Acquah Nana Yeboah

Startups

Ghanaian fintech, Zeepay completes $7.9m Series A round to expand across Africa and the Caribbean

Ghanaian fintech startup, Zeepay has announced the completion of a $7.5 million Series A funding round led by an impact investment group, I&P. Other investors who participated in the round include ARK Holdings, an Africa-focused early-stage venture capital firm, GOODsoil VC, Verdant Capital, and JLD & MB

Startups

Ghana’s Jetstream raises $3m seed funding to simplify freighting across Africa

Ghana-based freight startup, Jetstream has announced the close of a $3million seed funding round to make freighting and port logistics easier for Africans. Investors who took part in the round include Alitheia IDF, Golden Palm Investments, 4DX Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Asia Pacific Land, Breyer Labs, and MSA Capital. Jetstream,

Startups

Jiji acquires Cars45 as it looks to diversify its classified business model

Jiji, one of Africa’s largest online marketplace has announced the acquisition of Cars45, an online marketplace for people to buy, sell or swap used cars, for an undisclosed amount. This acquisition is part of Jiji’s plan to explore a different business model from classified for the first time

Startups

Bolt launches vehicle financing for Nigerian Drivers

Ride-hailing platform, Bolt, has launched a vehicle financing program in Nigeria that will enable drivers to own a car with low equity repayment. This first-of-its-kind offering in Nigeria is part of Bolt’s commitment to improving the earnings of their drivers while allowing them to maintain flexibility as vehicle owners.

Startups

Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator acquires SA recruitment startup, Giraffe

Giraffe, a South Africa-based mobile recruitment platform has been acquired by the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. With this acquisition, Giraffe’s existing user base of jobseekers and employers will be merged with the initiative over June. Founded in 2015, the Giraffe is an automated job search and matching platform focused

Startups

Taptap Send, a free remittance transfer service, secures $13.4 million in Series A funding

Taptap Send, a New York-based startup that facilitates remittance service for people living in Africa and Asia at no charge, has announced the raise of $13.4 million in a Series A round. The Series A round was co-led by Canaan Partners and LinkedIn co-founder, Reid Hoffman, with participation from

Startups

Egyptian ride hailing startup, Swvl expands to Saudi Arabia

Swvl, an international Dubai-based startup has announced the expansion of its mass transit solution to Saudi Arabia. This expansion into Saudi Arabia makes it the sixth market that Swvl will be entering after achieving remarkable success across nine major cities in 5 countries – Egypt, Pakistan, Kenya, Jordan, and UAE. Founded

Startups

Chaka Receives SEC license for digital stock trading, first in Nigeria

After a tortuous regulatory hurdle spanning many months, Chaka has become the first fintech startup to receive the Digital Sub-Broker/Sub-Broker Serving Multiple Brokers through a digital platform license from the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission. This new license issued by the Commission empowers Chaka to continue its digital investment

Startups

Google launch $6million fund to support startups and SMEs in Africa

Tech giant, Google has today announced the launch of a $3 million Black Founders Fund (BFF) for Africa program, and a Google.org backed $3million grant to the Tony Elumelu Foundation to support women entrepreneurs in Africa. This cumulative grant of $6million will go to African startups and underserved communities.

Startups

Egypt-based startup, Trella raises $42 million in series A round led by Maersk

Trella, an Egypt-based trucking startup has announced the raise of $42million in a Series A round comprised of equity and debt. The round includes $30 million in equity investment and $12 million in debt financing. The equity round was led by Maersk Growth, the corporate venture arm of one of

Startups

MTN achieves 88.9% nationwide coverage in Nigeria

Nigeria’s largest mobile network operator, MTN, has announced that it has now reached an extensive nationwide network coverage of 88.9%. Nairametrics reports that this information was disclosed during the company’s Annual General Meeting which held on Monday, June 7, 2021. The company has also reached 80.4%

Startups

Partech-backed TradeDepot Inc in talks to raise Series B funding

Nigeria-based startup, TradeDepot, a fast-moving consumer goods platform that connects informal retailers to distributors and manufacturers is reportedly in talks to kickstart a Series B funding round. According to sources familiar with the matter, International Finance Corporation (IFC) is evaluating a bid to invest $10million in TradeDepot to pick up

Startups

Babajide Duroshola steps down as Safeboda Country Manager

Babajide Duroshola, the country manager for Safeboda has stepped down from his role at the ride-hailing startup. This announcement was made via a Medium post by Babajide Duroshola, the outgoing country manager on Friday. The statement reads “On the 6th of May 2019, I took the job to be Safeboda’

Startups

Nigerian SEC launches incubation programme for investment Fintech startups

The Nigerian Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released new guidelines for investment fintech companies in the country. Starting from the third quarter of 2021, fintech platforms seeking to operate or currently operating in the country will undergo a compulsory incubation program before they can conduct their businesses legitimately. According

Startups

TeamApt eyes unicorn status on the back of an agency banking boom

TeamApt, a Nigerian fintech company, with headquarters in Lagos has disclosed that it is currently leading the country’s agent banking business with a network strength of over 100,000 agents. This was revealed by Tosin Eniolorunda, Founder and CEO of TeamApt at a media event on Thursday. In the

Startups

MTN Nigeria provides clarification on service disruption, says it only affects few locations

MTN Nigeria has provided clarification on the widespread reportage that the company’s services will be disrupted in Nigeria. The telecom giant has described the reports as misleading. This clarification is coming on the heels of a message sent out by MTN Nigeria notifying its customers of a possible network

Startups

UBA, fintech firm Layer partner to boost financial services in Africa

Layer, a digital banking platform provider, has announced its partnership with the United Bank for Africa (UBA) to drive digital transformation and provide greater access to a broad range of financial services to its Kenyan customers. This new partnership will see the company add 18 million users across 25 different

Startups

Helium Health Goes Live in Kenya

Nigerian health-tech startup, Helium Health has finally launched its presence in Kenya. This is coming after the startup raised $10 million in a Series A round and announced its expansion plans in May, last year. Launched in 2016 by the entrepreneurial trio of Adegoke Olobusi, Tito Ovia, and Dimeji Sofowora,

Startups

Egyptian e-commerce platform Tejarra raises 6-figure seed round from U.S. VC Firm Openner

The Egypt-based electronic e-commerce platform, Tejarra has raised a six-figure US dollar seed funding round to help it scale more quickly. Launched in January 2021 by Islam Erfan, Tejarra is an online B2B and B2C electronics platform for over 50 partner wholesalers, who ate currently offering over 18,000 products

Startups

Oman’s eMushrif Acquires Egyptian Edtech Startup Tareeqi

Oman-based IoT-enabled mobility startup, eMushrif, has acquired Tareeqi, a Cairo-based Edtech startup, for an undisclosed amount. This acquisition is a continuation of eMushrif’s regional expansion plans, following its acquisition of MyRoute, a Kuwaiti startup specializing in bus tracking applications. This deal gave eMushrif the leverage to offer its services

Startups

Ethiopia to sell 40% stake in Ethio Telecom, to open its economy

The Ethiopian government has disclosed that it is opening up the tender process for the sale of a 40% stake in the government-owned telecom company, Ethio Telecom. What this implies is that potential investors can now indicate their interest to buy the stakes starting from Tuesday. This is the first

Startups

GIGL partners JET Motor Company to launch Nigeria’s first electric vehicle for deliveries

Mobility startups in the world are beginning to become very conscious of the environmental hazards associated with their businesses. That’s why in a bid to reduce its carbon footprints, GIGL, a Nigerian courier and Logistics company has partnered with JET Motor Company to launch its first electric vehicle (EVs)

Startups

Egypt-based Fatura secures $3M Pre-Series A funding to expand its ecommerce and digital lending platform

Egypt-based B2B e-commerce platform, Fatura has raised $3 million in a pre-series A funding round co-led by Egypt based VC firm, Sawari Ventures and Arzan VC. The funding round also saw participation from previous investors EFG-EV and Cairo Angels; others include Egypt Ventures and Khwarizmi Ventures. In August 2020, Fatura

Startups

Central Bank of Nigeria to Pilot Digital Currency Before December

Globally, Central banks are beginning to reconsider their positions on digital currencies as a medium of exchange. That’s why over the last two years, some of the world’s central banks have been exploring the option of creating their own digital currency to stem the tide of other decentralized

Startups

Multichoice offers $281.5M for 49% stake in BetKing as part of African expansion plans

Leading African entertainment company, Multichoice Group has made an offer of about $281.5 million to Blue Lake Ventures Limited (BetKing) in a bid to increase its stake in the company from 20% to 49%. As revealed by Multichoice, this offer was made after the approval for an increase in