Blog - Afrikan Heroes

Egypt’s MoneyHash Secures New Financial Backing for Its Payment Solutions Expansion

October 4, 2023

Egyptian fintech firm MoneyHash has successfully secured additional funding from Tom Preston-Werner, co-founder of GitHub and former CEO, as part of an undisclosed seed funding round. This investment signifies Preston-Werner’s inaugural foray into the Middle East market and his second venture into the African market. The seed financing round is anticipated to conclude in the forthcoming weeks.

MoneyHash, established in late 2020 by Nader Abdelrazik, Mustafa Eid, and Anisha Sekar, offers companies the opportunity to tailor a payment infrastructure that precisely aligns with their unique requirements. Tom Preston-Werner, renowned for his significant contributions to the technology landscape, particularly as the founder of GitHub, a leading software platform that transformed developers’ collaborative capabilities in application development, has turned his attention toward early-stage startups. His objective is to assist them in devising solutions that address tangible real-world challenges.

Having previously invested in Stripe, Preston-Werner possesses a keen interest in technology infrastructure products, with a specific focus on tools and development environments. His investment in MoneyHash underscores his unwavering belief in the importance of product quality and its capacity to tackle a pivotal issue for customers across emerging markets.

“I was profoundly impressed by the technical excellence and product vision exhibited by MoneyHash, as well as the founders’ profound comprehension of the payment landscape in Africa and the Middle East,” he stated. “This region is experiencing rapid growth, and it is only natural to invest in infrastructure products crafted by exceptional teams. Nader and his team have attracted a remarkable pool of tech talent, and I am thrilled to embark on this journey with them.”

Tom Preston-Werner, now an investor in MoneyHash, brings his technical prowess and innovative mindset to drive the company’s product development forward. Co-founder Mustafa Eid expressed enthusiasm regarding Preston-Werner’s involvement, citing his interest in both investing and actively participating in their journey as a testament to the team’s dedication and product-oriented approach over the past few years.

MoneyHash has taken on the substantial challenge of addressing a prevalent issue in the region — over 30% of digital payments experience failure due to the fragmented and intricate payment ecosystem prevalent in the Middle East and Africa. This complexity incurs significant costs for merchants throughout the region. With the digital payments market projected to exceed $150 billion by year-end, MoneyHash’s fully integrated suite of products offers businesses the means to incorporate multiple payment processors and methods, optimize payment workflows and recurring revenue, mitigate fraud and payment failures, streamline reconciliation procedures, and efficiently manage diverse payment requirements.

Their overarching mission revolves around empowering medium to large enterprises in emerging markets. MoneyHash simplifies the complexities associated with payment infrastructure, workflows, and operations, equipping these businesses with a competitive edge to foster growth and expand their customer bases.

Starlink Chooses Jumia for Retail Distribution Across African Markets

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

Egyptian Deeptech Startup Intella Secures $3.4 Million in Pre-Series A Funding

Intella, a deeptech startup headquartered in Saudi Arabia with Egyptian roots, has successfully concluded a pre-Series A funding round, securing a substantial $3.4 million. The primary investors in this round include HALA Ventures and Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Aramco, with additional contributions from Sanabil 500 and INSEAD’s alumni angel network, among others. This infusion of capital will serve a dual purpose: supporting Intella’s expansion into the Saudi market and facilitating the development of AI models tailored specifically for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Why the Investors Invested

The investors’ decision to contribute to Intella’s funding round is underpinned by several compelling factors. In the first place, the relocation of Intella’s headquarters from Cairo to Riyadh in 2023 aligns strategically with Saudi Arabia’s growing tech and AI landscape. The Kingdom is rapidly becoming a hub for technological advancements, and investors recognize the potential for significant growth and innovation in this market. As Nour Altaher, CEO and Co-founder of Intella, noted, this move perfectly complements their expansion plans.

In addition to its strategic location, Intella boasts impressive achievements in AI technology. The startup subjected its system to rigorous testing, logging over 30,000 hours of Arabic audio. The results, particularly with Intella Voice, are remarkable, with a staggering 95.73% accuracy rate. This surpasses well-established tech leaders like Google’s speech-to-text, Open AI’s whisper, Meta’s seamless M4T, and IBM Watson. This technological prowess positions Intella as a frontrunner in the field of Arabic voice technology.

Moreover, Intella is not content with merely offering transcription services. It is venturing into audio analytics, encompassing functions such as summarization, sentiment analysis, topic extraction, and call scoring. This demonstrates their commitment to pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve in the realm of voice technology in the MENA region.

The investors, led by HALA Ventures, recognize Intella’s pivotal role in bridging the gap between the Arab-speaking world and global AI advancements. They view Intella’s mission as crucial in ensuring the region remains relevant in the ever-evolving landscape of technological trends. This aligns with the growing demand for specialized Arabic voice technology, positioning Intella favorably to cater to the unique needs of the Middle East.

A Look at Intella

Intella, founded in 2021 by Nour Altaher and Omar Mansour, is a deeptech company headquartered in Saudi Arabia. Its core focus is on providing real-time, on-demand market research services to businesses across various sectors. As part of its strategy for growth and innovation, Intella relocated its headquarters from Cairo to Riyadh in 2023 to tap into the burgeoning tech and AI scene in Saudi Arabia.

Intella’s unique selling point lies in its exceptional AI technology, particularly in the domain of Arabic voice. Through rigorous testing and development, they achieved a remarkable 95.73% accuracy rate in Arabic audio processing, outperforming global tech giants. Intella’s offerings extend beyond transcription to encompass advanced audio analytics, including summarization, sentiment analysis, topic extraction, and call scoring.

The startup’s mission is to connect the Arab-speaking world with the forefront of AI progress, ensuring that the region remains a significant player in the global tech landscape. With the infusion of $3.4 million in funding, Intella is well-positioned to expand its presence in the MENA region, enhance its product portfolio, and solidify its leadership in voice technology innovation. The demand for specialized Arabic voice technology is on the rise, and Intella is poised to meet these needs and contribute to the region’s technological advancement.

South African Fintech Stitch Secures $25 Million Investment to Expand Payment Solutions

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

South Africa’s National Development Plan is Failing

October 3, 2023

There are indications that South Africa is set to miss all but one of the 2030 development targets the National Planning Commission set just over a decade ago.

Of nine targets set in the National Development Plan, ranging from employment to investment, five measures have deteriorated from their baseline, one is unchanged and three have improved, the commission said in a 10-year review on the progress of the plan. Still, of the three that improved only one is ahead of the target set.

“Economic growth has been stagnating, investment restrained, employment declining relative to a growing population, and poverty and inequality consequently remaining entrenched,” the commission said. “There is a greater need for the state to work closer with the private sector.”

The commission was established to advise the president and cabinet on long-term development goals as South Africa struggled to overcome the challenges of inequality, poverty and unemployment that the government has blamed on the legacy of apartheid.

While South Africa made significant gains in growing its economy and reducing unemployment between 2000 and 2008, much of that progress unravelled during the nine-year tenure of President Jacob Zuma, which ended in 2018. The government estimated that during his term in office, at least R500-billion was stolen from state coffers. He has denied wrongdoing.

In its report, the commission listed the progress, or lack of, made towards the targets between 2012 and 2022.

In 2011 the economy expanded 3.3% and in recent years has fallen well short of a 2030 target of 5.4% growth. Unemployment surged to 32.9% against a target of 6% and a level of 25.4% in 2011. Investment, or gross fixed capital formation, as a percentage of GDP, has fallen to 14.1% from 19.4% while a target of 30% was set.

Progress has been seen in boosting the labour force participation rate to 59.4% from 55.4% putting it ahead of the target of 56.6%.

The employment number has also risen to 16.1 million from 13.6 million, against a 2030 target of 24 million, but that increase has come as the population expanded.

Particularly stubborn has been the Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, which hasn’t shifted from 0.69 against a target of 0.60. South Africa is the most unequal country in the world for which data is available, according to the Thomas Piketty-backed World Inequality Lab.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Webafrica to Buy Mweb from Dimension Data

Webafrica has agreed to buy Mweb, one of South Africa’s largest and oldest internet service providers, from Dimension Data. The deal is done and the parties are now awaiting the approval of the Competition Commission, which is expected to pronounce on it soon, possibly by 1 November.

Webafrica CEO Sean Nourse confirmed to the media that the parties have signed the necessary paperwork and that the combinations, if approved, will double the size of the company, adding more than 300 Mweb employees to its 350-strong workforce. No layoffs are anticipated.

Nourse, who previously headed up Mweb for Dimension Data, moved to WebAfrica three years ago. Mweb, which is headed by Manelisa Mavuso, will continue to operate independently.

Nourse, who previously headed up Mweb for Dimension Data, moved to Webafrica three years ago, replacing Tim Wyatt-Gunning in the CEO role. It decided to put in an offer to buy Mweb after Dimension Data put the business up for sale.

He declined to say how many customers Mweb has on its books, but they number in the hundreds of thousands. A majority of these are on fibre, though the business still has a large legacy copper DSL base as well as customers on fixed-LTE services.

Dimension Data has been trying to sell the Mweb business since at least 2021. Nourse declined to comment on the price Webafrica is paying for Mweb, but said the deal is being entirely funded through its own balance sheet.

Mweb was founded in 1997 and is still remembered for its “Big Black Box” marketing campaign that enticed people to sign up for the internet – in those days, before Telkom launched DSL, it was dial-up only.

Internet Solutions (IS), part of Dimension Data, bought Mweb from Naspers in 2017. Mweb’s business customer base was then integrated into IS and does not form part of the transaction with Webafrica.

Dimension Data CEO Alan Turnley-Jones said the sale of Mweb is in line with the IT services group’s “strategy of focusing on core markets servicing the enterprise client base”.

“We are continually refining our portfolio of services to ensure relevance to our clients. Dimension Data is also on a journey to integrate with our global shareholder, NTT. The decision to sell Mweb will enable us to accelerate this journey and to focus on our core competencies, while leveraging NTT’s capability in platform delivered managed services,” he said in a statement issued to TechCentral.

Amazon Steps up AI Race With $4-billion Anthropic Deal

Amazon.com said on Monday said it will invest up to US$4-billion in cash in the high-profile start-up Anthropic, in its effort to compete with growing cloud rivals on artificial intelligence.

Amazon’s employees and cloud customers will gain early access to technology from Anthropic as part of the deal, which they can infuse into their businesses. The San Francisco-based start-up also committed to rely primarily on Amazon’s cloud services, including training its future AI models on large quantities of proprietary chips it would buy from the online retailing and computing giant.

In a joint interview, the CEOs of Amazon’s cloud division and Anthropic said the immediate investment will be $1.25-billion, with either party having the authority to trigger another $2.75-billion in funding by Amazon.

The news represents perhaps Amazon’s biggest answer yet to challenges from Microsoft and Google

They declined to state how much Amazon now would own of Anthropic or the start-up’s updated valuation, last estimated at more than $4-billion. Amazon said it would not gain a board seat and that its stake amounted to a minority position.

The news represents perhaps Amazon’s biggest answer yet to challenges from Microsoft and Google, smaller cloud rivals that have marketed or developed powerful AI this year. The deal also shows ongoing manoeuvering by the cloud companies to secure ties with AI start-ups reshaping their industry.

Since 2019, Microsoft has put billions of dollars into its partnership with ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI, giving its customers special access to the startup’s prose-writing, image-generating technology.

Google meanwhile helped pioneer this branch of AI and in May invested in Anthropic’s $450-million fundraise, in a relationship the start-up said is not going away.

For Amazon, Monday’s deal may spell an uptick in demand, including for chips powering AI. Anthropic agreed to work on developing technology for Amazon’s in-house Trainium and Inferentia chips, for instance.

Adam Selipsky, Amazon Web Services’s CEO, said the pact “will help make Anthropic’s models better, will help make our chip technology and our AI infrastructure better”.

Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s CEO, said his company “has obtained the money in a way that allows it to prioritise safety” and “allows us to continue to scale up our models”.

Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI executives including Amodei, is one of a series of companies building so-called generative AI, systems that can draft content as if a human created it. Anthropic has aimed to distinguish its work by training AI to adhere to moral values.

Amodei declined to state if its latest financing was competitive.

Anthropic is continuing an agreement it announced with Google in February, he said. Anthropic is using Google’s custom chips and has planned to make its technology available via Google Cloud and elsewhere.

Yet with Monday’s deal, Anthropic is giving a boost to Amazon Bedrock, a service that has attracted thousands of users to start building AI applications.

Amazon’s customers will gain features from Anthropic early, such as the ability to customise their AI. Selipsky said: “Both companies are committing that, for many years to come, future versions of Claude will be available on Amazon Bedrock, and that’s important.”

Anthropic’s Claude 2 is an AI model that is able to respond to particularly large prompts, setting it up to analyse long business or legal documents. Amodei said the deal “allows us to work more closely to drive enterprise usage for Claude”, which he said represented much of the demand on Bedrock so far.

LexisNexis, a data analytics company, is working with Anthropic and Amazon to make its own legal search capabilities more “intelligent”, Amodei said. Other customers include Bridgewater Associates and Lonely Planet, he said.

Anthropic has yet to gain the name recognition or usage of OpenAI, the start-up behind the GPT-4 model and ChatGPT, which is one of the fastest-growing software applications in history.

Amazon has aimed to give customers a broad range of AI models so they have little reason to look further afield for cloud services. Asked if Amazon would invest in additional AI start-ups beyond Anthropic, Selipsky said: “I honestly don’t know what the future will hold.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

South African Fintech Stitch Secures $25 Million Investment to Expand Payment Solutions

South African fintech company, Stitch, has secured a significant investment of $25 million in an extension round of funding. This round was led by Ribbit Capital, a global fintech investor, with participation from existing backers, including CRE Ventures, PayPal Ventures, and the Raba Partnership. This investment brings Stitch’s total Series A funding to a substantial $46 million.

Stitch is dedicated to providing an “end-to-end payments solution” designed to cater to the complex and evolving payment needs of its enterprise clients. Its services primarily revolve around enabling businesses to create, optimize, and scale financial products while offering API gateways to enhance online payment conversions and streamline payment operations.

The company has experienced substantial growth since its inception in 2021, with clients ranging from established enterprises to startups and small businesses. Its platform allows clients to access customers’ financial accounts and offer various services such as personal finance, lending, insurance, payments, and wealth management.

Why The Investors Invested

Ribbit Capital’s decision to lead the funding round for Stitch can be attributed to several factors. In the first place, Ribbit Capital has previously invested in successful African fintech startups, such as Chipper Cash and Wave, indicating a positive track record and familiarity with the African fintech landscape. This experience likely gave Ribbit confidence in Stitch’s potential for success.

Again, Stitch’s strong performance and traction in the market played a crucial role in attracting investment. As Stitch continues to process over 50 million transactions totaling $2 billion in total payment volume (TPV) this year, these impressive numbers validate the company’s growth and potential profitability. In the world of venture capital, concrete numbers often hold more weight, and this aligns well with Ribbit Capital’s investment strategy.

Additionally, Ribbit Capital’s understanding of the global fintech landscape and emerging markets is seen as invaluable to Stitch. As the company expands its services, having a knowledgeable investor with a global perspective can help navigate the challenges and opportunities in different markets.

A Look at Stitch

Stitch, founded in 2021, is a Cape Town-based fintech company co-founded by Kiaan Pillay, Natalie Cuthbert, and Priyen Pillay. The primary focus of Stitch is to provide end-to-end payment solutions to enterprise businesses in South Africa, with notable clients including MTN, Multichoice, the Foschini Group (TFG), Standard Bank’s SnapScan, and Yoco.

While the company primarily serves South African enterprises, it also has licenses to operate in other African countries, with a growing customer base in Nigeria. Stitch’s services have evolved from a quasi-data, quasi-bank-to-bank payments platform to a comprehensive payment service provider. Their platform allows customers to accept payments through various methods, manage and reconcile payments across different providers and geographies in a single dashboard with their PayOS feature, and disburse funds.

One notable aspect of Stitch’s strategy is its adaptability to the specific needs of its clients. The company has successfully provided a modular approach to adding new products and features, making it appealing to large enterprises that demand flexibility in their payment solutions.

As consumer internet companies in the U.S. and Europe look to enter the African market, Stitch plays a vital role by offering a range of payment options tailored to the local context, where credit cards may not be prevalent. This positions Stitch as a gateway to Africa for global enterprises.

How South African Crypto Startup VALR Processed $10B in 5 Years

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

Apple Used Bing as Google ‘Bargaining Chip

A Microsoft executive said the company has tried for years to displace Google as the default web browser on iPhones, but that Apple never seriously considered switching to Microsoft’s Bing and was content to use it as a “bargaining chip” with the search giant.

“Apple is making more money on Bing than Bing does,” Mikhail Parakhin, the head of Microsoft’s advertising and web services, testified during the US government’s antitrust trial against Google in Washington. “We are always trying to convince Apple to use our search engine.”

Parakhin, who joined Microsoft in 2019 from Russian search engine Yandex, said Microsoft met with Apple as recently as 2021 to discuss a potential switch to Bing, but didn’t make any progress.

Apple has used Google as the default search engine in its Safari browser since 2003.

In response to Google’s lawyers, Parakhin said it was “uneconomical for Microsoft to invest more” in technology for the mobile search market. “Unless Microsoft gets a more significant, or firmer guarantee of distribution, it makes it uneconomical to invest.”

Apple has used Google as the default search engine in its Safari browser since 2003 in exchange for a share of the advertising revenue earned through searches made on its devices. The US justice department alleges that the contract and others like it have allowed Google to maintain its monopoly over the online search market illegally.

Google denies the government’s claim and says users choose its search engine because it is the best one.

The exact amount of money Apple earns from the Google deal is confidential, but the justice department said it’s between $4-billion and $7-billion/year. On Tuesday, a top Apple executive testified that the iPhone maker agreed to “support and defend” the contract with Google in any regulatory challenges including the justice department’s lawsuit.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Starlink Chooses Jumia for Retail Distribution Across African Markets

Jumia, the African e-commerce platform, has unveiled a groundbreaking partnership with satellite internet provider Starlink to introduce the Starlink Residential Kit in Africa. This innovative kit, designed to seamlessly connect users to the internet, streamlines the process with its pre-configured components, requiring only the download of the Starlink App and strategic placement of the Starlink satellite dish to ensure an unobstructed view of the sky. A simple plug-in is all that remains for users to achieve connectivity.

The primary objective of this collaborative effort is to eradicate the digital divide that has persisted in underserved regions of Africa. Initially launching in Nigeria, this partnership is poised for expansion into Kenya, with plans to eventually encompass all African nations where Jumia maintains its operational presence.

Jumia, known for its robust marketplace, is backed by its proprietary logistics arm, Jumia Logistics, and boasts a digital payment and fintech platform, JumiaPay. Its collaborator in this venture, Starlink, stands as the pioneer and largest satellite constellation in the world, utilizing low Earth orbit technology to deliver high-speed broadband internet capable of supporting activities such as streaming, online gaming, and video calls.

With Jumia’s extensive reach and Starlink’s satellite constellation, engineered under the stewardship of parent company SpaceX, the alliance envisions a future where millions of Africans can harness the transformative potential of high-speed internet.

This development closely follows the recent announcement from integrated network services firm Paratus Group, which disclosed its agreement to act as a distributor for Starlink’s high-speed services across the African continent. Starlink services will be made immediately available through Paratus in Mozambique, Kenya, Rwanda, and Nigeria, with further expansion into additional countries on the horizon.

Jumia Starlink Jumia Starlink

Multichoice Shuts Down Showmax Pro

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

Why Nigerian Investment Startup Chaka Was Acquired: A Key Insight

In a significant development within the world of global finance, Rise, a prominent player in the investment industry, has made a strategic move by acquiring Chaka, a rapidly growing fintech company based in Africa. This acquisition marks a pivotal moment in Rise’s expansion strategy, with the focus squarely on tapping into Africa’s burgeoning investment market.

Africa, often perceived as one of the least accessible continents for investments, has been a challenge and an opportunity in equal measure for global financial firms. Recognizing the untapped potential and the unique dynamics at play in this region, Rise has taken a decisive step toward solidifying its presence on the continent.

The Motivation Behind the Acquisition

At the heart of this acquisition lies the motivation to bridge the gap in equitable investment options within Africa. Rise has long been committed to fostering borderless investing opportunities worldwide. However, Africa has presented unique challenges, including regulatory complexities, currency fluctuations, and limited access to global markets. Chaka, with its established presence and pioneering solutions tailored for the African market, was seen as the ideal partner to overcome these hurdles.

Eke, a well-known figure in the investment landscape, and Tosin Osibodu, the founder of Chaka, engaged in thoughtful discussions that revealed a shared vision for the future. The alignment of their business objectives and missions became evident as they explored synergies between the two companies. With a digitally savvy, globally connected youth demographic in Africa, Rise recognized that the potential for growth was boundless in this partnership.

A Promising Outlook

Both Chaka and Rise are committed to maintaining distinct product offerings in the immediate future, ensuring that existing customers experience minimal disruption. The goal is to harness the collective strengths of both companies to create a financial powerhouse capable of reshaping the investment landscape in Africa and beyond.

Rise’s acquisition of Chaka underscores the growing importance of Africa in the global investment ecosystem. The decision to create a new license category by regulatory bodies, with Chaka being the first to obtain it, further indicates the positive shifts occurring in the Nigerian financial sector, facilitating innovation and investment opportunities.

As this exciting chapter begins, it holds the promise of a future without financial borders, where African investors can access a broader range of opportunities and the global investment community can participate in the continent’s growth story. The acquisition of Chaka by Rise marks a significant milestone in the journey toward achieving this vision, and it is a development that will be closely watched by financial experts and investors worldwide.

Chaka acquired why Chaka acquired why

How South African Crypto Startup VALR Processed $10B in 5 Years

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

Scientists Win Nobel Prize for Covid-19 Vaccine Discoveries

October 2, 2023

Hungarian scientist Katalin Karikó and US colleague Drew Weissman, who met in line for a photocopier before making mRNA molecule discoveries together that paved the way for Covid-19 vaccines, won the 2023 Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday.

“The laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times,” the Swedish award-giving body said in the latest accolade for the pair.

The prize, among the most prestigious in the scientific world, was selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute medical university and comes with 11 million Swedish crowns (about R19-million) to share between them.

Katalin Karikó and US colleague Drew Weissman — Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman

Coronavirus vaccines were estimated to have helped save almost 20 million lives globally.

Karikó was senior vice president and head of RNA protein replacement at BioNTech until 2022 and has since acted as an adviser to the company. She is also a professor at the University of Szeged in Hungary and adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. Weissman is professor in vaccine research at the Perelman School.

The two laureates jointly developed so-called nucleoside base modifications, which stop the immune system from launching an inflammatory attack against lab-made mRNA, previously seen as a major hurdle against any therapeutic use of the technology.

German biotech firm BioNTech said in June that about 1.5 billion people had received its mRNA shot, co-developed with major drugmaker Pfizer, across the world.

Nobel Prize

The European Medicines Agency earlier this year cited estimates that in the first year of the pandemic alone, coronavirus vaccines were estimated to have helped save almost 20 million lives globally. BioNTech and Pfizer’s mRNA vaccines were the most widely used Covid shots used in the Western world.

The Nobel winners showed in 2005 that adjustments to nucleosides, the molecular letters that write the mRNA’s genetic code, can keep the mRNA under the immune system’s radar.

“This year’s Nobel Prize recognises their basic science discovery that fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with the immune system and had a major impact on society during the recent pandemic,” said Rickard Sandberg, member of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute.

“Together they have saved millions of lives, prevented severe Covid-19, reduced the overall disease burden and enabled societies to open up again.”

Messenger or mRNA, discovered in 1961, is a natural molecule that serves as a recipe for the body’s production of proteins. To use man-made mRNA to instruct human cells to make therapeutic proteins, long regarded as impossible, was commercially pioneered during the pandemic.

The technology means a radical break from established biotech medicines, which are generated in complex reactors by genetically modified living cells, then isolated and purified. Messenger RNA, by contrast, works like software that can be injected into the body to instruct human cells to churn out the desired proteins.

Prospective uses include drugs against cancer and vaccines against malaria, influenza and rabies.

The medicine prize kicks off this year’s awards with the remaining five to be unveiled in the coming days.

The prizes, first handed out in 1901, were created by Swedish dynamite inventor and wealthy businessman Alfred Nobel, and are awarded for achievements in science, literature and peace, and in later years also for economics.

The Swedish king will present the prizes at a ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December, the anniversary of Nobel’s death, followed by a lavish banquet at city hall.

Last year’s medicine prize went to Swede Svante Paabo for sequencing the genome of the Neanderthal, an extinct relative of present-day humans, and for discovering a previously unknown human relative, the Denisovans.

Other past winners include Alexander Fleming, who shared the 1945 prize for the discovery of penicillin, and Karl Landsteiner in 1930 for his discovery of human blood groups.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry