A lot of activity has happened across the continent and globally. This includes Ventures Platform's investment in MDaaS Global, Uber's failed acquisition of Careem, and more news. Here is a roundup of today's top 5 stories for you.
1. Ventures Platform invests $100,000 into Nigeria’s MDaaS Global
Kola Aina, a partner at Ventures Platform, has announced that they recently invested in MDaaS Global. “I am excited to announce our $100,000 investment in MDaaS,” he wrote.
According to Kola, they arrived at the decision partly because of the team. “At Ventures Platform, we believe bold entrepreneurs will solve some of Africa’s most important problems using technology,” he wrote. Full story on Digest Africa.
2. Three African startups make it into Katapult Accelerator’s third cohort
Oslo-based Katapult Accelerator has selected three African startups from Kenya, Egypt and Tunisia to join its third cohort, comprised of 12 startups from around the world. The three are Kenyan banking solution FinAccess, Egyptian edtech PraxiLabs and Think.iT, a Tunisian tech talent accelerator.
The three African startups, along with the rest of the cohort, will each receive a $150 000 equity investment from the Katapult Accelerator Fund. Full story on Venture Burn.
3. Blockchain-based mobile banking app Humaniq is now active in 21 African countries
The blockchain-powered mobile banking platform Humaniq is now active in 21 African countries where it offers low-cost mobile banking to the underbanked and unbanked populations.
Its app is currently available in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, Kenya, Senegal, and Zambia. Others are Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Guinea, DR Congo, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Liberia and Equatorial Guinea. Full story on Bitcoin Africa.
4. Uber's acquisition of Careem stalled in Egypt
Egypt's Competition Authority has raised concerns over Uber's pending acquisition of competing ride-hailing platform, Careem. The Authority has stated that documents filed for the acquisition can be interpreted as collusion by competitors in the same industry.
The talks between Uber and Careem started in July 2018 as Careem was looking to raise money. Uber saw it as an opportunity to acquire a majority stake in the company that has given it tough competition in North Africa and the Middle East. Full story on Menabytes.
5. Cairo-based Aqarmap raises investment for its online real-estate marketplace
Egyptian online real estate marketplace Aqarmap has raised an undisclosed amount of investment from Dubai-based Wamda Capital, Kuwait’s KISP Ventures and Saudi’s Raed Ventures, the startup announced today.
The round was closed a few months ago but has been announced today with some additional funding coming in from a group of family offices that has investments in real estate industry across the region.
The startup had raised its first investment back in 2011 in which Wamda’s Fadi Ghandour had also participated as an angel investor. Full story on MENAbytes.
Bonus: South Africa enters recession after GDP declines for a second quarter
South Africa's economic growth slowed unexpectedly in the second quarter, pushing the country into a technical recession for the first time since 2009. The country's GDP declined by 0.7% in the second quarter of the year, following a first quarter decline of 2.2%.
In economic terms, a technical recession is described as two consecutive quarters of economic decline. Full story on BusinessTech.
That’s it for today. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get The Daily Brief in your inbox.
– Douglas