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Partner(s)
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Good morning!
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It was only a matter of time before startup accelerators make massive cuts on the number of startups they can take on.
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In a not-so-shocking move, Y Combinator, one of the biggest startup accelerators, said that it is cutting the startups it's accepting into its program this year by almost half.
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Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.
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Summary of the news
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- Amazon is bucking the online ad trend and has beat out Google and Meta
- Y Combinator has slashed its Startups Accelerator Class by 40%
- The Solana attack has cost users more than $5 million so far
- Airtel and MTN record over $2.9bn revenue from Nigeria in 6 months
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Amazon just beat out Google and Meta in Advert
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Social media giants Meta and Snap are telling investors that the online advertising market is experiencing some turbulence due to the economic slowdown. Amazon is sending a very different message.
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While the bulk of its business comes from e-commerce and cloud computing, Amazon has built a robust online ad division by getting brands to pay big bucks to promote their products on the company’s website and app.
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In the second quarter, Amazon grew faster than either of its larger peers in the market and also beat out the rest of the major players. Amazon’s ad revenue rose 18% from a year earlier to $8.76 billion, topping analysts’ expectations and underscoring the unit’s rapid ascent and increasing importance to brands.
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By contrast, Facebook’s ad business shrank for the first time ever, missing analyst estimates, and the company forecast a second consecutive decline in revenue in the current period.
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Here are the growth rates in descending order for the top online ad platforms.
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- Amazon — 18%
- Snap — 13%
- Google — 12%
- Pinterest — 9%
- Twitter — 2%
- Facebook — (1.5%)
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A word from our sponsor!
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Fincra is a startup that creates API products for businesses with the aim of helping them build and launch their embedded payment features, using a concept called Banking as a Service (Baas).
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"What is BaaS?" One might ask. BaaS helps non-banking businesses with financial infrastructure, allowing them to deliver their products faster to the market.
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Now, this is where Fincra comes in. It offers something called Fincra BaaS APIs. With Fincra BaaS APIs businesses and fintechs can embed payment services into their software.
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These platforms can offer various payment services like collecting payments from customers and disbursement.
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At its core, Fincra provides banking services for platforms on the API level, with the goal of building API infrastructure that connects Africa to the rest of the world. With Fincra's APIs, platforms can build quick and seamless financial applications for scalability across Africa and the rest of the world.
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Y Combinator slashes accelerator class by 40%
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Y Combinator has cut the number of startups it is funding and training this summer by about half compared to its winter program, a spokesperson confirmed, citing the current economic downturn and venture capital funding as the major cause in reducing its class size, The Information reports and verified by TechCrunch.
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The Summer 2022 cohort of Y Combinator is currently operating with around 250 firms, down 40% from the Summer 2018 cohort’s total of 414 companies.
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Technext reports that the decision means 250 companies will pitch themselves to potential investors in early September at Y Combinator’s virtual demo day, a biannual rite of passage that helped launch brands like DoorDash and Coinbase.
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The downsizing also follows mounting criticism that Y Combinator had grown too large, damaging its reputation for churning out Silicon Valley’s best startups.
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Solana attack has cost users over $5 million so far
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Nearly 8,000 digital wallets have been drained of just over $5.2 million in digital coins including Solana's sol token and USD Coin (USDC), according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. The Twitter account Solana Status confirmed the attack, noting that as of Wednesday morning, approximately 7,767 wallets have been affected by the exploit. Elliptic’s estimate is slightly higher at 7,936 wallets.
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Starting Tuesday evening, multiple users began reporting that assets held in “hot” wallets — that is, internet-connected addresses, including Phantom, Slope and Trust Wallet — had been emptied of funds.
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Elliptic chief scientist Tom Robinson said that the root cause of the breach is still unclear, but “it appears to be due to a flaw in certain wallet software, rather than in the Solana blockchain itself.”
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Airtel & MTN record $2.9bn revenue from Nigeria in 6 months
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In the first six months of 2022, MTN Nigeria disclosed that it made ₦850.33 billion from calls and data, an increase of 18.50% from the ₦717.56 billion it made in the corresponding period of 2021, according to Technext.
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Airtel Nigeria disclosed that it made ₦399.39 billion ($931 million) from calls and data, a 16.23% increase from the ₦343.63 billion ($801 million) it made in the corresponding period of 2021.
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MTN Nigeria CEO, Karl Toriola, said:
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During the first half of 2022, we made good progress in strengthening the resilience of the business in the face of our increasingly challenging operating environment with rising energy, food and general inflation putting pressure on consumer spending.
The conflict in Ukraine as well as implementation of a “zero-COVID” policy in China, has also put a strain on global supply chains. To mitigate global supply chain and exchange rate risks, we accelerated capital expenditure for network expansion into the H1 2022.
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Segun Ogunsanya, Group Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa said:
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I am pleased to report that the Group has continued to post double-digit revenue growth, margin improvement and strong earnings growth.
I am also particularly pleased with our ongoing strengthening of the balance sheet, which continued after the period ended, with early repayment of $450 million of debt at the Group level.
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Latest in funding
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Other stories we are following
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