Ndubuisi Ekekwe

Ndubuisi Ekekwe Professor, Inventor & Entrepreneur
(2)

In this business, you write tons of cheques to founders and startups. We make about 40 investments yearly. Deals happen....
09/25/2026

In this business, you write tons of cheques to founders and startups. We make about 40 investments yearly. Deals happen. Exits happen. Failures exist. But I found the Blaxel team to be superbly amazing. I want to commend the team for caring for their investors.

While I cannot disclose terms of its acquisition by Baseten here, the whole thing was designed to make investors and shareholders have a great win. Guys, we appreciate that!

And Baseten, we received the share certificate today. We will be praying for an opening ringing of a bell at NASDAQ very soon! Go and win the market and do it. Tekedia Capital is excited to be part of one of the most amazing startups in the world right now.

Baseten reached a valuation of $13 billion in June 2026, driven by massive enterprise demand for AI inference infrastructure.

Valuation Milestones (from Google public search)
-June 2026 ($13 Billion): Raised a split-tranche $1.5 billion
-Series F round (valued between $11B and $13B) led by Altimeter Capital, Conviction, and Spark Capital, with Sands Capital and Wellington Management co-leading.
-January 2026 ($5 Billion): Secured a $300 million Series E round led by IVP and CapitalG, which included a $150 million investment from Nvidia.

-September 2025 ($2.15 Billion): Closed a $150 million Series D round led by BOND.
-February 2025 ($825 Million): Reached an $825 million valuation during a $75 million Series C round.
-March 2024 (~$200 Million): Valued around $200 million following its Series B round

Yes, the valuation moved from $2.15 billion in September 2025 to $13 billion in June 2026! Do not ask me where it is now!

Tekedia Capital >> we befriend the world’s finest builders on the pursuit of entrepreneurial capitalism.

Good People, let me share Tekedia Mini-MBA Live and Tekedia Capital OPEN scheduled Zoom programs:From SAP, Aderinola Olo...
09/24/2026

Good People, let me share Tekedia Mini-MBA Live and Tekedia Capital OPEN scheduled Zoom programs:

From SAP, Aderinola Oloruntoye, a zen-master and a legend on design thinking will teach a course on how to design category-king products. This is one of the most important courses in our Mini-MBA program because it focuses on the foundational element of business: “every great company has a great product or service”.
Thur, Sept 24 | 7pm-8pm WAT | Design Thinking and Innovation – Aderinola Oloruntoye – SAP | Zoom link in board



On Saturday, I will continue the lecture on the mission of firms, explaining the transduction process in markets. The core thesis is how to turn the "idea state" into "revenue state" in business, mimicking the transduction process of natural philosophy.
Sat, Sept 26 | 7pm-8.30pm WAT | Innovation Transduction: From Ideas to Revenue – Ndubuisi Ekekwe | Zoom link in board



On the same Saturday, I will explain via Tekedia Capital OPEN how we invest and what we look for in builders to support them. In next quarter, we plan to support 18-20 companies globally, writing cheques to advance human progress and prosperity. This is open and Zoom link is one on click.
Event: Tekedia Capital OPEN
Topic: The World of Abundance And What We Fund
Speaker: Ndubuisi Ekekwe
Date: Saturday, Sept 26, 2026 | Time: 4pm – 5pm WAT
Zoom link (free and open): the link is here https://www.tekedia.com/the-world-of-abundance-and-what-we-fund-tekedia-capital-open-sept-26th-4pm-wat/



Tekedia Capital OPEN begins a new investment cycle for Tekedia Capital. We welcome builders and new members here https://capital.tekedia.com/course/fee/

Good People: Let us celebrate the excellence of Nigeria’s young people. Across our remarkable nation, we have exceptiona...
09/22/2026

Good People: Let us celebrate the excellence of Nigeria’s young people. Across our remarkable nation, we have exceptionally talented young men and women. I have visited more than 100 Nigerian universities, teaching and supporting students in electronics and technology. You can see some photographs from those engagements here: https://www.tekedia.com/afrit-workshops/.



From Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and to the peerless and unmatched Federal University of Technology, Owerri (GREAT FUTO), I have seen the depth of Nigeria’s latent talent. Our nation has brilliant young people who, with modest support and the right opportunities, can deliver extraordinary results.



That is why the products emerging from our companies, including the Contisx Phone, are national products. We have a small design centre in Kano, and our lead engineer is currently there, working with the team on a critical component of our product. He visited two weeks ago, returned to Kano and will conclude the assignment before travelling back to Owerri next week.



If the Local Government Chairman sees this social-media post and extends an invitation, I will ask the team to pay him a courtesy visit. But that is secondary; our primary focus remains the mission and the work: build great products that solve people’s problems.



Whatever you admire in what we are building, please celebrate it as the work of one team, from one country and one people, serving one continent. When we launch, you will see something built by Team Nigeria for all Nigerians and for the world. Visit contisx.com and feel free to share ideas on how we can co-build things that will actualize the vision of "exchanging prosperity".

The world is full of abundance. Humanity exists on a positive continuum, improving asymptotically over time, even when t...
09/21/2026

The world is full of abundance. Humanity exists on a positive continuum, improving asymptotically over time, even when the instantaneous states may appear otherwise. Yes, frictions are everywhere, and we live with them daily. But as better companies emerge and evolve, many of those frictions are progressively overcome.

How do we overcome frictions in markets? We build companies. Companies organize the factors of production around the three pillars of people, processes and tools. Through those pillars, they create products and services. Those products and services become forces that overcome market frictions and unlock new possibilities.

Yet much of the world’s abundance remains latent. To discover and unlock it, we need systems. From the Pythagorean postulation that the universe can be understood through numbers, humanity has continued to build systems to make sense of numbers which provide clarity on our world. Yes, better computational systems provide deeper understanding of our world.

At Tekedia Capital, we are looking for founders who can build the defining systems of the 21st century, unlock latent opportunities, advance shared prosperity and restore the dignity of humanity.

Last quarter, OpenAI acquired our portfolio company TensorPool; Vercel acquired Better Auth, and Baseten acquired Blaxel. We also expect another portfolio company to go public soon.

Join me at Tekedia Capital OPEN as we discuss how we identify and invest in companies in this age of abundance. This quarter, we are investing in about 20 companies, supporting founders building the future.

Event: Tekedia Capital OPEN
Topic: The World of Abundance And What We Fund
Date: Saturday, Sept 26, 2026
Time: 4pm – 5pm WAT
Zoom link (free and open) here https://www.tekedia.com/the-world-of-abundance-and-what-we-fund-tekedia-capital-open-sept-26th-4pm-wat/

Amazing young people, thank you to everyone who sent a CV to explore opportunities at Contisx. As promised, we will laun...
09/21/2026

Amazing young people, thank you to everyone who sent a CV to explore opportunities at Contisx. As promised, we will launch our comprehensive careers page as soon as the stock exchange begins operations. We are now at the finish line.



But you do not have to work directly for Contisx to participate in what we are building. Through our software development kits, APIs and other tools, developers and entrepreneurs will be able to build independent solutions on our infrastructure. We want you to create for the markets around you and prepare those markets for the future.



Beyond the Contisx Phone, we have the Contisx Blockchain Card and other solutions. The phone, card and the solutions provide a foundation for secure, affordable and scalable regional digital-asset infrastructure for emergent digital economy, well beyond what we have today. The card integrates seamlessly with the Contisx Phone, enabling businesses and people to manage essential commercial services through a unified platform while eliminating most costs we see in the digital rails. Imagine paying for things without those expensive transaction fees. I am sure you will want your customers to save money! And ContiSX Blockchain Card will be amazing for them; we will launch it once our exchange begins.



Young People, we are here to support. Visit contisx.com and see what excites you. Together, we can accomplish remarkable things across Nigeria and Africa.

Good People, we received nearly 50 orders overnight. I thank Nigerians for always supporting this village boy. Thank you...
09/20/2026

Good People, we received nearly 50 orders overnight. I thank Nigerians for always supporting this village boy. Thank you. Let me respond to some of the questions here about the Contisx Phone.

- We have prepaid participating telecommunications companies in Nigeria. When you use the Contisx Phone for messaging through Contisx Mail, voice calls through Contisx Audio, or video calls through Contisx Video, you will not consume your mobile data because access to those services is covered within our native ecosystem. However, you will need your own mobile data to use external services such as YouTube, Facebook, etc.

- When we launch Contisx Securities Exchange, you will not need data to buy stocks, FGN bonds and other investment products within our ecosystem. We have prepaid the data costs. Our philosophy is Investment Inclusion, and we want to remove barriers that prevent citizens from participating in capital markets. We expect to extend this zero-rated access beyond the Contisx Phone to our web, Android, smartTV, Chrome Extension and iPhone platforms.

- The Contisx Phone works anywhere in the world. Outside Nigeria, however, users will need mobile data to access its services. The phone can call other types of phones, but you cannot install WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram or similar applications because the Contisx operating system is different from Android and iOS.

The Contisx Phone also comes with these native solutions which are available:
-Decision Lab: Gathers and interprets insights to help you make better decisions and run your business more effectively.
-Contisx Sage: Captures and interprets meeting notes in Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, English and Pidgin. We just completed the Hausa integration in our Kano Design Center where 5 brilliant native Hausa speakers executed the playbook (middle image).
-Contisx Shield: Provides live threat intelligence and security alerts for organisations (right image)
-Business Suite: Supports bookkeeping and accounting, inventory management, human resources, payroll and access to funding opportunities.
-Boardroom: Powers board governance and preserves decisions on a sealed, tamper-evident record.

We are building a new system for secure communication, commerce, governance and investment inclusion. Preorder ContiSX Phone here https://contisx.com/phone .

I have been building things since my days at FUT Owerri, where we launched the university’s first campus FM radio statio...
09/19/2026

I have been building things since my days at FUT Owerri, where we launched the university’s first campus FM radio station. In industry, I served as a global lead ASIC design engineer, helping to develop the inertial sensors used in the early versions of the iPhone. I also invented a wafer-level chip-scale packaging technology for inertial sensors. Till today, the US Government has continued to honour royalties for using my PhD research and the patent that came out of it. I am a Nigerian and I build things!


Good People, when we engineered a native blockchain for Contisx Securities Exchange, we saw an opportunity to extend that operating system into a new category of secure communication. That vision led us to build the Contisx Phone, a cryptographically secured blockchain phone designed to deliver superior communication security for individuals, companies and governments.


Yes, blockchain-secured with absolute sovereignty. With ContiSX Phone, you get end-to-end secure communication, across messaging, voice and video , with no eavesdropping or tampering, guaranteed by cryptographic encryption.

The Contisx Phone is now available for preorder, with shipments beginning on October 1, 2026. Preorder yours here: https://contisx.com/phone/


Every preorder comes with these benefits:
- One year of complimentary Contisx Network services, including Contisx Mail, Contisx Audio and Contisx Video.
- Zero-rated data access across the Contisx Exchange and CSD ecosystems for one year. Users will incur no telecommunications data charges when accessing core Contisx services.
- Free access to the Tekedia Nigeria Capital Market Masterclass.
- Free access to the Tekedia Mini-MBA.

From semiconductor systems to blockchain infrastructure, we continue to build the technologies of the future. Grow with ContiSX Phone contisx.com/phone

Ndubuisi Ekekwe, PhD
Engineer | Inventor | Nigerian & Ovim Village-Boy

A high-level press briefing took place yesterday at the headquarters of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in ...
09/19/2026

A high-level press briefing took place yesterday at the headquarters of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Abuja.



Something consequential is coming on October 19, 2026, at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, A*o Rock, Abuja, Nigeria.



Pictured at the briefing are ‘Leke Akinyemi, Head of Sovereign Instruments and Securities at Contisx Securities Exchange Plc; Dr. Emomotimi Agama, Director-General of the SEC; and Dr. Nurudeen Zauro, Technical Adviser to the President on Economic and Financial Inclusion.



Expect more details in the coming days. Please mark your calendar.

We begin tomorrow at Tekedia Mini-MBA to solve the equations of markets:Great Company = Awesome Products + Superior Ex**...
09/18/2026

We begin tomorrow at Tekedia Mini-MBA to solve the equations of markets:
Great Company = Awesome Products + Superior Ex*****on
Innovation = Invention + Commercialization



For the next twelve weeks, from Oriendu Market in Ovim to the trading floors of Wall Street, we will explore the mechanics of firms. Together, we will examine how businesses create value, how markets reward excellence, and how leaders can build category-king companies.



Go here and join us https://school.tekedia.com/course/mmba21/ and get your Zoom link as we begin at 7pm WAT on Saturday. This is the best school!

The live Zoom sessions for the 21st edition of the Tekedia Mini-MBA will begin on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. WAT. I will open...
09/16/2026

The live Zoom sessions for the 21st edition of the Tekedia Mini-MBA will begin on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. WAT. I will open our academic excursion with a lecture on the mission of firms and the fundamental reason companies exist.



That understanding is foundational as we begin a 12-week journey to master the mechanics of building great companies and advancing professional careers.



Every company has three primary elements with which to operate: tools, people and processes. How those elements are assembled, organized and combined will determine the capacity of the firm to transform inputs, including the foundational factors of production, into outputs, to fix market frictions. That transformation of inputs into outputs is what companies do. But business is not a game in which companies award themselves points. The output must resolve a friction experienced by the customer.



When a company creates a great product or service, customers respond by supporting its mission. They pay because the company has solved a problem for them. Hahaha…when they pay, the company earns revenue, and that revenue becomes the compensation for removing the friction. We will examine case studies.



In secondary school physics, friction is a resistive force that must be overcome by another force before an object can move from one state to another. Business operates on the same construct.



A hungry person faces the friction of hunger. Food becomes the force that moves that person from hunger to satisfaction. Making that “force of food” exceptional is the foundation of a great restaurant business.



In all forms and dimensions, companies create forces called products and services. The finest companies become known by the quality and relevance of the forces they produce to overcome frictions: Apple for the iPhone, Dufil Prima for Indomie noodles, Dangote for cement and McKinsey for advisory services.



Build a great force, deploy it against an important market friction, and the market will reward your mission. Your customers will become your finest investors, funding your progress through their purchases. That is why companies exist: they are the most effective vehicles ever invented for organizing the factors of production to create products and services that resolve frictions in markets.

I welcome everyone to Africa’s finest school for understanding the physics of entrepreneurial capitalism. We continue to welcome co-learners; join us here as we begin https://school.tekedia.com/course/mmba21/



Ndubuisi Ekekwe
Lead Faculty, Tekedia Institute

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Pittsburgh, PA

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