Guten tag,
Victoria from Techpoint here,
Here's what I've got for you today:
- dKilo's $3.2 million seed
- Planet42 gets $16m a year after raising $100m
- "Please Call Me" drama to be settled out of court
dKilo's $3.2 million seed
dKilo, an Egyptian adtech platform, has bagged $3.2 million in seed funding from Upturn Ventures and Revival Labs.
dKilo, founded in 2020 by Mohamed Mousa and Sherif Abdelaty, aims to disrupt the advertising industry.
It plans to expand brands' reach beyond traditional online platforms and create new avenues for e-commerce companies to flourish.
With this new funding, dKilo intends to create an entirely new way for brands to connect with consumers, all from its online platform.
Its goal? To revolutionise out-of-home advertising, making it way more innovative and effective. And with Upturn Ventures on board, you can bet the company is about to make some serious waves in the industry.
This collaboration is more than just ads; it is about changing how brands interact with their audiences.
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Planet42 gets $16m a year after raising $100m
A year after closing $100 million in equity, credit facility, and debt, Planet42 has scored R300 million ($16 million) in local-currency debt and equity from Standard Bank to address pricey euro-denominated loans.
With this cash injection, the South Africa-based car subscription company is looking to ramp up its car financing game, targeting folks that traditional banks might overlook due to regulations.
Founded in 2017 by Eerik Oja (CEO) and Marten Orgna (CFO), the company purchases used cars from dealerships and offers them to customers through a subscription model.
The key to its game is using scoring algorithms to assess risk, especially in underbanked customer segments.
Planet42's system allows customers to pick from a selection of new or used cars in its network of dealerships. The magic happens when its algorithms kick in and help customers create a budget that works for them.
Interestingly, the company asserts the model works like a charm, with over 60,000 people applying for its wheels monthly. Furthermore, with demand skyrocketing, it saw a 37% revenue increase last year.
On a side note, Uber Technologies is looking into supporting Moove, an African vehicle financing startup, in a funding round that could value the company at $750 million.
In February 2024, Moove secured $10 million in debt funding from Stride Ventures, a venture debt fund that spans various sectors.
"Please Call Me" drama to be settled out of court
Remember when the South African Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that Vodacom owed Kenneth Makate, a former employee and idea-man for Please Call Me (PCM), R29 billion ($1.5 billion) to R55 billion ($2.8 billion) and 27% of its voice revenue?
Well, there’s an update. Vodacom and Makate plan to have a sit-down to hash out their differences over the "Please Call Me" saga.
Makate's been at this since 2008, claiming Vodacom reneged on its deal.
The telco has been fighting it tooth and nail, even appealing to the Constitutional Court, but now it’s singing a different tune and wants to chat it out behind the closed doors of the courtroom.
The whole shebang's got Vodacom worried, though, with the telco fretting over how much it'd have to cough up and what it'd do to its operations, employee morale, shareholder pockets, and even the country's coffers.
Vodacom's CEO had previously offered Makate around 47 million rand, but that offer is no longer on the table.
A payout on the scale ordered by the court appears to have harsh consequences for Vodacom's empowerment structure and the investments of its black shareholders.
With this new move, maybe they'll hash out a deal and avoid all the courtroom drama. Let's sit tight and see how this private chat pans out.
However, reports show that Makate plans to file a response with the Constitutional Court tomorrow, March 13, pushing back against Vodacom's appeal. Vodacom had requested permission from the Constitutional Court to appeal the Supreme Court of Appeal's decision, which had instructed it to figure out new compensation for Makate within 30 days.
In case you missed it
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What I'm reading and watching
- Info Regulator unimpressed with IEC ‘security compromise’
- Taiye Selasi: Don't ask where I'm from, ask where I'm a local
- Pro and Anti LGBTQ+ meet face to face for the first time to discuss legalization, religion and more
Opportunities
- Seedstars has announced INFUSE 2024, a global invitation for innovative applications aimed at fortifying health systems against climate threats and improving immunisation delivery. Apply here.
- Consensys is hiring a Software Engineer. Apply here.
- Nethermind is looking for a product manager. Apply here.
- Application for the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) Class of 2025 is now open. Check out the one-year, fully sponsored, graduate-level programme in tech entrepreneurship here before March 18, 2023.
- Do you live in Nigeria and work with a local or foreign company? Whether it's remotely, on-site, hybrid, full-time, part-time or as a freelancer, @TheIntelpoint is trying to understand the Nigerian workspace: how you work, and toxicity in the workspace among others. Please, fill out the questionnaire here.
- Explore this website to find multiple job opportunities in Data that align with your preferences.
- If you are a software engineer, creative designer, product manager, design researcher, or a techie looking for an internship role, please, check out this website.
Have a superb Tuesday!
Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa.
