The online – Used vehicle selling platform in Egypt, Sylndr has raised $15.7 million in a series- A funding round, with plans to expand its offering into vehicle financing, vehicle insurance and expanding its network to include tools for dealers. The round was led by Development Partners International’s Nclude Fund and included follow-on investments from Algebra Ventures and Nclude. “We’re incredibly excited about this new chapter and deeply grateful for the support and  belief our shareholders continue to place in our mission,” said Omar El Defrawy, Co founder and CEO of Sylndr. “This round allows us to scale nationally and expand our  product offering as we continue building the go-to platform for mobility in Egypt.” The company, which operates in Egypt’s fast-growing but under-digitized vehicle market, said the latest round includes both fresh equity and previously unannounced seed financing.

MaxAB–Wasoko, Africa’s largest retail and supply chain super app, has acquired Fatura, a leading Egyptian B2B e-commerce marketplace, from EFG Finance. The acqusition will see a consolidation of accelerating convergence of digital commerce and fintech in the African informal retail sector. The transaction, grants EFG Finance a significant equity stake and board seat in MaxAB-Wasoko, and has been seen as a strategic move to be the major player in the  $600 Billion informal retail market by looking to bring together, under a single umbrella, what is currently a series of fragmented supply chains with embedded financial services.

China’s 10-year government bond yield fell to around 1.67% on Tuesday, reaching a near three-month low, with the markets carefully asses the impact of the People’s Bank of China’s decision to cut key lending rates for the first time in seven months. At the May fixing, the central bank slashed the one-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points to 3.0% and the five-year LPR, which serves as a reference for mortgage rates, by the same margin to 3.5%. The move, widely anticipated, brought both rates to new record lows and followed a broader round of monetary easing measures earlier this month. This comes as Beijing ramps up efforts to boost a sluggish economy amid trade tensions that threaten to hamper its economic growth.

Currency markets indicate the US Dollar has weakened against major currencies, and is currently trading against the Euro at 1.112586, and against the Pound at 1.33749 The Yen is currently trading higher at 144.33 to the dollar, with the rand remaining in a tight range of just over R18.00 to the dollar, and currently trading at R18.07.

• Coffee futures prices are trending over 2% lower this morning and are at $375.22 currently.

• Bitcoin prices are currently trading upwards this morning, and are currently trading at $105601
• Ether prices have gained over 0,5% this morning, and are currently at $2543.50
• $Trumpcoin is trading 0,65% higher today, and is currently trading at $12.88

(All prices quoted at approximately 08H20 – Central African Time)

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), yesterday made a ruling that has favoured Equatorial Guinea’s claim to ownership of three islands off its coast, is upheld. The finding was predominantly based on a 1900 treaty that was established to allocate colonial assets once held by France and Spain. The two Central African countries have been in dispute regarding ownership of Conga, Mbanié and Cocoteros, the three islands in dispute,  for over 50-years now. While the Islands have no human inhabitants, they are in an area that oil exploration groups believe to hold large oil and gas deposites and neither country has been able to issue any permits to do exploratory drilling due to the disputed ownership. The ICJ finding will now open up this possibility with the view to determining the scope of the oil deposites and is likely to see rapid developments.

Tanzania’s most prominent opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, who has been charged with treason in what appears to be “political lawfare” appeared in court in Dar Es Salaam yesterday to face the treason charges after calling for electoral reforms ahead of October’s general election. A conviction for treason carries a death penalty, however  Lissu did not show any trepidation at his appearance and wore a T-shirt reading “no reforms, no election” — echoing the call that led to his April 9 arrest after addressing a political rally. Lissu has also embarked on a hunger strike to protest making a virtual court appearance instead of being allowed to show up in person. Investigators asked for two more weeks to complete investigations. The trial will proceed on June 2.