📱Q42023: TikTok removed 1.7m Nigerian videos |💰Netflix founder, Ex-Alphabet CEO back SunCulture’s $27m raise

In today’s menu ☕️

💰Netflix founder, Ex-Alphabet CEO back SunCulture’s $27m Series B funding raise
📱In Q4 2023, TikTok removed 1.7m videos in Nigeria for policy violations
🤖 Kenya partners with GIZ to develop National Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy
💰Procera Group receives $18.8 million investment from Vantage Capital for international expansion 
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💰FUNDING

Netflix founder, Ex-Alphabet CEO back SunCulture’s $27m Series B funding raise

In a significant development for sustainable agriculture in Africa, tech titans Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix Inc., and Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Alphabet Inc., have thrown their weight behind SunCulture, a Nairobi-based solar irrigation startup. This move comes as part of a $27 million funding round that signals a promising future for agricultural innovation and economic empowerment across the continent. Other investors in this Series B round include InfraCo Africa Ltd., Acumen Fund Inc.

The Series B funding round boosts the company’s total raised funds to $65 million and contributes to its goal of securing $219 million. This sum will be used to install 274,000 systems in Kenya, funded through equity, debt, grants, and carbon financing, as per SunCulture’s plans…….continue reading

📱SOCIAL MEDIA

In Q4 2023, TikTok removed 1.7m videos in Nigeria for policy violations

In its latest Community Guidelines Enforcement Report for Q4, 2023, TikTok stated that it removed 176 million videos from its platform globally for violating its policies. For Nigeria, the Bytedance short video platform removed 1.7 million videos posted by Nigerian users during the same period.

According to the report, TikTok stated that the top 50 markets including Nigeria, where policy violations occurred, were responsible for about 90% of all content removals in the quarter.

The videos removed breached TikTok’s policies on integrity, authenticity, privacy, security, mental and behavioural health, safety, and civility, among other aspects..….continue reading

🤖 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Kenya partners with GIZ to develop National Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy

The government of Kenya and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH are partnering up to launch a project focused on devising a National Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy. This initiative is being supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union and has been titled “FAIR Forward – Artificial Intelligence for All.”

Although the initiative acknowledges the challenges posed by this advanced technology, it also highlights the potential of AI in spearheading Kenya’s digital transformation and aiding the nation in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Interestingly, this development follows a recommendation from the Kenya Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society a month earlier, suggesting a prison term up to 24 months or a penalty up to KSh 1 million (equivalent to $6,250), or both, for AI and robotic entities operating without a license...........continue reading

OTHER STORIES

• Procera Group receives $18.8 million investment from Vantage Capital for international expansion…..read more

• Panache Ventures and Kora join forces to aid African tech founders in obtaining venture capital funding……read more

• Concerns and potential impact of Starlink’s entry into Cameroon’s telecom market….read more

• Affinity Ghana receives investment from Renew Capital for expansion of digital banking services….read more

OPPORTUNITIES

• Entries open for 2024 Edition of Global Startup Awards Africa: Aiming to spotlight Africa’s top innovators and entrepreneurs…..read more

• 12 African entrepreneurs win a total of US$400,000 in grants from the FINCA Ventures Prize Competition…..read more

• AgriTech4Egypt Innovation Challenge invites applications from agri-tech ventures for a sustainable agricultural future….read more

• Call for Applications: Amazon Web Services South Africa’s Equity Equivalent Investment Programme for SMEs….read more

• Irish Tech Challenge 2024: Call for South African startups to help address global issues….read more

• 14th Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East Now Open for Applications…..read more