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Dr. Queshonda Kudaisi serves as proof that Black women are otherworldly! Dr. Kudaisi is a mother of five who defied the odds and even successfully gave birth and attended graduation to receive her Ph.D. and her journey is one that will both shock and inspire you. After testing positive for COVID-19 back in August, Dr. Queshonda Kudaisi wasn’t sure that she nor the baby would survive and even began to consider her options for pushing back her graduation from the University of South Florida. “I thought the baby and I wouldn’t survive, or that I would have to push back my graduation,” she explained via Twitter.
Kuda — a Nigerian fintech startup that sets itself apart from the competition by building its services with its own banking license in hand — is on the rise! Kuda Bank is an African challenger bank that has just closed a Series B in the amount of $55 million, according to TechCrunch. The raise was made at a $500 million valuation for the London-based company which has been taking on incumbents in the country under its mobile-first, personalized and cheaper set of banking services all built on new and improved, API-based infrastructure. As the company continues to set upon an extensive growth track, Kuda will use the money raised to not only implement new services for Nigeria but to also prepare to launch into more countries on the continent. Co-founder and CEO, Babs Ogundeyi has plans for the banking services to become the go-to financial destination for “every African on the planet.” “We’ve been doing a lot of resource deployment…in Nigeria,” said Ogundeyi in an interview with...
Nigeria’s Kuda Technologies raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Valar Ventures with participation from Target Global and other investors. Co-headquartered in London and Lagos, Nigeria, Kuda offers mobile-first banking services to help people from the African diaspora manage their money and credit digitally. Kuda’s services are currently only live in Nigeria and this is the first African startup that Valar has financially backed. Kuda’s CEO Babs Ogundeyi says the company plans to use the Series A to expand its credit offerings, add more integrations to its platform, build services excessively for businesses and expand to more markets. “Nigeria is at a tipping point in the adoption of digital banking,” Andrew McCormack, a general partner and co-founder at Valar, told TechCrunch . “With the rapidly growing, youthful population who are open to new financial alternatives, Kuda is well-positioned to benefit and will transform the landscape of African banking.” This...
The CEO of Rolls-Royce has disclosed some interesting facts about his cars’ sales in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. And according to Business Insider, it’s all about the money for him — and others. “Quite a lot of people witnessed people in their community dying from Covid, that makes them think life can be short, and you’d better live now than postpone it to a later date,” Torsten Müller-Otvös said. “That also has helped [Rolls-Royce sales] quite massively.” To wit, Rolls-Royce sold nearly 6,000 cars in 2021, a record for the luxury car manufacturer. The most popular model for purchase was the so-called “Ghost” model, which has been named in countless Hip-Hop songs and featured in numerous films and television shows. And the car itself is not the only luxury item to see a spike in sales. According to the same report, sales of luxury items, in general, have spiked dramatically in the wake of the pandemic — and that number is only going to increase as time goes on. “The crisis...
Sometimes small businesses face the challenge of learning how to develop effective bookkeeping practices. This obstacle could lead to disrupted cash flow and a failure to meet the financial obligations of one’s business. Looking to resolve this issue in Nigeria is the startup Kippa, which markets itself as the country’s simplest accounting software. Founded by Kennedy Ekezie alongside Duke Ekezie and Jephthah Uche in February 2021, the application is designed to help small business owners create a bookkeeping system that will help them “recover debts 3x faster,” TechCrunch reports. According to Kippa, a stand-out feature on its application is customers who have not made payments can not only be tracked, but they will receive an automated reminder message for the business owner to recover debts. In addition, businesses can manage inventory, track daily cash flow and expenses, create invoices and generate receipts. “For us, what we do is we have such a unique opportunity to provide...
Softbank is betting big on Africa for the first time ever with a hefty investment in Nigerian fintech startup Opay. Bloomberg reports that the financial giant’s SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $400 million funding round for the fintech company, now bringing its value to $2 billion. Others that participated in the round include Sequoia Capital China, Redpoint China, Source Code Capital, Softbank Ventures Asia, DragonBall Capital and 3W Capital. Opay — a one-stop payment platform for consumers’ everyday needs founded in 2018 — previously raised two funding rounds back in 2019 with a $50 million Series A and $120 million Series B, TechCrunch shares. According to an emailed statement from OPay Chief Executive Officer Yahui Zhou, the hope is that the new funding will help the company “be the power that helps emerging markets reach a faster economic development.” “We believe our investment will help the company extend its offering to adjacent markets,” said Kentaro Matsui — a SoftBank Group...
Decagon, a Nigerian startup designed to train a new generation of engineers, has announced that they’ve raised $1.5 million in their seed funding round. According to TechCrunch, Decagon also received a student loan financing facility of $25 million from the Nigerian financial institution, Sterling Bank. The outlet also reports that the financing is in partnership with the financier Sterling Bank and Nigeria’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This funding will be used to provide opportunities to aspiring software engineers — including by offering a pay-after-learning option — and tech professionals in general. While it seems like there’s a new Nigerian startup every week that caters to the growing tech sector, the reality is, the supply isn’t keeping up with the demand, for a variety of reasons. “The dire need for tech talent in Nigeria has become more evident these days, where startups are raising venture capital at a ridiculous pace. Youth unemployment in the country...
Mono, a Nigerian fintech startup, has announced that they’ve raised quite a bit of money to help with their quest to power the African Internet economy. TechCrunch is reporting that the company — founded by Abdul Hassan and Prakhar Singh — closed a $2 million seed investment round. This announcement came just nine months after the company raised $500,000 in pre-seed capital. Investors for this round of funding include Entrée Capital (one of the investors in Kuda’s seed round), Kuda co-founder and CEO Babs Ogundeyi; Gbenga Oyebode, partner at TCVP; and Eric Idiahi, co-founder and partner at Verod Capital. New York but Africa-based VC Lateral Capital also invested after taking part in Mono’s pre-seed. When all this money is combined with their $125,000 YC investment, their total investment moves to $2.625 million. Originally launched in August 2020, Mono is a company that prides itself on providing a streamlined financial data solution to Africa. However, in recent months, the company...
The global neobanking market is expected to reach an estimated $723 billion by 2028, according to Grand View Research. As more people handle their finances online, the neobanking industry has been getting a lot of love, but what are neobanks anyway? Neobanks are digital-only financial institutions that operate similarly to traditional banks, but without physical branches, The Balance explains. You typically access neobanks through mobile applications and online platforms. While neobanking can be convenient, have lower costs and are more easily accessible, they don’t have the same accreditation as traditional banks and are regulated much less. Above all, neobanking requires access to technology and internet, a luxury that not everyone has. Another thing to think about with neobanking is that even with access to technology and internet, consumers have to be comfortable and trust tech in order to invest in using online-only banking systems. Some neobanks like N26, Atom Bank and Monzo...