Mastercard Foundation announces 12 African Edtech startup fellows

Time to challenge your blockchain and cryptocurrency bias [View this email in your browser]( IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FLUTTERWAVE & HARVESTERS 24 - 02 - 2020 Hello and welcome to TC Daily! Please take a moment to [subscribe]( to our newsletter if this mail was forwarded to you. Also, join us on [Telegram]( for all the hot takes and deep dives on Africa's technology sector. You can now trade on one of the world’s largest trading platforms for a much smaller fee. Deposit up to 18,000,000 NGN on Binance at a flat fee of just 150 NGN via bank transfer. Click [here]( to start trading. Businesses leveraging the power of RAVE by Flutterwave to solve industry problems and grow the global economy are telling their stories. Watch [here](. Bitfxt, a platform for cryptocurrency trade, has closed a $15 million Series A funding round. The Nigerian crypto-startup aims to make the buying and selling of Bitcoin and Ethereum cheaper, faster and safer with a focus on more privacy and freedom. The Series A round was supported by a UK-based syndicate of hedge funds as well as British firm Payitup Clearinghouse, [Disrupt Africa reports](. As part of the round, Payitup Clearinghouse will act as a clearing house for Bitfxt across Africa and Europe through its affiliates and networks for immediate settlements. Mastercard Foundation has announced 12 African Edtech companies as the inaugural fellows of its Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in Information, Communications, and Technology. Launched in 2018, the Centre is a five-year initiative aimed at driving the Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy to enable 30 million young people, [according to TechMoran](. The companies will receive customized mentorship, the opportunity to validate their businesses, and a $40,000 grant to aid in the development of their solutions. The [12 selected startups]( are: O’Genius Priority (Rwanda), iCog Labs (Ethiopia), M-Shule (Kenya), Litemore (Kenya), Kytabu Co. Ltd (Kenya), The Dr C.L. Smith Foundation (South Africa), Instill Education (South Africa), Siyavula Education (South Africa), HITCH (Nigeria), Chalkboard Education (Ghana), AkooBooks Audio (Ghana), and Eneza Education (Ghana). South Africa's Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) has awarded a grant of about [$179,000 to four startups](. Each of the startups received grants of between $35,000 and $51,000. All four are based in Cape Town and the grants were administered by Savant, a hardware tech incubator that operates in the city. Formed in 2008, [the TIA]( is a public body instituted by a South African act of parliament to serve "as the key institutional intervention to bridge the innovation chasm between research and development from higher education institutions, science councils, public entities, and private sector, and commercialisation." Three out of the four startups are tech companies; [Vekta innovations]( is building a mobile gym that can be used for automated physical condition monitoring. [Opencharge Wireless Power Technologies]( is prototyping a wireless charger for venues, and [Quickloc8]( is working on a tech solution for taxi tracking and passenger counting to ensure commuter safety, VentureBurn reports. Budding African entrepreneurs are faced with a mirage of business challenges, like raising capital, accessing markets and finding mentorship. Come, discover how to tackle these challenges plus more, at the Harvesters Entrepreneurs Forum on Saturday, February 29, 2020. Click here to register free. ([www.hef.harvestersng.org]( “We are at the edge of another kind of technology frontier, and this time around, it is not happening in San Francisco, it is taking place in Africa,” Omoju Miller, a Machine Learning Engineer at GitHub told her audience at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in July last year. It's not just motivational talk: African innovators - from Ubenwa to Agrix Tech, Imisi3D and Shamba Records - are building solutions using AI, blockchain and other emerging technologies. [Kay's primer on Africa's place]( as the next emerging technologies frontier takes a look at the growing buzz. Centbee, a South African bitcoin startup, [has raised additional funding]( from Two Hop ventures, an Amsterdam-based venture capital firm. Centbee's bitcoin cash wallet was launched in 2018 to allow users send bitcoin cash to their phone contacts. The additional funding follows a $1.3 million Series A round last year. Centbee was founded in 2016 by Lorien Gamaroff and Angus Brown. According to the latter, Centbee has "enjoyed a high user growth rate and have a clear path to revenue." Two Hop’s investment will enable the startup build more utility into our products by leveraging the [BitcoinSV] blockchain and delivering world class app functionality to our users," Brown said. And speaking of Blockchain... TC Insights: Yes, we have been paying notable attention to blockchain and cryptocurrency lately. In reality, it is not an eccentric decision: there has simply been much activity in that sector in Africa to ignore. As our insights graphic for this week shows, blockchain and cryptocurrency exchange platforms around the continent have been busy. Over the last year, the likes of BuyCoins and BitSika have turned over transactions worth nearly $30 million dollars. Kenya's Utu Technologies and Shamba Records adopt blockchain in building solutions for multiple sectors. It's an industry that needs to defeat scepticism and long-standing bias towards fiat money. But these startups are betting on their abilities to build or facilitate the exchange of products that will change African lives meaningfully. Time will tell if they succeed but as you can see, quite a number of investors are backing them. Are you an investor or founder interested in getting access to free and premium TC Insights reports and analysis? Please [fill in this form]( to let us know your interests. [Dan Holdings]( a Blockchain & Fintech investment firm and headline sponsor [TC Townhall Emerging Tech]( is giving away a limited amount of tickets to members of the TechCabal community. [Please fill this form]( for a chance to get one. Dan Holdings' mission is to act as a powerhouse for widespread blockchain and fintech adoption and innovation, creating a sustainable legacy by devising technology-based solutions. Its portfolio includes: Telechat – a chat application with an integrated wallet for global digital currencies called Coins App which will be available both inside Telechat and as a standalone application; a cryptocurrency exchange BlockFinex, which is a crypto to crypto and Fiat to Crypto Exchange and Dan Ventures - which acts as the venture investment arm of Dan Holdings. TC Townhall: Emerging Tech will convene entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and corporate organizations including telcos and financial institutions to examine how businesses, individuals and countries across the continent can maximize the benefits of emerging technologies, specifically AI and Blockchain. [Learn more above the event here](. Further discounts apply for companies/individuals buying at least 5 tickets. [Click here]( to redeem our 20% corporate discount. Have a fruitful week, Expect more tomorrow. - Alexander Share TC Daily with everyone you care about! [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( Copyright © 2020 Big Cabal Media, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up on TechCabal.com Our mailing address is: Big Cabal Media 18, Nnobi Street, Animashaun, Surulere, LagosSurulere 100001 Nigeria [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? 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