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Wasoko, Africa’s Leading B2B E-commerce Company, Sees Valuation Cut to $260M as VC Reduces Share

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VNV Global attributes its fair value estimate to a valuation model based on trading multiples of public peers rather than historical funding rounds. Funding and interest in B2B startups took off in the last decade and saw a bump in the wake of COVID-19. African startups, including B2B e-commerce platforms like Wasoko, have followed the same playbook as their counterparts further afield: layoffs; cost cuts; and closures are not uncommon. In the lead-up to its merger with MaxAB, Wasoko shuttered hubs in Senegal and Ivory Coast and laid off staff in Kenya. It operates a food and grocery B2B e-commerce platform in Egypt and Morocco, expanding to the latter following its acquisition of YC-backed WaystoCap in 2021.

Viacom18 Stake to be Acquired by Reliance from Paramount Global for More than $500M

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Paramount Global has reached a binding agreement to sell its stake in Reliance-controlled Indian media house Viacom18 to Reliance for $517 million, both companies said Wednesday. The deal will increase Reliance’s stake in Viacom18, which operates dozens of TV channels as well as streaming service JioCinema, to 70.49%, Reliance said in its disclosure. Law firm JSA Associates said late last month that it was advising the two firms for the deal. The move follows Disney announcing plans to merge its India business with Viacom18 late last month. Viacom18 also counts Bodhi Tree, an investment firm run by James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, among its backers.

“Masayoshi Son of SoftBank Aims for $100 Billion to Launch Revolutionary AI Chip Enterprise”

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Nvidia currently dominates the AI chip market with its GPU chips. OpenAI chief Sam Altman is reportedly also in talks with investors in the United Arab Emirates to raise an eye-watering $5 trillion to $7 trillion for a new AI chip project. Altman has reportedly met with a number of potential investors, chip industry experts and others across the globe, including SoftBank’s Son, for the new AI chip initiative. Shift focus (from Alibaba) to AIA new chip project would be line with the company’s new focus on AI. Shares of SoftBank closed 2.8% higher on Monday after Son’s AI chip project news broke on Saturday.

Verdane Invests $65M in Meltwater: The Rising Media Monitoring Startup

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The investment is coming by way of Verdane taking a substantial stake Fountain Venture, the investment vehicle controlled by the founder and current chairman of Meltwater, Jørn Lyseggen. Joakim Kjemperud, a principal at Verdane, said the deal also gives his firm a stake in an HR firm, Jobylon, although Meltwater is by far the bigger asset. In that context, it’s notable that Verdane opted to invest in Fountain Venture rather than directly in Meltwater. That will give Verdane not only the stake in Meltwater, but also a stake in Jobylon and whatever else Fountain and Lyseggen find interesting. Meltwater built AI in-house and has acquired a stream of businesses in an analytics consolidation play.