This is our summary of some of the notable Corporate Deals that affected Nigerian companies in 2020.
 
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January 2020
 
@Paga announced investment in Ethiopian-based software development firm, Apposit for an undisclosed amount. The deal gave Paga full access to the expertise of Apposit’s engineers and technicians.
@Flutterwave, a Nigerian payment firm raised a sum of $35m in series B funding, led by VC firms, eVentures and Greycoft. The deal allows Flutterwave to embark on its expansion plans to Francophone and northern African countries.
Also, @Bolt received $55.8m debt financing from the EU Inv. Bank (EIB) in order to improve on technology as well as launch into new businesses.
@AccessBank acquired Kenyan Based TNB for an undisclosed amount.
February 2020
@LeapFrog III Insurance acquired 38.8% major equity stake in AIICO Insurance for N5.28bn. This was a move to boost the capital base of AIICO Insurance.
@AellaCredit secured a $10m debt financing round from Singaporean based, HQ Financial Group. The new capital raise was aimed at facilitating improved financial inclusion across Nigeria, West Africa, and other emerging markets.
March 2020
@Farmcrowdy acquired a majority stake in Best Foods for an undisclosed amount in its bid to explore the meat business.
@FieldIntelligence secured $3.6m in a Series A funding round led by Blue Haven Initiative, Sunu Capital, Accion Venture Lab and Imperial Venture Fund.
April 2020
@UnitedCapital successfully raised a sum of N5.3bn in a Series 1 and 2 CP Issuance.

@DangoteCement also completed the Issuance of N100bn Series 1 Fixed Rate Senior Unsecured Bonds due in April 2025.
US and Nigeria-based startup, @54gene raised $15m in a Series A round from various Investors in order to intensify its effort in the collection of African genetic code.
May 2020

Ride-hailing service @Bolt raised EUR 100m from London-based investment firm Naya Capital.
Nigerian based company, @TomatoJos secured Series A round funding of EUR 3.9m from investment firms. The company hopes to increase the sustainability and stability of food supply in Nigeria.
@HeliumHealth completed a $10m funding round led by Dubai-based firm, Global Ventures and Asia Africa Investment & Consulting (AAIC).
June 2020
@ChipperCash secured $13.8m Series A funding from Deciens Capital, a US-based venture capital and private equity firm.
Energicity Corp closed a $3.25m seed investment led by Sustainability-focused venture capital fund and Ecosystem Integrity Fund.
July 2020
Nigerian based e-commerce platform @TradeDepot raised $10m in a preSeries B equity round, led by Partech, IFC, We-Fi, and MSA Capital.
Nigeria’s JET Motor Company raised $9m funding after creating an electric vehicle.
August 2020
Dangote Cement listed its N50bn Commercial Paper Notes in Series 17 & 18 under its N150bn CP Programme
September 2020
Inq, a subsidiary of Convergence partners acquired 100% stakes of Vodacom operations in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and Zambia.
Heineken Brouwerijen B.V purchased additional 3.3m units of Nigerian Breweries shares.
October 2020
Global fintech giant Stripe acquired Nigeria’s fintech startup, @Paystack in a deal worth $200m and the biggest M&A deal in Nigerian tech history.
November 2020
@Kuda raised $10m funding led by Target Global alongside Entrée Capital and SBI Investment.

December 2020
@InfraCo Africa completed a $27m equity investment in Nigeria’s InfraCredit with the aim of growing the credit institution.
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More from Economy

$600/wk Unemployment Insurance cannot deliver the benefits of a $600/wk Job Guarantee. From the outset, I should say JG is not a replacement for UI, no matter what you may have heard. I’ll get to this later, but read this long 🧶 w/ that in mind.


Automatic stabilization: Both $600/wk UI and JG will provide counter cyclical spending. But UI will be weaker. Counter-cyclical stabilization is not just about the absence of income. It is also about the transmission and structure of economy

Firms don't like to hire the unemployed. Mass and long-term unemployment make the problem worse. JG would recover labor markets much faster than a UI of the same amount, both b/c of the higher direct, induced & tertiary employment effects & b/c of private firm hiring preferences.

JG stabilizes spending patterns better. Uncertain job prospects may mean more cautious spending from the unemployed compared to those w/ guaranteed jobs.
UI is temporary, which makes matters worse. Even if it were permanent, it still won't resolve the problem of job scarcity.

Nations who once achieved tight full employment through active labor market policies demonstrate that unemployment does NOT fluctuate the same way it does w/o them. Direct employment, ELR type policies diminish drastically/even eliminate these amplitudes (eg postwar Japan/Sweden)
The argument for deficits & debt raising interest rates in the US is not increased credit risk, it is that interest rates are a function of economic fundamentals, flows & policy. Deficits/debt change those.

I can't tell if I'm agreeing or disagreeing with @jc_econ.


Increasing government spending or reducing taxes increases demand (or reduces saving). This raises the price of loanable funds or the interest rate.

In a dynamic context, more demand means a stronger economy, the central bank raises interest rates sooner, and long rates rise.

(As an aside, we are not close to the United States needing to worry about credit risk and the risks are more overstated than understated in most other advanced economies too. But credit risk is not always & everywhere irrelevant, just look at the UK in 1976 or Canada in 1994.)

Interest rates have fallen over the last 20 yrs while debt has risen. This does not necessarily mean that debt rising causes interest rates to fall. It could also mean that other things have happened at he same time that pushed down interest rates more than debt pushed them up.

The suspects for these "other things" include slower productivity growth, slower popln growth, higher inequality, less investment, etc. All of which either increase the supply of saving or reduce the demand for investment, reducing the equilibrium interest rate.
True that all the people cherishing the support of IMF or WTO for farm reforms need to cool it down a bit, because that is a model we do not want to emulate to the t in India here.

But here are some issues that deserve to be better discussed by all:


1. People who say we are emulating the Western model of agriculture are way off with this assumption. The process of primitive accumulation, the alienation of their people from their land and the way these 'first-world' countries have pushed their people into Industrial sector +

+ was a merciless phase.
But the same assumption won't work for India, because we have always had a large workforce in agriculture, agri subsidies have always run high, protection has been the hallmark of agriculture and rural representation in the parliament has always been+

+ high. Still, it is our utter failure from the beginning that we have not been able to incentivize the movement of our people to other lucrative sectors.

2. This brings us to the another point of providing MSP on all the commodities and the demand side of the issue that we+

+ conveniently ignore. Here's the thing, Food prices in India have about 65-70% weight in calculating the Consumer Price Index and 25-30% of wholesale price index. These indices affect the general price level in the economy i.e. the inflation. If MSP is offered on all the+

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