Prime Startups Dispatch

Good day ,

A wise man once said “Gbogbo wa la ma je breakfast” meaning opportunities abound for everyone but everyone's timeline differs.

Last month, some tech startups finally got their well-deserved fundings, creating hope for other companies as the money won't stop pouring in. O ver five Nigerian startups received over $200 million+ investment, making it the most investment in a single month since 2019 and beats the whole money raised in 2020.

But very soon “Gbogbo wa la me je burger” as US-based food giant Burger King announced a development agreement for the Nigerian Market.

In Today’s edition

Clubhouse android app to be developed by a Nigerian
Mastercard invests in Airtel Africa
Nigerian fintech of the unbanked Bankly raises $2M
Burger King is coming to Nigeria
5 Nigerian Startups pitched at YCombinator W21 demo day
Jack Dorsey sells the first-ever tweet as an NFT

Clubhouse Android app to be developed by a Nigerian

Following the announcement of an Android version of the audio chat app in development, Clubhouse recruits former Instagram, Khan Academy and Medium software engineer Mopewa Ogundipe to work on the Android version. Mopewa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania.

The company’s development of the Android app comes after it had secured a funding round coming from a VC firm known as Andreessen Horowitz in January. The Series-B round was worth $100 million and also propelled Clubhouse to the Unicorn status ($1 billion valuation)

Mastercard invests in Airtel Africa

Global payments provider, Mastercard invested $100 million in Airtel Mobile Commerce (AMC BV) - the mobile money business of one of Africa’s biggest telecoms, Airtel Africa. This was announced just 2 weeks after TPG’s Rise fund $200 million investment in the business.

This is quite an interesting trend as large investors have expressed their interest in investing in mobile money businesses over the years, though there often wasn't a clear way for them to do so.

Tweet of the day

Follow @PrimeStartupsHQ for all the breaking news, insights and smart analysis on the business of technology and startups in Africa.

Bankly raises $2 million

Nigerian fintech startup for the unbanked raises 2Million. Founded in 2018 by Tomilola Adejana and Fredrick Adams, Bankly is providing financial inclusion for the unbanked as they digitize the popular informal thrift collection system otherwise known as Ajo, Esusu or Adashe in Nigeria.

This is a win for female founders in tech as Techpoint africa’s 2020 report reveals that only 10% of west Africa- focused startups with at least one female co-founder successfully raised $1 million cumulatively in the last decade. This narrative is set to change with a lot of female-based accelerators and investments springing up.

Burger King is coming to Nigeria

Antoine Zammarieh, ex- COO of Eat ‘n’ go announced on Saturday the signing of a development agreement with Burger King for the Nigerian market.He made the disclosure in a tweet expressing confidence that the venture will go a long way and prove successful for Burger King, Nigeria, and the company.

The world’s second-biggest burger chain is set to join the likes of Dominos Pizza, Krispy Kreme, Chicken Republic (pieXpress) in a stiff competition for market share and dominance in a saturated market.

This isn't the first time Burger King will announce its readiness to compete in Nigeria's business environment. It was disclosed in 2018

Prime Startup Launch the Retail Rethink Webinar Series

Prime Startup is launching a webinar series to help businesses start, grow and protect their businesses most especially during the coronavirus lockdown. This webinar series is designed to provide small business owners- particularly those who sell online, gain insights from experts in business development, sales, retail, eCommerce, and digital marketing, gain access to powerful templates and learn how new digital tools can help you attract customers and grow their business

Pre-register now

5 Nigerian startups pitched at YCombinator W21 demo day

On the 23rd of March, 2021, 5 selected Nigerian companies pitched at reputable American startup accelerator, YCombinator’s demo day joining the illustrious list of Nigerian startups (including Flutterwave, Paystack, Buypower and a host of others) on the Accelerator’s portfolio.

They join 5 other African startups in the 2021 batch and will have access to a $125k seed fund. These startups are

Jack Dorsey sells the first ever tweet as an NFT

Fifteen years ago, Jack Dorsey posted the first tweet ever on his twitter account, launching a global platform that has become a controversial and dominant force in civil society.

The short tweet on March 21, 2006 by the Twitter CEO was sold at auction yesterday for $2,915,835.47 as a non-fungible token (NFT).The highest offer was from Sina Estavi, CEO of Bridge Oracle topping TRON founder Justin Sun’s highest bid of $2 million.

ICYMI

• Bolt food goes live in Kenya
• Twitter to release undo tweet feature soon
• Internet subscribers in Nigeria drop below $150m for the first time in 6 months
• Nokia and Safaricom launch East Africa’s first commercial 5G service in Kenya
• FG extends NIN-SIM linkage to May 6

Break into Tech by Prime Startups

This interactive session is hosted by Prime Startups, gives you the opportunity to ask a diverse panel of Product Managers, UI/UX Designers, Software Engineers, Data Scientist, Developers about their journey in the tech industry and what you can learn from it.

Join us for this session as we bring together a great panel of both tech recruiters as well as professionals who have gone through a career change to break into tech

Who's hiring?

Liked it? Share with your friends

Forward