The Ethiopian Technology and startup scene is getting momentum and we are excited about it. In this current edition of Shega Brief, we brought you the major stories of February and March.
Total Ethiopia Startupper Challenge
Total Ethiopia conducted pitch program for the Startupper challenge by Total 15 finalists of Ethiopia on the 11th & 12th of February 2019. Accordingly three finalists are selected by designated jury members nominated from Universities, International organizations and from the Business sectors.
Ethiopian Drone Startup Joins Airbus’s Accelerator
Maisha Tech , a startup that deploys locally built drones for delivering medicines, blood and healthcare items to remote and rural areas became one of the top 10 tech startups that are selected for #Africa4Future accelerator program. #Africa4Future is an initiative by Airbus Bizlab, a global aerospace accelerator. More can be found here.
Deliver Addis Secured A Second-Round Investment
Deliver Addis, a pioneer food delivery and logistics startup closed a second-round
funding from Members of RENEW’s Impact Angel Network (IAN).The funding amount is not disclosed. It is remembered that IAN also made the first round of investment back in 2017. More can be found here.
ArifZefen prepares to Launch in Ethiopia
Ethiopian diaspora digital music service ArifZefen prepares to launch back home. With data prices reduced, and government plans to privatize ethio-telecom, ArifeZefen teams sad “changes are coming so we’re revamping our Android app in preparation for digital sales in Ethiopia, building on our connection with ethio-telecom.” Read the story of the founders here.
The New Ethio-telecom
Ethio-telecom improved significantly after the arrival of the new CEO. In insightful interview with Capital News Paper, Frehiwot Tamru talks about about half year performance , the reduced tariff, the new International business division, Improved relationship with vendors, perspective of Ethio-telecom regarding the privatization,property management and future expansion. Read more here.
IFC provides $500,000 to Gebeya to train 500 women developers in Ethiopia
Gebeya, a pan-African talent hub with it’s head office in Ethiopia that supplies and train software developers, has signed a $500,000 advisory services agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) through the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, or WeFi program, to implement the Digital Gender-Ethiopia Program aimed at solving the issues of gender disparity in the areas of technology and innovation. Read the press release here.
Zmall is officially Launched
Zmall an eCommerce/delivery product that aims to be a hub for for ordering anything from food to electronics. It now started food deliver from Pizza hut. The founders said they will gradually expand to other product.
Finnovation Ethiopia 2019
Combining an innovative and interactive event format with diverse and known speakers and more than 200 participants, Finnovation Ethiopia 2019 took place at the Radisson Blu Addis Ababa on the 11th of March 2019 aiming to tackle the most pressing questions for the progress of FinTech in Africa. The event provided a platform for diverse bussiness and startups in Fintech Space. Besides key notes speech,panels, networking space and discussions there was FinTech PitchFest where 4 startups participated . Axiom ( Credit market place startup )and YEAH rooms (Hotel Aggregator startup) won the pitching contest and a $14,000 worth of service to be covered by Zemene Bank. Read the event report here.
IOHK Graduated Ethiopian and Ugandan Haskel Development Course Trainess
19 Ethiopians and 4 Ugandan women graduated from a 10 week Blockchain developer training on March 22 facilitated by IOHK and Ministry of Innovation and Technology. Red more here.
Transsion Holdings Going Public
Amidst of ‘urgent need for funding to fund it’s expansion and growth’, Transsion Holdings, a company behind Techno, Infinix and Itel phone brands is going public in Shanghai’s tech board via an initial public offering (IPO). Transsion have a two mobile manufacturing facility in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia and is a dominant player in Africa mobile phone market. Read more here.
Partech Release Funding Report
Partech report says $1.163 Billion was raised in equity funding by African tech Startups in 2018. Kenya takes the lead by attracting $348 Million followed by Nigeria ( $306 Million) and South Africa ( $250 Million). Ethiopia stands number 9 by $11 million. The methodology of these report is different from other funding report that were released earlier by others. Read the report here.
52 Ethiopians Entrepreneur Joins TEF 2019
Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), the leading African philanthropy committed to empowering African entrepreneurs, in March 22, announced 3,050 African entrepreneurs, drawn from all 54 African countries, selected to join the 5th cycle of its $100million TEF Entrepreneurship Programme. 52 entrepreneurs from Ethiopia joined the program these year. You can find the list of all accepted applicants here.
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