We kick-off today’s big five with interesting news from Nigeria as Cowrywise, an automated investing platform was placed among Kairos’ “50 World-Changing Startups to Watch in 2019” list. Kairos is an early stage investment fund in the US and this recognition is definitely a step forward for CowryWise as a Startup. The shortlist was made after considering over 2500 Early Stage Startups across 65 different countries. All shortlisted Startups have been awarded a $50,000 investment fund.
Moving on, Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe Limited will be listed on the Zimbabwean Stock Exchange on Tuesday— the 18th of December 2018, following its dissolution from Zimbabwe’s foremost telecommunications group, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited. This will unlock significant value for shareholders. Operating independently will also allow the Cassava Zimbabwe management team focus more on the implementation of its strategy, says company’s CEO, Eddie Chibi.
After a successful public beta phase, Ghanaian start-up, KudiGO has officially launched. The integrated, mobile retail and payment platform is now closing in a US$300,000 seed round to expand into other African markets.
Google, yesterday announced over $1 billion to establish a new campus in New York. This is coming days after Apple Inc. announced a $1 billion major expansion to its U.S. operations, including a new a campus in Austin. The 1.7 million square-foot campus, dubbed ‘Google Hudson Square’ will be the main location for Google’s advertising sales division, the company said in a blog post on Monday.
South African investor, Naspers led a $540 million investment in EdTech start-up, BYJU’S – the creator of the most popular K-12 learning app in India. That brings the company’s value to $3.6 billion and this makes it the fourth most valuable start-up in India. The investment will increase BYJU’S’ development of tech learning products, and also, its expansion into international markets.
That is all for the day. Do join us tomorrow for more.