BD Insider 81st: Zero to Scale with Joshua Chibueze, Andela, Gokada's expansion, startup equity

This is a blog copy of the 81st version of our weekly newsletter, BD Insider. Subscribers get to read it first and can take action based on it

Hello BD Insider,
Time flies, its already the fourth quarter of the year. Welcome to this 81st edition.
Last week was quite an eventful one in the ecosystem, we will get to explore some of these events in this edition.

Contrary to the email subject of last week’s insider, the pilot launch of the eNaira was postponed by the Central Bank of Nigeria ‘in deference to the mood of national rededication to the collective dream of One Nigeria’ as Nigeria marked its 61st independence anniversary over the weekend.

The CBN’s spokesperson, Mr Osita Nwanisobi made the announcement a few hours to the launch and days after a ‘cease and desist notification’ was sent to the CBN concerning the use of the name 'eNaira.' by ENaira Payment Solutions Limited stating 'Infringement of Trademark & Violation of Corporate Name'.

If you are wondering how it was possible for this company to register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Section 30(2) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 (CAMA) does not list 'Naira' as a restricted name; a restricted name is a name that requires the consent of the CAC before it can be used. So, it's possible!

Meanwhile, in China, the People's Bank of China has announced that all transactions of crypto-currencies are illegal, effectively banning digital tokens such as Bitcoin.

Aside from these, let’s look at some of the interesting stories from the previous week:

• Zero to Scale with Joshua Chibueze, co-founder of Piggyvest
• Andela becomes Nigeria's latest Unicorn
• Gokada expands to Ibadan

📈Zero To Scale with Joshua Chibueze, CMO and Co-founder, Piggyvest

In this episode, Joshua talks about building Piggyvest from a tweet-inspired idea to one of Nigeria’s biggest technology companies with one customer at a time.

According to him, ‘almost every feature you see on Piggyvest today has come from our listening to our customers.

Zero To Scale is a web series that focuses on the journeys of African founders and their startups from day zero until the day they achieve scale. Zero To Scale is produced in partnership with Oneroute.io, an all-in-one tool for your customer communication needs.

Tap or click here to read more from our conversation with Joshua.

🦄Andela is a Unicorn at $1.5 billion valuation

Now valued at $1.5bn Andela joins Interswitch, Flutterwave, OPay, and Wave as the latest Unicorn in Africa after securing $200 million in Series E led by Soft Softbank Vision Fund 2*. Per Crunchbase, since 2014, Andela has raised funds in over 10 rounds.

What is a unicorn? It is a term used in the venture capital industry to describe a privately held startup company with a value of over $1 billion.

Even though 2019 was a tough year at Andela leading to the laying-off of over 500 staffers in about three rounds with this Series E, we expect more mergers and acquisitions in the coming days.

What now? The global talent network intends to continue with the expansion of its talent offering beyond software development to include new verticals such as design and data after launching Salesforce development earlier this year.

From a previous publication on the blog, we noted that after a big raise, startups 'must move even faster, expand their ambitions and collect more investment money than ever'

🚀Gokada is now in Ibadan.

With more than 1.5 million deliveries for 30,000 merchants in Nigeria's commercial hub, Lagos, Gokada intends to replicate its success in Ibadan, Oyo state.

With close proximity to Lagos and its status as the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, Ibadan offers significant demand for Gokada’s unmatched last-mile delivery services. Get to know more about this expansion here

✍🏿Tech Word for the Week: Startup Equity

Startup equity is the number of ownership shareholders has in a startup. It is the percentage of the startup’s stock sold to stakeholders (such as investors, advisors, and employees). This gives them the right to share in the profit or loss of the startup.

Find out more about how startup equity works here

💰Fundraising

Here are some of the recent startup fundraises across Africa that you should be aware of:

• Nigerian Edtech Startup Edves raises USD 575 K Funding
• South Africa’s Sun Exchange Raises USD 2.5 Mn Funding
• Egyptian Blockchain Startup Pravica Raises Funding To Scale Operations
• Ugandan Fintech Startup Fin-e Innovations Raises USD 300 K Funding
• Nigeria’s Yellow Card Raises USD 15 Mn Series A Funding
• Senegalese Startup Yobante Express Raises USD 1.2 Mn Seed Round

Tip: If you're looking to improve your take-home (salary) by moving jobs, companies that have just raised are a great place to apply. Companies almost always hire after a significant raise.

📰Things we found interesting.

Here are some of the most exciting stories we've written and read over the last seven days:

• At 61, how free is Nigeria's economy?
• Is Kuda changing the dial in terms of customer experience?
• Bamboo’s bid to broaden retail investing stunted by CBN probe
• Designers can now access Nigerian mockup images for free
• Why do 65% of students who write JAMB fail to secure admission?

🚪Job Openings and other Opportunities

In addition to last week's list of jobs, events, and other  opportunities, check these out, too:

• Softcom Limited is hiring a Social Media Manager
• Gokada is hiring a Data Analyst (Remote)
• Quidax is hiring a Senior Backend Engineer, Senior DevOps Engineer, Quality Assurance Engineer and Business Operations Analyst
• StemCafe is hiring a Learning Development Manager
• Chromatic is hiring Senior Technical Product Manager
• Applications for THRIVE VIII Accelerator Program for seed-stage startups is open

Thanks for reading!

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Have a great week, Johnstone