• What we do
  • The People
  • About Us
  • Why Innovation Africa
  • Contact Us
Innovation AfricaCreating the Future Today
  • Feature Articles
  • Innovation
  • Agriculture
  • ICT
  • Technology
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Health
  • Store
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Feature Articles
  • Innovation
  • Agriculture
  • ICT
  • Technology
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Health
  • Store
  • Contact Us
  • Africa’s Savannah Fund And Google’s Eric Schmidt Invest In Binu Mobile Via $2 Million Round

    September 20, 2012 Editor 0

    Savannah Fund, a new African venture capital outfit founded by Erik Hersman, Paul Bragiel and Mbwana Alliy, has contributed to a $2 million fundraising round for biNu mobile, a mobile app platform that brings iPhone-like experiences to low-end smartphones and feature phones.

    Savannah Fund invested in biNu alongside TomorrowVentures, an investment firm founded by Google’s billionaire Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt, and a few other investors.

    biNu was founded 18 months ago in Australia by Dave Turner and Gour Lentell- Australian entrepreneurs with several years of experience in the technology, wireless and Internet industries. Since then, biNu has amassed over 4 million active monthly users around the world, of which 1 million are in Africa.

    More than half of the world’s population owns a mobile phone, but less than half of that number have regular access to a computer and the Internet. In Africa, over 100 million people access the Internet through their mobile phones, even with all its inconveniences- small screens, tiny keyboards, limited hardware capacity and slower, yet expensive wireless networks. It’s usually individuals with sophisticated smartphones who easily gain access to the Internet. People with low-end mobiles aren’t as privileged.

    BiNu’s model is as simple as it is exciting. The company developed a patented software platform that delivers Internet apps and services such as Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, live sports scores and news to low-end phones on 2G (GPRS / EDGE) with quick response times and efficient use of network bandwidth.

    BiNu is built for speed. According to information available on its website, biNu “processes all application logic on ‘back-end’ servers, transmits end-user data efficiently over wireless networks, minimises processing on a user’s mobile device and responds instantly through extensive pre-caching and caching of data.”

    Savannah Fund, an African-focused accelerator fund, was officially launched in June this year and aims to find and invest in early stage, high growth web and mobile startups addressing the Sub-Saharan Africa market. The fund typically makes investments in the $25,000 to $500,000 region.

    While Savannah Fund’s mandate is to invest in African tech startups and companies, it comes as a surprise that its first investment is in an Australian company. On why Savannah opted to look outside Africa for its first inaugural investment, Mbwana Alliy, a founding partner of the fund, said that Savannah Fund will invest in any company around the world that serves an African user base.

    “Yes, biNu is an Australian company, but the company has over 1 million of its users in Africa. Africa is one of the high growth areas they will focus on. There are a lot of synergies for us to add value together and also serve entrepreneurs in Africa who need to distribute content to Africans. Ideally Africans are best positioned to create companies serving Africans but that’s not always the case. BiNu is able to get 1M users in Africa being in Australia- that’s fantastic and we will help them grow more in Africa which benefits Africans,” Alliy said via email correspondence.  Alliy did not disclose what portio of the $2 million Savannah Fund invested.

    Follow me on Twitter @EmperorDIV

    Read the original here: Africa’s Savannah Fund And Google’s Eric Schmidt Invest In Binu Mobile Via $2 Million Round

    Related Posts

    • Why African Entrepreneurs Outperform Their Peers When the Playing Field Is Leveled
    • Obama’s new fix-Africa-toolbox includes one shiny new tool: private investmentObama’s new fix-Africa-toolbox includes one shiny new tool: private investment
    • Harnessing the Internet to Drive Socio-Economic Development in Africa
    • Will corruption suffocate Africa’s new tech incubators?
    • Africa Analysis: Ocean science urgently needs investmentAfrica Analysis: Ocean science urgently needs investment
    • African high-speed data network open to researchers
    Sovrn
    Share

    Categories: News

    Tags: africa, african tech, byline=mfonobong nsehe, entrepreneurs, Eric Schmidt Invest In Binu, financing, founded, internet, investment, Mbwana Alliy, network, Savannah Fund, Schmidt Invest In Binu Mobile

    The Ten Most Innovative Companies In Africa Philips Tries To Make Inroads In Africa With Its Ultrasound Technology

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

Subscribe to our stories


 

Recent Posts

  • Entrepreneurial Alertness, Innovation Modes, And Business Models in Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises December 30, 2021
  • The Strategic Role of Design in Driving Digital Innovation June 10, 2021
  • Correction to: Hybrid mosquitoes? Evidence from rural Tanzania on how local communities conceptualize and respond to modified mosquitoes as a tool for malaria control June 10, 2021
  • BRIEF FOCUS: Optimal spacing for groundnuts in smallholder farming systems June 9, 2021
  • COVID-19 pandemic: impacts on the achievements of Sustainable Development Goals in Africa June 9, 2021

Categories

Archives

Popular Post-All time

  • A review on biomass-based... 1k views
  • Apply Now: $500,000 for Y... 798 views
  • Can blockchain disrupt ge... 797 views
  • Test Your Value Propositi... 749 views
  • Prize-winning projects pr... 722 views

Recent Posts

  • Entrepreneurial Alertness, Innovation Modes, And Business Models in Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises
  • The Strategic Role of Design in Driving Digital Innovation
  • Correction to: Hybrid mosquitoes? Evidence from rural Tanzania on how local communities conceptualize and respond to modified mosquitoes as a tool for malaria control
  • BRIEF FOCUS: Optimal spacing for groundnuts in smallholder farming systems
  • COVID-19 pandemic: impacts on the achievements of Sustainable Development Goals in Africa
  • Explicit knowledge networks and their relationship with productivity in SMEs
  • Intellectual property issues in artificial intelligence: specific reference to the service sector
  • Africa RISING publishes a livestock feed and forage production manual for Ethiopia
  • Transforming crop residues into a precious feed resource for small ruminants in northern Ghana
  • Photo report: West Africa project partners cap off 2020 with farmers field day events in Northern Ghana and Southern Mali

Tag Cloud

    africa African Agriculture Business Business model Business_Finance Company Crowdsourcing data Development East Africa economics Education Entrepreneur entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship ethiopia ghana Health_Medical_Pharma ict Information technology Innovation kenya knowledge Knowledge Management Leadership marketing mobile Mobile phone nigeria Open innovation Organization Research rwanda science Science and technology studies social enterprise social entrepreneurship south africa Strategic management strategy tanzania Technology Technology_Internet uganda

Categories

Archives

  • A review on biomass-based hydrogen production for renewable energy supply 1k views
  • Apply Now: $500,000 for Your Big Data Innovations in Agriculture 798 views
  • Can blockchain disrupt gender inequality? 797 views
  • Test Your Value Proposition: Supercharge Lean Startup and CustDev Principles 749 views
  • Prize-winning projects promote healthier eating, smarter crop investments 722 views

Copyright © 2005-2020 Innovation Africa Theme created by PWT. Powered by WordPress.org