Investors update: November 14 2022

Bitcoin rebounds as Binance announces industry recovery fund

Highlights

• The price of Bitcoin soared in the early hours of Monday to almost $17,000, following reports that Binance is set to establish an industry recovery fund in the wake of the FTX crisis.
• The most recent tweets from Changpeng Zhao, the chief executive of Binance, caused dramatic price jumps across the cryptocurrency market.
• Zhao revealed that an industry recovery group will be set up to assist projects that are “otherwise solid” but are experiencing a cash issue, to lessen the negative consequences of the impact of FTX.

Source: Nairametrics

Our Takeaway

Over the past week, Bitcoin lost over 20% of its value in what was its worst weekly decline since May. This was triggered by the collapse of FTX, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, which filed for bankruptcy on Friday. The ongoing saga has sent the digital currency markets into a downward spiral, contagion risk is high and there’s a chance the industry’s highest-profile collapse may serve as a deterrent for investors everywhere, including Africa, the third fastest-growing crypto economy with some of the highest grassroots adoptions globally.

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Africa-focused Yaga raises $2.3m for its used clothes marketplace

Highlights

• Yaga, an e-commerce startup offering second-hand clothing, has raised $2.3 million from investors in the Baltics to grow its platform.
• Launched in 2019, Yaga is one of South Africa’s most popular online fashion platforms, with over 5 million monthly visits. More than 5,000 new items are listed daily, with 750,000 items currently on sale in the country.
• With the latest investment, Yaga aims to continue its rapid growth over the next year, further developing its platform, growing its team, and attracting new customers, having recently expanded to Kenya and India.

Source: Ventureburn

Our Takeaway

There is a huge future for pre-loved fashion, also known as used or second-hand fashion, especially in emerging markets like Africa and Asia. The trend is becoming a global phenomenon, with estimates suggesting the market will grow up to 127% by 2026. In Africa, the industry has experienced growth four times higher than in the rest of the world. Yaga is positioning itself for this projected boom and its fundraising demonstrates strong investor confidence in the growth of the market.

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Investors in Nigeria’s largest banks gained $56m last week

Highlights

• Investors of the top five banks in Nigeria, otherwise known as tier-1 banks or FUGAZ, gained a total of N24.6 billion (around $56 million) during the last week’s trading.
• This was as the market capitalization of the FUGAZ appreciated by 1.22% to close at N2.04 trillion as of November 11, 2022.
• After 5 trading days of the week, 4 of the 5 tier-1 Nigerian banks enjoyed positive market sentiments, with FBNH PLC leading the gainers while only GTCO suffered negative sentiment.

Source: Nairametrics

Our Takeaway

Nigerian banking stocks are some of the most resilient securities available on the country’s stock exchange. The FUGAZ banks account for over 70% of the NSE Banking sector index, hence, strongly influencing the growth or otherwise of the index. While the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed negative week-on-week as ASI depreciated by -0.68% to close at 43,968.75, the NGX banking index appreciated by 0.17% to close at 371.61 points.