Technology

B2B e-commerce companySokowatchclosed a $2 million seed investment led by4DX Ventures. Others to join the round were Village Global, Lynett Capital, Golden Palm Investments, and OutlierzVentures.

The Kenya basedcompany aims to shake up the supply chain market for Africainformal retailers.

Sokowatchplatform connects Africainformal retail stores directly to local and multi-national suppliers—such as Unilever and Proctor and Gamble—by digitizing orders, delivery, and payments with the aim of reducing costs and increasing profit margins.

&With both manufacturers and the small shops, we&re becoming the connective layer between them, where previously you had multiple layers of middle-men from distributors, sub-distributors, to wholesalers,& Sokowatch founder and CEO Daniel Yu toldTechCrunch.

&The cost of sourcing goods right now…we estimate we&re cutting that cost by about 20 percent [for] these shopkeepers,& he said

&There are millions of informal stores across Africacities selling hundreds of billions worth of consumer goods every year,&said Yu.

These stores can use Sokowatchapp on mobile phones to buy wares directly from large suppliers, arrange for transport, and make payments online. &Ordering on SMS or Android gets you free delivery of products to your store, on average, in about two hours,& said Yu.

Sokowatch generates revenues by earning &a margin on the goods that we&re selling to shopkeepers,& said Yu. On the supplier side, they also benefit from &aggregating demand…and getting bulk deals on the products that we distribute.&

The company recently launched a line of credit product to extend working capital loans to platform clients. With the $2 million round, Sokowatch—which currently operates in Kenya and Tanzania—plans to &expand to new markets in East Africa, as well as pilot additional value add services to the shops,& said Yu.

MallforAfricaand DHL launchedMarketPlaceAfrica.com: a global e-commerce site for select African artisans to sell wares to buyers in any of DHL220 delivery countries.

The site will prioritize fashion items — clothing, bags, jewelry, footwear and personal care — and crafts, such as pictures and carvings. MallforAfrica is vetting sellers for MarketPlace Africaonlineand through theAfrica Made Product Standardsassociation (AMPS), to verify made-in-Africa status and merchandise quality.

&We&re starting off in Nigeria and then we&ll open in Kenya, Rwanda and the rest of Africa, utilizing DHLmassive network,& MallforAfrica CEO Chris Folayan told TechCrunch about where the goods will be sourced. &People all around the world can buy from African artisans online, thatthe goal,& Folayan toldTechCrunch.

Current listed designer products include handbags fromChinwe Ezenwaand Tash womenoutfits by Tasha Goodwin.

In addition to DHL for shipping, MarketPlace Africa will utilize MallforAfricae-commerce infrastructure.The startup was founded in 2011 to solve challenges global consumer goods companies face when entering Africa.

French President Emmanuel Macron href="https://pctechmag.com/2018/05/french-president-emmanuel-macron-launches-a-usd76m-africa-startup-fund/">unveiled a $76 million African startup fundat VivaTech 2018 and TechCrunch paid a visit to theFrench Development Agency(AFD) — who will administer the new fund — to get details on how it will work.

The $76 million (or€65 million) will divvy up into three parts, AFD Digital Task Team LeaderChristine Hatold TechCrunch.

&There are €10 million [$11.7 million] for technical assistance to support the African ecosystem… €5 million will be available as interest-free loans to high-potential, pre-seed startups…and…€50 million [$58 million] will be for equity-based investments in series A to C startups,& explained Ha during a meeting in Paris.

The technical assistance will distribute in the form of grants to accelerators, hubs, incubators and coding programs. The pre-seed startup loans will issue in amounts up to $100,000 &as early, early funding to allow entrepreneurs to prototype, launch and experiment,& said Ha.

The $58 million in VC startup funding will be administered throughProparco, a development finance institution — orDFI— partially owned by the AFD. &Proparco will take equity stakes, and will be a limited partner when investing in VC funds,& said Ha.

Startups from all African countries can apply for a piece of the $58 million by contacting any ofProparcoAfrica offices.

The $11.7 million technical assistance and $5.8 million loan portions of Francenew fund will be available starting in 2019. On implementation, AFD is still &reviewing several options…such as relying on local actors through [France&s] Digital Africa platform,& said Ha. President Macron followed up the Africa fund announcement with atrip to Nigerialast month.

Nigerian logistics startupKobo360was accepted into Y Combinator2018 class and gained some working capital in the form of $1.2 million in pre-seed funding led byWestern Technology Investment.

The startup — with anUber like app that connects Nigerian truckers to companies with freight needs — will use the funds to pay drivers online immediately after successful hauls.

Kobo360 is also launching the Kobo Wealth Investment Network, or KoboWIN — a crowd-invest, vehicle financing program. Through it, Kobo drivers can finance new trucks through citizen investors and pay them back directly (with interest) over a 60-month period.

On Kobo360utility, &We give drivers the demand and technology to power their businesses,& CEO Obi Ozortold TechCrunch. &An average trucker will make $3,500 a month with our app. Thatmiddle class territory in Nigeria.&

Kobo360 has served 324 businesses, aggregated a fleet of 5480 drivers and moved 37.6 million kilograms of cargo since 2017, per company stats. Top clients include Honeywell,Olam, Unilever, and DHL.

Ozor thinks the startupasset-free, digital platform and business model can outpace traditional long-haul 3PL providers in Nigeria by handling more volume at cheaper prices.

&Logistics in Nigeria have been priced based on the assumption drivers are going to run empty on the way back…When we now match freight with return trips, prices crash.&

Kobo360 will expand in Togo, Ghana, Cote D&Ivoire and Senegal.

[PHOTO: BFX.LAGOS]And finally, applications are open for TechCrunchStartup Battlefield Africa, to be held in Lagos, Nigeria, December 11. Early-stage African startups have untilSeptember 3to apply here.

More Africa Related Stories @TechCrunch

More Africa Related Stories @TechCrunch

·CowryWise micro-savings service opens high-yield government bonds to everyday Nigerians

African Tech Around the Net

·More Than Half of Sub-Saharan Africa to Be Connected to Mobile by 2025, Finds New GSMA Study ·Ethiopia&sGebeyaacquires Coders4Africa to accelerate its growth ·Rwanda, Andela partner to launch pan-African tech hub in Kigali ·Googlefree public Wi-Fi initiative expanded to Africa ·Accounteer wins 2018 MEST Entrepreneur challenge ·SafeBoda completes expansion to Kenya, now live in Nairobi ·Uganda government sued over social media tax

In a statement released today, Juul Labs has responded to FDA moves to increase regulation on flavored tobacco products in order to curb underage use. This comes at a time when Juul Labs is under increasing scrutiny.

Herethe statement from Juul Labs CEO Kevin Burns:

We fully support FDAefforts to curb underage use of tobacco products, and we believe restricting access to flavors will negatively impact current adult smokers in their journey to switch from combustible cigarettes. Appropriate flavors help adult smokers who do not want to be reminded of the tobacco-taste of a cigarette. We encourage FDA to allow for further scientific exploration on the role flavors play in helping adult smokers transition away from combustible cigarettes.

Itworth noting that, alongside flavors such as Mint, Cucumber, and Mango, Juul also markets a Virginia Tobacco-flavored pod.

This statement follows a proposed ruling by the FDA in March requesting data on the effectiveness of tobacco flavors to help adult smokers smoke less as well as the role they play in initiating non-smoking youth to use tobacco products. In April the FDA requested information from JUUL in particular.

And in May, the FDA and FTC issued 13 letters of warning for e-liquid products that &resemble kid-friendly food products, such as juice boxes, candy or cookies, some of them with cartoon-like imagery,& including e-liquids that resembled Sour Patch Kids, Pocky and Reddi-wip.

A concern to the FDA, as well as parents, is that even if children don&t use these products to start smoking, they can be easily confused with the products they imitate and be harmful if consumed. Thatnot to mention the numerous reports saying use of Juul vaporizers by teens is on the rise.

To answer this point, Burns also noted that &[Juul] also remain[s] steadfast in our commitment to preventing underage use of vapor products.& The company switched its age limit to 21+ following state and federal legislation to make 21 the minimum purchasing age. Italso changed its social media presence to better reflect former cigarette smokers, instead of using models to market the device.

But, despite these attempts to reorient its image as a tool to help smokers quit, between April and July of this year Juul has been on the receiving end oftwo lawsuits filed by users in California that claim the e-cigarette actually increased their nicotine addiction.

Herethe statement in full:

Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, with more than 480,000 deaths in the United States each year. Our mission is to eliminate cigarette smoking in the world by providing adult smokers with a true alternative to cigarettes. We believe flavors play an important role in helping adult smokers switch to vapor technology, which offers great potential.

We fully support FDAefforts to curb underage use of tobacco products, and we believe restricting access to flavors will negatively impact current adult smokers in their journey to switch from combustible cigarettes. Appropriate flavors help adult smokers who do not want to be reminded of the tobacco-taste of a cigarette. We encourage FDA to allow for further scientific exploration on the role flavors play in helping adult smokers transition away from combustible cigarettes.

As JUUL Labs works to support adult smokers in their efforts to switch, we also remain steadfast in our commitment to preventing underage use of vapor products. Both goals can be achieved through reasonable regulation to restrict advertising and naming of flavors such as cotton candy and gummy bear that are directed at children. We look forward to continuing to engage with FDA, policymakers, and community leaders on helping to reduce cigarette use while protecting young people.

I love camping, but therealways an awkward period when you&ve left the tent but haven&t yet created coffee that I hate camping. Ithard not to watch the pot not boil and not want to just go back to bed, but since the warm air escaped when I opened the tent itpointless! Anyway, the Swiss figured out a great way to boil water faster, and I want one of these sweet stoves now.

The PeakBoil stove comes from design students at ETH Zurich, who have clearly faced the same problems as myself. But since they actually camp in inclement weather, they also have to deal with wind blowing out the feeble flame of an ordinary gas burner.

Their attempt to improve on the design takes the controversial step of essentially installing a stovepipe inside the vessel and heating it from the inside out rather than from the bottom up. This has been used in lots of other situations to heat water but itthe first time I&ve seen it in a camp stove.

By carefully configuring the gas nozzles and adding ripples to the wall of the heat pipe, PeakBoil &increases the contact area between the flame and the jug,& explained doctoral student and project leader Julian Ferchow in an ETH Zurich news release.

&That, plus the fact that the wall is very thin, makes heat transfer to the contents of the jug ideal,& added his colleague Patrick Beutler.

Keeping the flames isolated inside the chimney behind baffles minimizes wind interference with the flames, and prevents you having to burn extra gas to keep it alive.

The design was created using a selective laser melting or sintering process, in which metal powder is melted in a pattern much like a 3D printer lays down heated plastic. Itreally just another form of additive manufacturing, and it gave the students &a huge amount of design freedom…with metal casting, for instance, we could never achieve channels that are as thin as the ones inside our gas burner,& Ferchow said.

Of course, the design means itpretty much only usable for boiling water (you wouldn&t want to balance a pan on top of it), but thatsuch a common and specific use case that many campers already have a stove dedicated to the purpose.

The team is looking to further improve the design and also find an industry partner with which to take it to market. MSR, GSI, REI… I&m looking at you. Together we can make my mornings bearable.