Ubenwa, an innovative health-tech startup that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to diagnose infants within 0–6 months of age, has locked in $2.5 million in pre-seed funding to scale its operations and materialise its go-to-market strategy.
Ubenwa’s CEO described Ubenwa’s solution as one that helps distinguish an infant’s natural cries from the disease-causing cries for help.
Ubenwa has developed algorithms to track cry activity, detect acoustic biomarkers, and predict anomalies, thereby converting infant cries to potential diagnoses. In a successful pilot to detect neurological injury due to birth asphyxia.
Ubenwa’s software showed a 40% improvement over APGAR scoring, the widely canonised physical examination at birth.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-tech-news--5512041/support.

Max has announced a partnership with Yamaha’s Nigerian subsidiary, Moto Business Service Nigeria, to finance and maintain over 50,000 vehicles over the next 2 years.
The partnership will expand Max’s operations in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon and fast-track its goal of serving 100,000 independent commercial drivers by the end of 2023.
Adetayo Bamiduro, co-founder and CEO of MAX, says the partnership with MBSN and the Yamaha Motor Corporation demonstrates their shared commitment to democratizing access to vehicle subscriptions and enabling entrepreneurs across Africa to unleash development by moving people and goods safely and reliably from point A to point B

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-tech-news--5512041/support.

Google says it will allow developers of non-gaming apps on the Play Store to provide alternative billing systems for in-app transactions and purchases for users based in the European Economic Area.
The company’s move comes after the European Parliament passed the Digital Markets Act earlier this month to force tech giants like Google, Apple, Meta, and Amazon to follow fair and open market practices.
The company said this new act will force Google Play and other industry players to adjust their current operating model for users in the European Economic Area.
The company says developers will get a 3% relief from the fee they have to pay to Google Play while processing in-app transactions.
The firm charges 15% for any developer on their first $1 million revenue of the year — that will now reduce to 12% if they adopt a third-party payment system. For anything more than that developers will have to pay a 27% fee instead of 30%.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-tech-news--5512041/support.

Microsoft announced the launch of the Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty, a new solution for public sector customers especially in Europe who need to be able to guarantee that their users’ data is stored and processed in a given region.
The company says public sector customers can harness the full power of Microsoft Cloud, including broad platform capabilities, resiliency, agility and security.
The company says with the addition of Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty, they will have greater control over their data and increased transparency to the operational and governance processes of the cloud.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-tech-news--5512041/support.

CEO Arjun Sethi of Tribe Capital has raised $25 million from outside investors and has launched its incubator program, Tribe Crypto Labs.
The firm has approximately $1.5 billion in assets under management and has previously made investments in crypto companies like crypto exchanges FTX and Kraken and blockchains like Cosmos and Frax.
He says they saw the chance to take a more proactive approach and started thinking about an incubation strategy while adding that the incubation program aims to collaborate with crypto developers while using its team’s tech and ops background to create and accelerate early-stage investment opportunities in the crypto space.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-tech-news--5512041/support.

Duhqa is a B2B retail tech platform that empowers informal African merchants to digitally source and pay for inventory, get delivery conveniently, and access short-term financing.
This approach maximizes efficiency across the sales and supply distribution chain.
Its platform has onboarded over 5,000 merchants so far.
Duhqa has now closed a seed round of US$2 million, seven months later. The round attracted participation from CrossFund, Roselake Ventures, and Mo Angels. It also features a number of existing investors, including Techstars and strategic local angels.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-tech-news--5512041/support.

A Nigerian-based indigenous cloud service provider has re-affirmed the need for Nigerian companies to host content locally, saying there are dangers associated with hosting data abroad.
The  Chief Sales Officer of Layer3,  Theresa Adeyinka, says Nigeria loses up to N60 billion worth of foreign exchange to other countries annually in payments for web hosting alone, according to the Nigeria Internet Registration Association.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-tech-news--5512041/support.

The Chief Executive Officer of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, says Africa is ready for crypto adoption.
He says blockchain provides a level of financial accessibility that isn’t currently available on the continent.
He says Africa is primed for crypto adoption as blockchain provides financial accessibility not currently available to lots of Africans.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-tech-news--5512041/support.

Africa: The Big Deal reports that Investment in Nigerian tech dropped by 30 percent towards the end of the second quarter of 2022
Data from the database and insights firm which focuses on startup funding above $100,000 in Africa showed that of the big four in Africa — Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya—only Nigeria witnessed a dip in the quarter.
He explained that with rising interest rates in the United States, investors are diverting their funds to safe places like the US treasury bills than investing in uncertain markets.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-tech-news--5512041/support.

Nigeria is set to regulate emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things as the nation enters a new phase of technological advancements.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof Umar Danbatta, defined IoT as a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals, or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring any human intervention.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-tech-news--5512041/support.