Hi guys, it is once again the Big 5 Daily and we are here to dish you the latest in African and World Tech.
We start with news that Ghana’s mPharma recently raised $9.7 million in a Series B funding round. The identities of the investors involved are still unclear however, the fund can be confirmed by a SEC filing the company made a couple of days back. They had planned to raise $12 million but only fell short of their target by whiskers. This development brings mPharma’s total investment to $21.3 million.
Fresh off the realization that cryptocurrency is now here to stay, the South African Reserve Bank has released new consultation Papers proposing stricter regulations on cryptocurrency assets in the country. It addresses how much cryptocurrency has changed the economic landscape and directs its reforms to non-government issued crypto-assets. The paper targets the use of cryptocurrency for illegal purchases and activities. The paper further reiterates that cryptocurrency shouldn’t be banned, rather heavily regulated as it would be risky if it isn’t.
In a Medium post 2 days ago, Binance Labs announced that Microtraction’s founder, Yele Bademosi will take the reins as Director in its initiative. Binance Labs is a social impact initiative directly aimed at nurturing and pushing forward blockchain technology in the African Tech Ecosystem. Yele, who has had quite a repertoire of experience with Startups and Investment will be tasked with 2 major roles.
- To create trustless governance, economic & financial systems for Africa;
- To enable capital formation and efficient capital markets.
We wish him and Binance Labs all the best.
In the wee hours of the morning, Guardian Nigeria posted an extensive interview they had with Dipo Faulkner, IBM Nigeria’s Country Manager. Within the interview, they discuss the Nigerian Tech ecosystem – even beyond Lagos and also, IBM’s D-NA; an initiative that combines Digital Knowlegde and practical understanding to empower the youth in the country. It is quite the interesting read.
And finally, TechCrunch reported that Tesla is handing over its Model 3 to be tested at Pwn2Own. Pwn2Own is famously known as one of the world’s toughest hacking contests and hackers all over the world would examine the vehicle for vulnerable security lapses. The winner will also receive a Model 3, we are not sure if it is the one hacked, however. It might seem strange but this is a great way to do quality control on products as Tesla will fix and fortify their products if any security backdoor is found.
With that, we round up the Big 5 Daily. See you tomorrow guys.
