Africa and Tech
In a world that continues to evolve, and fast, Africa is very quickly rising in the ranks of tech innovation and evolution. At the moment, Africa has a finger in every pie in the technology industry; true, the finger is barely there in some sectors, but for many, modern African technology is in deep.
Africa’s technology tends to lean towards immediate solutions more than anything else, so it is no surprise that the sectors with the most innovations and investments in African technology are financial technology (fintech), education technology (edtech) and agricultural technology (agritech).
According to the Africa report, in 2019, top African fintech companies raised more than $451.7m in capital: Interswitch – $200m, PalmPay – $40m, OPay – $170m, Retail Capital – $41.7m. More so, in 2020, Stripe acquired a Nigeria-based fintech company, Paystack, for $600 million and SendWave, a Kenya-based fintech company was acquired by WorldRemit in a $500 million deal.
To improve the once dismal education industry in Africa, several startups have created solutions to aid the learning process of students at different stages. Startups like uLesson with its very specific African target audience, and e-limu are quite popular at the moment for their feats in the sector.
In the past few years, AgriTech startups have gone a long way in tackling food security and scarcity, a problem that seemed to be characteristic of the African continent over the years. FarmX has made a huge impact as one of the AgricTech startups offering the most advantages to the agricultural industry in Africa. There is also Aerobotics, Go-Africa, Promagric, www.epoultry.ng, www.oyel.ng, and agricultural investment platforms like FarmCrowdy.
In all, the African technology industry has witnessed enormous growth in a short time, and from the looks of things, there is so much more coming. There is now a huge and highly profitable market for innovators, startups, entrepreneurs and investors.
It’s a new month in a somewhat fresh year, and we look forward to bringing you more information on what is going on in the African technology industry. We are as curious as we are enthusiastic.
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Chinyere Anita Jacob
Editor – The Ouut