 2022
  • Understand what ARM does and what it stands for
  • Lastly, applicants must be ready to be an ARM Ambassador 

ARM Young Talent Award Prizes

The emerged winner will receive a funding of Twelve Million Naira subject to terms and conditions over a period of 1 year for the outlined purposes:

  • As a contribution to working capital
  • Participation in an entrepreneurial  education program at the Pan Atlantic University’s Enterprise Development  Center in Lagos, Nigeria
  • Receive Five (5) months of acceleration support services by TVC Labs for the development of their venture.

For more information, click here

Pariti, Kenyan Startup Raises $2.85M Led By Harlem Capital

Mena Adediran
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Pariti, Kenyan Startup Raises $2.85M Led By Harlem Capital

Pariti, a Kenya-based platform that builds digital infrastructure for startup ecosystems, has secured $2.85 million in a seed round.

The funding round was led by US-based Harlem Capital and included other investors such as Better Ventures, Diverse Angels, AVG Basecamp, Accelerated Ventures as well as General Market Partners.

Pariti co-founder and CEO, Yacob Berhane expressed his thrill to have Harlem Capital’s participation explaining that Harlem Capital’s goal of aiding underserved startup ecosystems “aligns perfectly” with Pariti’s purpose. 

Pariti connects startup founders in developing markets to resources, capital, and talent. It was founded in 2019 by Yacob Berhane and Wossen Ayele.

According to Berhane, over the past year Pariti has grown by 795%, the growth he credits to the COVID-19 pandemic. He told TechCrunch, “The pandemic was a Black Swan event because we saw a major jump in activity on our platform. Remote staffing and remote investing accelerated tremendously. This was a bet we made a while back but obviously could not anticipate what was coming.” 

So far, Pariti has 880 companies in 42 countries on its platform, which is an increase from the 500 companies recorded earlier this year.  Pariti’s major service is called the Recommendation Engine; startup founders submit their companies to be reviewed and provided feedback from experts on the platform. Afterward, the Recommendation Engine provides custom suggestions the founders can take to improve areas their startup needs help in.  

Pariti also helps venture capitalists and angel investors to find, assess and sign off deals. Some founders have managed to get into global accelerator programmes like the Y Combinator after using Pariti; one of such is Kenyan digital bank Fingo.

Berhane further articulated that, “if Pariti builds this community of founders, investors, and freelancers that have the right mindset to elevate this ecosystem, nobody has to be a gatekeeper. You’re fostering a certain mentality of ‘we will get further together.’ It’s bigger than any one of us.”

Egypt’s FilKhedma Secures Funding From The Cairo Angels

Mena Adediran
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Egypt’s FilKhedma Secures Funding From The Cairo Angels

FilKhedma, a home services marketplace, has received undisclosed funding from The Cairo Angels.

FilKhedma was founded by Omar Ramadan in 2014. The platform connects tested technicians with a range of home maintenance services to customers in need of those services such as repairs and installations, electricity, air conditioning, carpentry, plumbing, painting etc. The company’s goal, ultimately, is to provide quality home maintenance services at reasonable prices to homes and companies in Egypt.

The Cairo Angels is a network of angel investors whose focus is fostering the growth of startups in Egypt, Africa, and the Middle East.

Addressing this investment, Nader Aboushadi, Board Member at Cairo Angels said, “FilKhedma is a solid company with credible management and a bright future. Omar and his team are embarking on new heights and we at Cairo Angels are happy to have been and continue to be part of their successful journey.”

FilKhedma plans to use the investment to expand its home cleaning as well as beauty services. It will also target increasing its value of sales through B2B2C partnerships. So far, FilKhedma serves thousands of users and has a repeat order rate of over 75%.

“We are very happy to welcome Cairo Angels on board Filkhedma and tap into the breadth of experience of the different angels within the network. This investment comes just ahead of a significant milestone for the business to be announced very soon,” said Omar Ramadan.

Previous funding secured by FilKhedma was in 2018 when the Egyptian startup raised $800k in a seed round led by Algebra Ventures and Glint Consulting.

Girls In Tech Bootcamp 2022

Hassan Barakat
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Girls In Tech Bootcamp 2022

Girls In Tech Bootcamp, Africa Agility in partnership with impact Lagos and Eko innovation centre announce next training.

Africa Agility’s mission is to ensure that Nigeria has a digital economy by equipping Nigerian female youth with the required digital skills to compete in the digital world.

Africa Agility is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to ignite a movement in Africa that will transform the Agile and digital business sector. Our objective is to make a difference in people’s lives one breath at a time through digital agile and technology education programs.

Africa Agility is working to close the gender gap in technology by assisting girls in gaining access to technology training and education, as well as digital agile techniques.

Girls in Tech is a program aimed at equipping female students with skills in Agile, AI, Machine Learning, Data Science, and entrepreneurship. These abilities are required to increase performance and promote corporate success in technology, the fourth industrial revolution’s driver.

Experts in Agile, Artificial Intelligence, Brain Robot, Machine Learning, and Data Science, Product Management, Software Development, and Product Design are among the trainers on our lineup.

Training Period

  • 3 weeks from 7th Mar – 25th Mar 2022.
  • There will be an internship placement afterward.

The goal of this program is to provide young females with the skills they’ll need to find remote work, especially at this time of the pandemic.

Register Now

Learning Paths

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Machine Learning
  • Data Science
  • Agile Scrum Framework
  • Web Development
  • Design (UI/UX)
  • Robotics

Requirements

  • Availability in all of the classes as well as the 90 days process.
  • Lagos resident ready to commit the 3 weeks to the training.

This is the first step in the selection process, and it should take no more than 5 minutes. Please complete the form by providing accurate information.

Interested in the Girls In Tech Bootcamp?

Register Here Now

Digital Payments Push Fails to Deter Demand for Cash in Nigeria

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe
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Digital Payments Push Fails to Deter Demand for Cash in Nigeria

The push for digital payments in Nigeria has failed to deter the demand for cash as proposed by the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN). Despite the push by the authorities to engender cashless transactions and control the supply of money in the Country, cash circulation is still on the rise.

According to a report in October, the amount of naira notes and coins circulating has increased by 4.6% to $7.3 billion within the economy from the previous month based on the data by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). M2 or broad money supply rose to a record of about N41.4 trillion in the same month.

Increasing Cash Demands

The increase in the demand for cash causing Nigeria’s currency-in-circulation indicates the lag in the digitization of Naira (digital payment) and monetary control.

In October 2021, Nigeria introduced a digital currency (e-Naira) while a host of Fintech companies are making efforts to pitch to residents of the nation where about 36% of grown-ups have no access to banking services yet cash is still the main mode of transaction especially in the rural areas.

The rise in the money supply also spiked the risk of inflation which at 15.99% has exceeded the Central Bank’s single-digit target for 6 years. The regulators have strived to keep the policy rate unchanged since last year at 11.5% in a bid to rein in on the price rise.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had hope that the advent of the digital currency, e-Naira, will expand the digital payments thereby reducing the cost of printing and cash processing as well as aid to deepen financial inclusion luring about half a million (500,000) people on the digital platform as of the Middle of November.

Despite all these, Financial Technology firms, the likes of TeamApt Ltd, and Opay are captivating private equity funds as they are scaling up in the continent’s biggest economy.

 

 

MarketForce Partners With Cellulant As It Targets Expansion

Mena Adediran
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0
MarketForce Partners With Cellulant As It Targets Expansion

MarketForce, a Kenyan startup that specializes in B2B financial and retail services, has widened its market base to include five more markets across Africa. The plan is to grow RejaReja, a MarketForce app that enables retailers to order and pay for goods, accept payments for utility bills, and access financing; RejaReja also allows manufacturers to find retailers for their products.

MarketForce has joined forces with Cellulant to foster the entry of RejaReja into the following markets: Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda. This is coming after a pilot launch in Nigeria about two months ago.

Cellulant, a pan-African payments company, will allow merchants to accept “locally relevant and alternative” payment options from buyers and as such will help the growth of RejaReja in the aforementioned markets.

Tesh Mbaabu, MarketForce co-founder and CEO, told TechCrunch; “We are working with Cellulant to open the new markets, and the reason is they already have a presence in these markets and have partnerships with both banks and billers. This will ensure that we focus on acquiring new merchants.”

Cellulant Chief Business Officer, David Waithaka noted that the partnership has been in the works for about six months and that Cellulant is delighted to extend their “fruitful relationship” with MarketForce. He further said that amplifying financial inclusion and incomes for merchants across Africa is the goal of this partnership.

Notably, Cellulant has a wide range of partnerships including 46 mobile money operators and 120 banks across Africa, it also serves 35 African countries and has physical spaces in 18 of those. 

Mbaabu said that the company’s target is to grow RejaReja merchants to 1 million by the end of 2022. RejaReja was launched in December 2020 and has seen remarkable growth having over 87,000 orders made on the platform. 

“In November we hit 100,000 merchants in Kenya and Nigeria and this number is growing quite rapidly. Currently, we are growing 40% month on month. This shows how strong our service is,” Mbaabu shared.

VBank Women in Tech Nigeria Makeathon

Hassan Barakat
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0
VBank Women in Tech Nigeria Makeathon

Vbank Women in Tech Nigeria Makeathon is a free project aimed at equipping 1,000 girls and women with the digital and soft skills they need to succeed in STEM fields.

Women in Tech® is a global non-profit organization dedicated to bridging the gender gap and empowering women to embrace technology. We work to empower girls and women all across the world, with a particular focus on Sustainable Development Goal 5b: harnessing technologies.

VBank Women in Tech Makeathon
VBank Women in Tech Makeathon

We are a global movement with chapters on six continents and over 70,000 members, with our headquarters in Paris. The goal is to provide women and girls with the essential skills, confidence, and chances to thrive in STEM disciplines by educating, equipping, and empowering them.

We are the only organization dedicated to women in technology that offers training at every step of their careers, from the classroom to the boardroom.

Our Manifesto

The most underutilized resource in tech is women. Not only is it ethical to create diverse teams, but it also promotes economic growth. Future-proofing women’s career prospects will help to assure sustainable communities around the world.

Women in Tech is a worldwide movement dedicated to achieving gender equality in STEM fields. We make a difference by taking action to boost women’s confidence and help them achieve their goals. We all benefit when women succeed.

Are you a woman with dreams to transition into tech?

Then apply now for the Vbankng Women in Tech® Nigeria Makeathon and learn the skills and get the support you need to confidently navigate the global digital landscape.

Registration and program is FREE

Register here

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