Acquah Nana Yeboah

Startups

Nexford University lands $10.8M pre-Series A funding from Global Ventures and Future Africa

Nexford University, an online learning platform for higher education has closed a $10.8 million Series A funding. Dubai-based VC firm, Global Ventures led the round, other investors the funding round include Future Africa’s new thematic fund focused on education, angel investors, family offices, and unnamed VCs from 10

Startups

Bank of Ghana considers introducing a Digital Cedi

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has revealed that it is tilting towards a central bank digital currency (CBDC) experiment. This was made known by the governor of the apex bank, Ernest Addison, who was speaking during a news conference in Accra, the capital of Ghana. It was revealed at the

Startups

5 African startups each secure $5k grant funding from Seedstars and SAIS

Five African startups have been selected to receive an award of US$5,000 each in grant funding from the Southern Africa Innovation Support program and Seedstars after completing the Investment Readiness Program (IRP). The Investment Readiness Program 2019-2020 run by the Southern Africa Innovation Support and Swiss-based Tech Company,

Startups

Telkom launches Africa’s first virtual card for transacting on WhatsApp

Ukheshe, Mastercard, Nedbank, and Telkom collaborate to grow access to the digital economy with a virtual product that enables secure e-commerce payments on the phone. Telkom has launched Africa’s first Mastercard virtual card for use on WhatsApp, enabling Telkom Pay customers to make e-commerce payments. This move is expected

Startups

Solar Energy Startup, Pawame secures 2.5M for Market Expansion, prepares for $5M Series A

Pawame, a UAE-based but Africa-focused off-grid solar energy startup has secured $1.7m in grants commitments. The grants were secured from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency; the Energy and Environment Partnership (EEP); Dutch development organization SNV, AECF REACT Kenya as well as the flagship World Bank-funded Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project

Startups

Altech Group and Trine partner to bring clean energy to the DRC

Altech Group, a market leader in the distribution of world-class clean energy products in the Democratic Republic of Congo has raised €5 million in debt funding organized by Trine, a Swedish-based investment platform to finance over 3,000 solar home systems. According to the terms of this partnership, Altech Group

Startups

Nigerian Government bans Twitter in the country

The Nigerian government has today released a statement banning the activities of popular microblogging and social media platforms, Twitter in the country. According to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the ban was due to “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of

Startups

World Bank approves $200 million to drive digital inclusion in Uganda

In a bid to increase access to high-speed internet in Uganda, the World Bank has announced the approval of $200 million to the Ugandan government to improve digital efficiency in public service delivery and to strengthen digital inclusion in Uganda. Like most countries in the African continent, Uganda still struggles

Startups

Kenya-based startup, Kibanda TopUp, raises $460k pre-seed to digitize its service

Kibanda TopUp, a Kenya-based startup working to digitize the food supply chain for micro, small and medium restaurants in Africa has secured $460k in pre-seed funding to increase its customer base. The round which saw a lot of local investor presence was led by US-based JAM Fund, with participation from

Startups

Nigerian Agric-tech startup, Thrive Agric receives $1.5 million grant to boost incomes of 50,000 farmers

Driven by the desire to boost food security in Nigeria through technology-driven agricultural services, Thrive Agric has launched an ambitious 1-year project to support 50,000 smallholder farmers growing rice, maize, and soybean in Nigeria. This new project will be done through the support of the USAID-funded West Africa Trade

Startups

Crowdyvest issues public statement in response to Nigeria's SEC’s Cease and Desist Order

Crowdyvest, a Nigerian fintech company was recently in the news for a Cease and Desist Order issued to it by the Nigerian SEC on its investment product, “the Halal Fund”. The fintech company has released a statement clarifying its position on the issue. In the statement, the fintech company said

Startups

Oasis Capital invests $1M in Ghanaian Fintech Startup, AppsNmobile

Oasis Capital, a US$50 million fund investing equity capital in growing SMEs across Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, has announced the investment of $1million in Ghanaian fintech startup AppsNmobile. AppsNmobile intends to use this new investment to strengthen its position as a dominant player in the payments niche in

Startups

Ugandan fintech, Emata, wins Catapult: Inclusion Africa 2021

The Catapult: Inclusion Africa 2021 finally came to an impressive close on the 27th of May 2021. At the virtual closing ceremony where a total of 14 startups presented their pitch to a panel of esteemed judges, Emata, the Uganda-based agri-fintech startup was announced as the winner of the Best

Startups

Nigerian SEC issues Cease and Desist Order on fintech startup Crowdyvest

The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that cooperative-driven fintech product, Crowdyvest Halal Fund, is an “unregistered entity purporting to operate as a corporative society” and has issued a cease and desist order. This was disclosed in a statement by the commission earlier this week, stating that the

Startups

Dream-VC launches a training program for aspiring African investors

Dream-VC, a remote Venture Capital Upskilling institute has launched a new fellowship program aimed at providing increased access and opportunities to underrepresented individuals in the African VC space. The free fellowship program by Dream-VC is focused on young African and the diaspora. It also seeks to provide a support system

Startups

MTN to get $204m revenue boost as the US plans to lift sanctions on Iran

There are indications that the recent move by the US government to lift its sanctions on the Iranian economy may significantly benefit the MTN Group, the largest telecom operator in Africa. The Telco which has a minority 49% investment shareholding in MTN Irancell has been unable to repatriate any money

Startups

Gokada launches Super App, expands ride-hailing service to two Nigerian cities

Gokada, the Lagos-based logistics, transportation, and last-mile delivery startup have announced the launch of a ‘Super App’, where customers can access a range of services including food delivery, eCommerce, and ride-hailing services. This launch is coming on the heels of the startup’s recent milestone of US$100 million in

Startups

Egypt-based zVendo secures seven-figure Pre-Series A investment

Egyptian E-commerce SaaS solution provider, zVendo has announced the close of a seven-figure Pre-Series A funding round from Mobica and Gratus Holding. Founded by Sameh Abdel Fattah and Tarek Bakry in 2018, zVendo is an eCommerce platform that enables businesses to sell online via different sales channels. The startup was

Startups

Almentor raise $6.5 million Series B round from Partech, Sawari Ventures and Sango Capital

Almentor, a video-based online learning platform for the Middle East and North Africa, has raised $6.5m in a Series B round led by San Francisco and Paris-based VC firm, Partech from its Africa Fund. The round also saw participation from Sawari Ventures, Fellow Series A investor Egypt Ventures, and

Startups

Chipper Cash raises 100million in series C funding, becomes the latest Unicorn in Africa

Chipper Cash, an African fintech startup that facilitates cross-border payments has raised $100 million in a Series C round. This latest raise brings the start-up’s valuation to between $1 billion to $2 billion, joining billion-dollar companies in Africa like Flutterwave, Jumia, Interswitch, Fawry, etc. Up until last week, the

Startups

Nigerian SEC directs investment fintechs to register under new regulations or halt operations

Fintech companies in Nigeria have been getting a lot of government attention lately. This might be connected to the rapid development in the fintech space, which has brought the need for regulations to ensure overall compliance with Nigerian laws and optimum growth in the sector. Recently, the Nigerian Securities and

Startups

Malian Solar Startup, SolarX Africa secures Extra Funding from Energy Access Ventures

Mali-based solar energy startup, SolarX Africa, has announced the close of additional funding from Energy Access Ventures (EAV), an early-stage fund investing in decentralized energy companies across sub-Saharan Africa. SolarX Africa plans to utilize this new equity and quasi-equity funding to finance the pipeline of commercial and industrial clients in

Startups

Nigerian fintech startup, Escrowlock to streghten its services with funding from Facebook’s $100m grant

Nigeria-based escrow fintech company, Escrowlock has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Facebook. Escrowlock is one of 30,000 tech companies that secured a portion of the $100 million global business grant from the social media giant. Late last year, Facebook had announced a $100 million grant for 30,

Startups

Facebook releases Community Standards Enforcement Report for Q1 2021

Tech giant, Facebook has today released its industry-leading Community Standards Enforcement Report (CSER) for the first quarter of 2021. The new report showcases data on how Facebook is performing in enforcing 12 of its policy areas on Facebook and 10 on Instagram for the January-March 2021 period. Additionally, it reveals

Startups

AI startup, Fireflies.ai raises $14 million to automate work from meetings

Fireflies.ai, an AI voice assistant that joins video conferencing meetings to take notes has announced the raise of $14 million in a Series A funding round, led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Canaan Partners and other angel investors. Founded in July 2016 by Krish Ramineni and Nigerian-born, Sam