Adebola Makinde

Abacus

Helicarrier Acquires Stake In Pan-African Fintech Firm, Accrue

Previously called Bitkoin Africa and later Buycoins, Helicarrier launched as a peer-to-peer bitcoin trading platform. Having merged its five products — Buycoins (a simple way to buy and sell cryptocurrency in Africa); Buycoins Pro (orderbook for advanced digital trading); Sendcash (crypto-powered remittance); Sendcash Pay (a suite of developer tools that let

Business

Leading Payments Company, Flutterwave appoints Emmanuel Efenure as Head of Risk for Africa

San-Francisco-headquartered pan-African leading payment technology, Flutterwave has appointed Emmanuel Efenure as Head of Risk for Africa; a new unit bore from the Flutterwave Compliance Team — to see to “faster development and implementation of Risk initiatives.” The newly hired Efenure has significant years of experience in the banking sector having worked

Eke Urum

Eke Urum's Risevest found guilty of sexual allegation, reinstates CEO position

In February 2021, former Head of Marketing, Risevest, Efe Uduigwomen published on Medium about the reasons she left her place of work — the investment company founded in 2019 by Eke Urum (Founder, and CEO as of August 2022); Bosun Olarenwaju (Co-founder and CTO) and Tony Odiba (Co-founder, Head of Product

Business

Nigerian Mobile Payment Company, Paga Announces $14 billion in Transactions

Uk-based pan-African fintech company, Paga has announced its landmark N6.1 trillion (equivalent of $14 billion) made in transactions since January 2012, three years after it was founded. According to the Linkedin post seen by The Ouut, the company has significantly measured its growth per ₦2 trillion. “Total Processed Value

arcon

Nigerian Advertising Regulatory Body, ARCON Sues Meta for $72.3 Billion over Breach of Laws

The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Incorporated, owners of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp alongside its Nigerian public relations agency, AT3 Resources at the Federal High court based in Abuja, Nigeria. “ARCON is seeking a declaration that the continued publication and exposure of

proptech

Spleet Secures $2.6 Million Seed to Scale Its Property Management Products in Africa

The problem with housing in Lagos state (Nigeria’s commercial capital and most populous city) is that when it is available, it might not affordable and sometimes it may be the other way round – or even both. Although, there’s no reliable data as to the housing deficits in Nigeria,

nnpc

NNPC acquires OVH Energy, becomes leading petroleum retail product in Africa

Nigerian energy marketing company with branches in Ghana and Togo, OVH Energy Limited has revealed on Saturday in a press release about its acquisition by Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) which would be merged with NNPC Retail Limited (NRL). This is aimed at “creating the leading downstream energy company in

Business

Sky.Garden Stakes Merger and Acquisition amidst Poor Financing

Kenyan e-commerce startup, Sky.Garden’s founder and CEO, Martin Majlund has announced that the company will close by October 16 – due to shortage of funds – having issued a termination letter in a memo sent to employees earlier in September. Open solely to Kenyan traders, the startup deals in mobile

AFB

Coronation Merchant Bank secures $20M Trade Finance Guarantee Facility from Proparco

Africa’s premier investment bank, Coronation Merchant Bank (CMB) has secured $20 million Trade Finance Guarantee Facility from Development Finance institution, Proparco to enable partnerships with correspondent banks, thereby increasing access to trade finance in Nigeria. The Nigeria-based bank was founded in 1993 as Associated Discount House Limited (ADHL) and

Ghana

Kowry Energy Commissions Decentralised Solar Energy Solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Out of the 672 million people projected to remain without access to electricity by 2030, 85% of the population will be Africans. In a 2022 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), 40% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa have no access to electricity of which the Covid-19 pandemic saw

Business

Nigerian B2B Company, Vendease, raises $30 million Series A to launch operations across Africa

Nigerian business-to-business (B2B) online food procurement company, Vendease has raised $30 million Series A to expand its operations to other countries on the African continent. The funding which includes debt and equity financing is shared $10 million and $20 million accordingly. This Series A equity led by TLcom and Partech

Binance

Binance announces Global Advisory Board to advance the potentials of Web 3

Chinese-Canadian largest cryptocurrency exchange company, Binance has revealed in a press release about its global advisory board (GAB) which consists of the founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao and 11 former leaders. The GAB which convened in France was chaired by former US senator and ambassador to China, Max Baucus “to

Bamboo

Bamboo partners with 10th Capital Investments, launches operations in Ghana

Nigerian online brokerage firm, Bamboo has announced its operations in Ghana through its partnership with 10th Capital Investments, a private Ghanaian equity firm. This partnership aims at enabling residents in the West African country to invest in foreign companies. Founded in 2020 by Richmond Bassey and Yanmo Omoregbe, the fintech

eNaira

Flutterwave introduces GPay as payment option

Africa’s leading payment technology, Flutterwave has introduced Google Pay (GPay) as part of its payment options just after it recently announced its addition of Nigeria’s digital currency, e-naira on its platform. Google Pay is a pre-installed mobile payment system (in supported countries) like Apple Pay, Microsoft Pay and

Bolt

Bike-hailing business perils in Nigeria

According to a 2021 data by Statista, Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa with its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at $441. 54 billion preceding South Africa and Egypt with GDP valued at $418.02 billion and $402.84 billion respectively. In the same vein, tech startups in Africa raised

Africa

Byld Ventures raises $15 million fund to back fintechs in Africa

Early-stage investment firm, Byld Ventures has announced its new close of $15 million fund launched in May 2022 to support fintechs in Africa. This comes after the fund reached its first close in June and its second close at $10 million in August. The fund is backed by the Dubai

Business

Chat Commerce platform, Clickatell partners with CBN to enable offline banking

Chatting commerce platform, Clickatell has announced in a press release on Monday about its partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The partnership is geared towards the e-Naira Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in order to ensure financial inclusion to Nigerians by launching a USSD channel. E-Naira, also known

5G

MTN partners with Ericsson, pioneers 5G launch in Nigeria

In a press release on September 19, leading US 5G network provider, Ericsson has revealed its partnership with South African telecommunications company, MTN to collectively launch 5G network in Nigeria. This follows MTN’s successful commercial launch in Lagos, a day prior to the partnership announcement. As stated in the

5G

Telecom Company, MTN launches commercial 5G in Nigeria

South African telecommunication company, MTN has rolled out 5G commercial services in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria on September 18 at an event. This follows the announcement by the company on August 24, 2022 that it had begun its pilot test in Lagos and six other cities. Other target

Africa

Pan-African crypto exchange, Yellow Card raises $40 million Series B

Pan-African cryptocurrency exchange, Yellow Card has raised $40 million in Series B funding in a round led by Polychain Capital. Other investors include Valar Ventures, Third Prime, Sozo Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Fabric Ventures, DG Daiwa Ventures, The Raba Partnership, among others. This makes its funding a total of $56.

Africar

Africar partners with Stellantis to launch Auto24, a used car marketplace

Online automobile marketplace, Africar has partnered with Stellantis, a multinational automotive manufacturing company to launch Auto24, a used car marketplace in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Africar Group is the leading online automotive marketplace in Africa and operates in more than 40 countries on the continent. It has enabled over 25

Giannis Antetokounmpo

WhatsApp ventures into entertainment, stars Nigerian NBA player

Meta-owned messaging app, WhatsApp takes its first step into the entertainment industry after it announced on Twitter that it would feature National Basketball Association (NBA) player, Giannis Antetokounmpo on its social media platforms. The 12-minute video titled “Naija Odyssey” is set to be premiered on Prime Video on September 21.

Business

Lagos-French government to set up E-sports in bilateral agreement

Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the French government on Friday through its ambassador to Nigeria, Mrs Emmanuelle Blatmann to enable professional electronic sports (E-sports) players to engage in real-time virtual communities while encouraging youth participation in the state. The MoU was

AfricInvest

Kenya’s insurtech Turaco raises $10m series A funding

Insurance technology company, Turaco has raised $10 million in series A funding. This was led by AfricInvest via its Cathay Africinvest Innovation Fund (CAIF) and second time investor, Novastar ventures. Others include Enza Capital, Global Partnerships, Zephyr Acorn, Operator Stack, Asi Ventures Limited and Push Ventures. This has brought its

Bolt

Uber, Bolt among other ride-hailing companies face strict regulations in Kenya

Kenya National Transport and Safety Commission (NTSA) has embarked on the move to enforce its 18% commission cap on ride-hailing companies – Bolt, Uber and Little – in the country. According to Uber, the company cannot agree with the stipulated commission because it is 7% lesser than its current charge of 25%