Google updates Gmail users following crash reports, A Look At Kuda’s business model – Tech Wrap Up For The Week

Google tells Gmail users to update app following reported crash

Many Gmail users reported their Gmail mobile app crashing on March 23rd even though the desktop version posed no such issue.

Following the reports, Goggle informed its users on steps to take to avoid a repeat of such crashes.

According to the tech giant, users needed to update both Android System WebView and Google Chrome on their smartphones. It further gave the following instructions for users to follow in updating these components:

Navigate to Play Store app.

Search for Android System WebView.

Select the “Update” option.

Repeat these steps for Google Chrome.

Once these updates are complete, the issue should be resolved, according to Google.

It further said that “Updating Android System WebView and Google Chrome via Google Play should now resolve the issue for all users.”

A Look at Kuda’s business model

Last week, Nigerian Fintech startup Kuda announced that it had raised $25 million in a Series A round which was led by Valar Ventures which is founded and backed by Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel

This followed the $10 million it raised earlier in November last year at a time it said it had just 300,000 customers which was a mix of individuals and sole-proprietors with which it was processing an average of $500 million worth of transactions monthly.

Fast forward to five months later, it says it now has 650,000 users and a secured investment round.

The digital bank is looking to provide banking services to Africa’s unbanked populace and just how it plans to achieve this remains to be seen, although it appears the founders have their business model cut out.

According to Ryan Laubscher, who just recently joined the bank as its COO, he says they will do this by “blowing customers away” with unparalleled customer service.

He also recently revealed to TechCabal that Kuda processed $2.2 billion in transactions in February 2021 alone – a staggering increase from $5.2 million processed in February 2020 which shows just how well it appears to be doing and the potentials in the market.

Kuda is a mobile-first, digital micro-finance bank with a flagship savings product that allows users to save money after they must have completed the KYC steps. Customers can also receive deposits into their accounts.

But how well is the bank positioned to drive customer acquisition and onboarding given Nigeria, nay Africa’s poor digital penetration? To a large extent, many traders and artisans still carry out most of their transactions by cash, and cash still largely remains king in the street.

Also, information has it that about 66% of African adults are not banked. These are people who do not have most of the documentation required to open an account over the counter.

Laubscher says Kuda is building a large data and decision science center in Cape Town. This data center will help improve its capacity to make data-driven decisions around credit origination as well as running the company’s internal operations.

Regardless of the foreseen constraints, the digital bank’s management appears to have mapped out it’s strategy towards a bullish customer acquisition drive in the coming months.

Safaricom wants the court to stop move to ban illegal streaming of sport events

Safaricom is appealing an order of the court to blacklist sites that provide illegal streaming of sport events to Kenyans.

Earlier in 2020, Multichoice the South African digital TV company and owners of SuperSport had approached a Kenyan court to compel Safaricom and Jamil Telecom to ban sites that allow for illegal streaming of matches over its network as it felt this was affecting its revenue.

It argued that thousands of households preferred to watch matches over Wi-Fi as it was more affordable than paying for cable TV subscription.

However, Safaricom is contesting this saying that if MultiChoice wish is effected, it would set a dangerous precedence as well as put telcos giant at risk by increasing the possibility of being sued by several other media companies.

MultiChoice is however arguing that it owns the copyrights of the contents of these streaming websites thus making it a case of clear copyright infringement.

It remains to be seen which way the court will eventually bow but from the look of things, MultiChoice may eventually have its way which may effectively set the ball in motion for other companies to follow suit.