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Copia lays off staff for the third time

By Ngozi Chukwu Jul 29, 2023

Source: Copia

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Editor’s Note

Week 31, 2023
Read time: 5 minutes

Hello 👋🏾

This week, we bring you updates from Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal.

By the way, have you had a chance to complete our quick 3-minute survey yet? If not, we’d really appreciate it if you could spare a few moments to do so.

Pamela Tetteh Editor, TechCabal.

Editor’s Picks

	Copia lays off staff for the third time Copia, a Kenyan e-commerce platform, has laid off 25%—350 members of its workforce. This is the third time this year that Copia has trimmed its headcount. Learn more.
	CBN retraces its steps Nigeria’s central bank unfroze 440 bank accounts of some companies that it previously accused of “illegally trading” in foreign exchange. This includes tech startups like BetNaija, RiseVest, Bamboo, Chaka, and Yellow Card. Learn more.
	Flutterwave accounts remain frozen in Kenya This week, Judge Nixon Sifuna of the Kenyan High Court refused a request from Kenya’s Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) to drop their case against Flutterwave. Learn more.
	Hackers unveil themselves A pro-Russian hacktivist group called Anonymous Sudan claimed responsibility for a series of Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks on websites of Kenyan media, hospitals, universities, and businesses, including Safaricom. Learn more.

Entering Tech

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	Starlink launches in Kenya Namibia has given its official seal of approval to crypto exchanges by introducing the groundbreaking Namibia Virtual Assets Act 2023. Learn more.
	Freelancers to pay taxes in Kenya The Kenyan government now mandates that Upwork collect and remit Value-Added Tax (VAT) on goods and services, including freelancer services. Learn more.
	Sonatel acquires 5G licence Telecomms company Sonatel—Orange Senegal—has acquired 5G licence in Senegal. Learn more.
	Airtel Africa loses $151 million Airtel Africa has reported a loss after tax in its Q1—April 1 to June 30, 2023 results. Read more.

Who brought the money this week?

Kenyan agritech company Farm Works raised $4.1 million in pre-series A funding. The round was led by Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund, other participating investors included Livelihood Impact Fund, Vested World, a number of family offices, and angel investors.
Clafiya, a Nigerian health-tech company, secured $610,000 in pre-seed funding from Norrsken Accelerator, Acquired Wisdom Fund (AWF), Hustle Fund, Voltron Capital, Microtraction, Ajim Capital, and other investors.
Kenyan health-tech company, Zuri Health, raised an undisclosed funding round from Five35 Ventures.