Itana, a tech firm that is building the first digital free zone in the country, has raised $2 million in a pre-seed round led by global venture capitalists, Local Globe, Amplo, Pronomos Capital and Future Africa.
The deal brings together a powerhouse of deep industry expertise and technical know-how from partners that have backed model digital societies such as e-Estonia, and built products that scale.
The funding milestone would support Itana’s efforts to improve the ease-of-doing-business index, drive foreign direct investment, and catalyse employment in Nigeria.
Itana, formerly Talent City, is founded by Nigerian entrepreneurs, Luqman Edu, who is the Chief Executive Officer, and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, a founding investor as well as Coco Liu who is the Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Edu has an extensive portfolio, providing services and building technology solutions for cities and governments in the United Kingdom and Nigeria, while Aboyeji is the Founding Partner of Future Africa and Co-founder of Andela and Flutterwave. Liu brings operational excellence from her experience working for some of the biggest global tech companies and building early-stage startups.
Itana Free Zone will be designed specifically for local and global startups, technology and service businesses looking to scale their operations across Africa without facing the challenges of unstable policies, infrastructural deficits and other business challenges.
“Using ‘Itana Edge’, our online one-stop-shop platform for business and government services, companies will also take advantage of globally competitive business policies and incentives (as a digital free-zone enterprise). These incentives include taxation, business visas, banking, capital repatriation and supportive legislation for businesses, whilst providing access to the local and international business community. With this, Itana aims to provide an environment that will allow companies to operate a global business in Nigeria from anywhere in the world, and have access to the largest markets in Africa.
“We are thrilled to announce this round of funding. It validates our efforts, and reiterates the aligned vision with our investors and partners to make it easy to invest and operate in Africa’s digital economy,” said Edu.