Sapphire Ventures closes $1 billion fund to back startups

Venture capital firm Sapphire Ventures has closed a $1 billion fund to invest in technology startups, becoming the latest investment firm to join a record-breaking clip of venture fundraising.
Sapphire Ventures, which in 2011 spun out of technology firm SAP but still relies on that company as its sole funding source, has backed high-profile startups such as Square, Box and Fitbit and plans to use the new fund to invest in growth-stage technology startups, the firm said on Wednesday.
The $1 billion pot is Sapphire Ventures’ third and largest fund and nearly doubles the assets the firm has under management to $2.4 billion.
“It’s been a good five years,” said Nino Marakovic, chief executive and managing director of Sapphire Ventures.

Agip train SMEs on capacity growth initiatives

To build the capacity of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the oil and gas sector across the Niger Delta, the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC/ENI), said over 730 vendors have been trained so far under its capacity development initiatives programmes.
Disclosing this at the opening ceremony of a two-day Business Leadership Workshop organised by the oil giant for small and medium scale business vendors, the Vice Chairman/Managing Director, Massimo Insula, said it was geared towards entrenching small and medium scale businesses for community content and sustainability.
Represented by Manager, Nigeria Content Coordination District, Albert Ijuiwe, said the workshop is designed to be an inspirational programme for business excellence as part of efforts to build their capacities.

Nigeria loses out on global energy investment chart

Total global investment in the energy sector has declined from the $2 trillion recorded in the preceding year to $1.8 trillion in 2015, says the World Energy Investment 2016 of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The disclosure comes as sources at the Ministry of Power said government was doing everything it could to ensure payment of a N93 billion electricity debt owed distribution companies by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) before the end of the year.
A source said the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, received report on the debt in his office on Wednesday, adding that the Debt Management Office (DMO) had initiated a pay-off plan.
The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) put the MDAs’ debt at about N78.7 billion, with the Nigerian Army as single largest debtor to distribution companies, having