Hello Friends,
Welcome to our first newsletter for 2024. Blitz through the Ghana Innovation Journal to know what happened in weeks 1 to 3 in the innovation landscape. Before we dive in, you have access to all The Innovation Spark Reports here and leave comments on which story you found most exciting.
- Ghana’s Copianto AI secures €100,000 on Shark Tank Malta to expand to Europe.
- Hubtel hits GHS 160 billion transaction value milestone in 2023.
- Former Treepz CMO launches Rivia, an asset-light healthcare chain.
- Dimension Data’s local management acquires the Ghana business.
- Drdogood partners with Yemaachi Biotech to improve access to cervical cancer treatment
- UNDP launches Timbuktoo Initiative to supercharge Africa’s startup ecosystem.
Milestone
- Hubtel hits GHS 160 billion transaction value milestone in 2023.
Ghana’s supper app Hubtel hit a GHS 160 billion (~$13.2 billion) in transactions in 2023, as revealed by CEO Alex Bram in a New Year message to the public.
In addition to the impressive total processed value, Bram said the company also nearly tripled staff strength, growing from about 200 at the beginning of the year to a vibrant team of almost 600. For 2024, the CEO asserts, “We will continue to invest in ourselves, empowering each other to learn, grow, and lead. We will also unleash the power of emerging technologies such as AI, ML, and big data systems to create even more impactful services that can improve lifestyles and drive Ghana forward. ”
Founded in 2005 by Alex Bram and Ernest Apenteng as SMSGH, the company has evolved from a business short messaging service provider to a fully licensed payment service provider and expanded to the quick commerce industry.
Funding
- Ghana’s Copianto AI secures €100,000 on Shark Tank Malta to expand to Europe.
Copianto AI, Copianto Al, the conversational Al search platform for enterprises, hit a home run and secured a €100,000 investment on the entrepreneurial-themed reality show Shark Tank. With the funding, the company plans to establish itself in the European Union, acquire customers, and expand across the EU market. This follows a startup trade mission to Malta in 2023 organized by BlueSPACE Innovation Hub (more here)
Copianto AI was founded in 2022 by former Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology alums Timothy K. Afrane Wuo-Asare, Daniella Esi Darlington, Alex Boateng, and Sosu Alfred. The startup provides businesses with the tools to build conversational search experiences leveraging cutting-edge generative artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLM). Unlike traditional search, which is mostly a keywords search base, Copianto AI’s platform uses vector search to create a knowledge base of customers’ unstructured data (audio, image, video, etc.) and make it searchable. Enterprises leverage the searchable data to develop intelligent assistants or copilots to help users find the information they need.
- UNDP launches a $1 billion Timbuktoo Africa Innovation Fund to supercharge Africa’s startup ecosystem.
African startups just got an additional funding source. Promoted by the UNDP, the Timbuktoo Initiative aims to address critical gaps and work with African governments, investors, corporations, and universities to support the African startup ecosystem. The fund will mobilize and invest US$ 1 billion of catalytic and commercial capital over ten years.
The initiative will have a presence in eight hubs across Africa, including Kigali, Cairo, Cape Town, Accra, Casablanca, Dakar, Lagos, and Nairobi, with each hub focusing on a thematic area. Accra will host the Agritech hub for the programme. Each pan-African hub will attract top startup talents and startups from across the continent to nurture and grow.
We have great videos of interviews and news in video format on our YouTube Page (The Spark Network) and on TikTok (Ghana Inno Journal).
Check out our videos now.
Product launch & Partnership
- Drdogood partners with Yemaachi Biotech to improve access to cervical cancer treatment.
Drdogood, the healthtech democratizing access to primary healthcare, has partnered with Yemaachi Biotech, an immunogenomics research company, to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in the country.
As part of the partnership, Drdogood users can access Yemaachi’s Sheba test kit via the app at a fee and return the sample to Yemaachi for testing. Sheba HPV Test is a home sampling kit to test for high-risk Human Papillomavirus, which is responsible for 99% of cervical cancer cases. The partnership aims to promote preventive healthcare and early detection of cervical cancer in Ghanaian women.
- Former Treepz CMO Isidore Kpotufe launches Rivia, an asset-light healthcare chain.
Isidore Kpotufe, the former Chief Marketing Officer of the Pan-African mobility startup Treepz, is on the startup grind for the third time. This time, he seeks to provide solutions for Africa’s healthcare sector.
After exiting his startup ‘Stabus’ to the Pan-African mobility company Treepz, Isidore Kpotufe has launched Rivia. Rivia is a healthcare technology-enabled chain that partners with clinics, aiming to elevate healthcare services by providing comprehensive support in operations, technology, customer acquisition, and financing. Rivia offers a complete solution for clinics by digitizing their internal processes, support with customer acquisition, and inventory and infrastructure finance. Rivia generates revenue by collecting a commission from the monthly revenue of the partner clinic.
The company’s management team comprises Isidore Kpotufe (Cofounder and CEO), Victor Nara (Cofounder and CTO) and Dr. Isaac Biney (Medical Director).
Mergers & Acquisitions
- Dimension Data’s local management acquires the Ghana business.
Although exits are far and few in Africa’s tech ecosystem, Dimension Data’s business in Ghana has exited to the management of the company. The CEO, Ms. Yvette Adounvo Atekpe who has been leading the company for the last 16 years, acquired it from its Japanese shareholders. The new company will launch a new brand identity by 2nd April 2024.
Commenting on the acquisition, Yvette Adounvo Atekpe, founder and CEO of Dynamic Data Solutions, said: “This management buyout secures the future of the company and creates a Ghanaian-owned and operated ICT company, which is enormously exciting for us. We have a unique value-add as a Preferred Partner, giving us and our clients access to the latest technology, support, and leadership. Our established presence in the market will ensure that our customers continue to receive the best service, access to the highest quality products, and around-the-clock support without interruption.”
#inspire #investigate #inform
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