Investors update: Nigeria launches $672m tech fund for young investors

Nigeria launches $672m tech fund for young investors

Highlights

• Nigeria launched a $672 million fund this week to support tech and creative sectors for young investors who struggle to raise capital in Africa’s largest economy.
• African Development Bank will put in $170 million, $116 million will come from Agence Francaise de Developpement, and another $70 million from Islamic Development Bank.
• The government through the Bank of Industry Nigeria will release $45 million while the private sector pledged $271 million.

Source: Nairametrics

Our Takeaway

Nigeria has the largest number of startups in Africa – mostly in tech and fintech – which have pulled funding from overseas banks and venture capital firms. The new fund comes at a time when there are concerns locally about the failure of US startup-focused lender SVB Financial Group, which has supported startups in Nigeria. So far only Chipper Cash, a cross-border payments startup, has said it had $1 million in SVB. Some of the biggest startups, including Jumia and Flutterwave, claim they had no exposure to the bank.

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Cameroonian edtech startup Prepdia expands to Gabon

Highlights

• Cameroonian startup Prepdia, which helps learners improve their outcomes by connecting them with professional tutors for in-person and online lessons, has expanded to Gabon.
• Founded in 2019, Prepdia helps users connect with a vetted, reliable tutor in their local area. So far it claims to have assisted more than 1,200 learners with over 400 tutors across the country and sold more than 75,000 hours of lessons.
• The startup plans to expand to the rest of Francophone Africa. Bootstrapped thus far, the startup is considering raising funds to fund its expansion goals in the region.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

As the traditional school experience hasn’t changed in many years, edtechs like Prepedia are pioneering a paradigm shift in higher education that puts learners first. This is even more crucial in the post-Covid era, where nearly all face-to-face interactions in different fields, from education and grocery shopping to events and work, are moving online, even in Africa. This development bodes well for the continent, where the average literacy rate is estimated at 70%, and access to higher education lags behind other parts of the world. 

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Africa Data Centers partners Distributed Power for solar energy

Highlights

• Pan-African data center operator Africa Data Centers (ADC) has signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with Distributed Power Africa (DPA) to supply its facilities in South Africa with renewable solar energy.
• Under the terms of the agreement, DPA SA will supply 12MW of renewable solar energy for Africa Data Center facilities in South Africa. 
• The energy will be delivered to the ADC’s facilities partly from the solar farm DPA is developing near Bloemfontein, South Africa to deliver the first 12MW required for the data centers.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

As the demand for data continues to soar, the data center industry is expanding rapidly. Research reveals that the global data center market was valued at $187.35 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $517.17 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 10.5% from 2021 to 2030. In addition, most estimates claim data centers are responsible for as much as 2% of the world’s energy consumption, which is approximately the same as the aviation industry. Thus, Africa Data Centres has a target to power all its data centers with clean, zero-carbon sources of energy.