Itana (previously Talent City) has raised a $2 million pre-seed from several investors, including Future Africa, LocalGlobe, Amplo, and Pronomos Capital.
Itana was founded by CEO Luqman Edu, COO Coco Liu, and Aboyeji and its aim is to be Africa’s first digital free zone.
The founders say the funding will support the startup’s efforts to improve Nigeria’s ease-of-doing-business index, drive foreign direct investment (FDI), and catalyze employment in Nigeria.
Details
The Founders say that Itana will allow businesses will have access to the prospective 72,000-square-meter “live-work-build” campus, Itana District, which plans to accommodate permanent residents and visitors from the digital community for networking events, co-working, and co-living.
Itana will explore several revenue streams from providing unique digital and physical online jurisdictions for global businesses trying to operate in Africa.
The first layer is the annual subscription of business licenses; revenue is shared with the government. Then, several other revenue streams would be around on-demand services from the Free Zone’s one-stop-shop app, such as banking, visas, tax auditing, recruitment, payroll management, business sector licenses, and establishing minimal transaction fees for non-VAT revenue.
“We will work with relevant government agencies and as our clients expand, grow and make money, we will find a way to optimize our revenue along the way,” said the COO, who brings operational excellence from her experience working for Google and building early-stage startups.
What They’re Saying
“The market opportunity to serve digital service and technology businesses in Africa is significant. The ecosystem is growing at pace despite the huge infrastructure challenges faced by startups across the continent,” said Yvonne Bajela, partner at LocalGlobe, on the investment.
“We’ve seen the success of digital societies, such as e-Estonia, in enabling businesses to scale. We’re excited about the potential for Itana to proactively address these challenges while supporting a new generation of entrepreneurs in Nigeria and beyond.”
What Happens Next
Itana plans to go live in the first quarter of 2024 and will start its pilot in Nigeria with a few select businesses in the coming weeks.
The first phase of its development will be completed by 2027.
Source: Techcrunch
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