{"id":18590,"date":"2020-06-04T08:48:43","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T08:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=18590"},"modified":"2020-06-04T08:48:51","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T08:48:51","slug":"latest-tech-news-new-fintech-player-sparkle-launches-digital-bank-in-nigeria-4-other-things-and-a-trivia-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=18590","title":{"rendered":"LATEST TECH NEWS: New Fintech player Sparkle launches digital bank in Nigeria. 4 other things and a trivia you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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These 5 latest stories from the tech space will keep you updated with trends today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Ventureburn and Techpoint Africa sign intra-continental partnership<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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South Africa-based Ventureburn and Nigeria\u2019s Techpoint Africa have a new partnership deal that will see both tech publishing platforms share contents and strategise together on tech matters and opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explaining the nature of the partnership, a publication on Ventureburn noted that the two will be republishing select articles covering news and insight on the continent\u2019s growing tech startup sector, from each other\u2019s platforms on their respective platforms. The publication further added that the two also plan to co-operate on surveys, reports and events covering the continent\u2019s tech startup sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. S. Africa\u2019s Sticitt secures R3m from VC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sticitt, Cape Town based cashless payment platform has announced securing a R3-million investment from a new SA venture capital (VC) company, Crucis VC. The 2 year old company was founded by Mitch Dart, Dennis Wevell and Theo Kitshoff. The company which started with few workers has grown to operate with nine employees, today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming from a humble background, the startup was only previously able to tap funding from a family member and a friend, who is an asset manager. The new raiser, thus, comes as the company\u2019s first major external investment. Industry analysts have noted that through a deal with D6 Group, Sticitt is able to reach almost 2000 schools with its cashless payment solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tech Trivia:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

How much did the first CD recorder cost?
A. $10,000
B. $90,000
C. $20,000
D. $34,000
Answer: See end of post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. New Fintech player Sparkle launches digital bank in Nigeria<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After being granted its banking license, Nigeria\u2019s, and perhaps, the newest fintech player, Sparkle, has launched its digital banking platform to compete with existing players like Kuda Bank et al. Sparkles, following this CBN license will bring to customers a digital ecosystem providing financial, lifestyle and business support services to Nigerians across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to reports, the digital bank was founded August last year by tech investor and financial inclusion advocate Uzoma Dozie, the former CEO of Diamond Bank. Commenting on the new development, Dozie expressed excitment, noting that the new digital bank would be \u201ctransformational\u201d for Nigerians across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Kenyan, Nigerian entrepreneurs emerge winners in social innovation accelerator<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the just concluded 2020 ASME ISHOW, a Kenya Virtual Event hosted by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Kenyan and Nigerian innovations in clean cooking, feminine hygiene and medical diagnostics have won US$30,000 in cash funding and technical support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosted to focus on hardware-led social innovation, a total of eight socially-minded teams of inventors from Kenya, Nigeria, and Egypt presented their design prototypes in a virtual event held on May 19-21, with three inventors emerging as regional winners. The winners were Kenya\u2019s Ecobora, which is equipping rural marginalised schools with its patented solar-powered cook stove; Kenya\u2019s Inteco, which focuses on the distribution and supply chain management of donated sanitary pads to adolescent girls in schools; and Nigeria\u2019s MicroFuse Technologies, which has developed a tool that enables users to diagnose and detect cerebral malarial retinopathy with a smartphone while also capturing other individual patient data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. SoftBank launches $100M+ Opportunity Growth Fund<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To further invest in founders of colored background, and as a way to show solidarity as the U.S. continues to see protests, which was sparked by the killing of George Floyd by police in Minnesota, SoftBank has announced a new investment vehicle to back entrepreneurs of color. According to SoftBank, this was part of its contribution to trying to redress the imbalance of power as it has played out in the tech world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Wednesday, June 3, the financial institution launched the Opportunity Growth Fund, which \u201cwill only invest in companies led by founders and entrepreneurs of color.\u201d To achieve this, SoftBank\u2019s spokesperson stated that the fund will initially start with $100 million, meaning that there is scope for SoftBank (the primary limited partner) or other limited partners to add more over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tech Trivia Answer: $20,000<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While it wasn\u2019t marketed toward consumers, the first audio CD recorder was unveiled in 1991 at the annual National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas, where Japanese manufacturer Denon demonstrated its model DN-700R hoping to attract the interest of radio stations, which could use the device to make demo discs or to copy and distribute content to other outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to an article written by The Syracuse Newspapers at the time, the DN-770R was the first of its kind and was being propositioned by Denon for $20,000: \u201cDenon DN-770R audio CD recorder debuts as the first of its kind\u2026The CDs it produces can be played on any CD player.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These 5 latest stories from the tech space will keep you updated with trends today. 1. Ventureburn and Techpoint Africa sign intra-continental partnership South Africa-based Ventureburn and Nigeria\u2019s Techpoint Africa have a new partnership deal that will see both tech publishing platforms share contents and strategise together on tech matters and opportunities. Explaining the nature […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLATEST TECH NEWS: New Fintech player Sparkle launches digital bank in Nigeria. 4 other things and a trivia you need to know » WatchDog Plus Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=18590\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Odofin\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=18590#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tech\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=16\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"LATEST TECH NEWS: New Fintech player Sparkle launches digital bank in Nigeria. 4 other things and a trivia you need to know\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"LATEST TECH NEWS: New Fintech player Sparkle launches digital bank in Nigeria. 4 other things and a trivia you need to know » WatchDog Plus Media","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=18590","author":"Odofin","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=18590#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tech","item":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=16"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"LATEST TECH NEWS: New Fintech player Sparkle launches digital bank in Nigeria. 4 other things and a trivia you need to know"}]}]}},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Odofin","author_link":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?author=2"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=16\" rel=\"category\">Tech<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"These 5 latest stories from the tech space will keep you updated with trends today. 1. Ventureburn and Techpoint Africa sign intra-continental partnership South Africa-based Ventureburn and Nigeria\u2019s Techpoint Africa have a new partnership deal that will see both tech publishing platforms share contents and strategise together on tech matters and opportunities. Explaining the nature…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18590"}],"version-history":[{"count":-4,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}