Blessed Frank

Exploring Africa's Tech Frontier | Unearthing Startup Gold 💰 | Decoding Crypto & Web3 | Your Guide to Emerging Markets #TechJournalist

CommerzVentures

MoneyFellows, Egyptian FinTech Startup, Secures $31M Series B Round for Expansion

MoneyFellows, an Egyptian fintech startup has secured $31 million in Germany’s CommerzVentures, Middle East Venture Partners, and Kuwait’s Arzan Venture Capital-led series B round to accelerate its exponential growth by diversifying its portfolio of services and expanding its product offerings across the B2C & B2B verticals, as well

Business

Musk Acquires Twitters after Months of Protracted Drama, Fire Top Executives

Elon Musk has completed the $44 billion Twitter acquisition after months of legal wrangling, bad memes, and call-outs from both parties. Musk completed the purchase Thursday night, taking Twitter private, firing top executives, and providing little clarity about how he plans to achieve the lofty goals he has set for

climate tech

Paris-Based VC Firm, Satgana Closes $30M Fund for African Climate Tech Startups

Satgana, a Paris-based climate tech venture capital firm, has closed its first $30 million fund to support entrepreneurs in sectors such as food and agriculture, energy, mobility, and buildings/industry, as well as in carbon removal and circular economies more broadly across Europe and Africa. According to Satgana, over 30

aiBANK

aiBANK and valU Partner with Egyptian Online Used-Cars Retailer, Sylndr to Offer Customers More Payment Options

aiBANK, Egypt’s fastest-growing commercial bank with a strong corporate banking arm and multiple branches across the country, and valU, the leading Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) lifestyle-enabling fintech platform in the MENA region, have announced a one-of-a-kind partnership with Egypt’s home-grown used-cars retailer, Sylndr, to provide more affordable payment options

Aida Kandil

Aida Kandil, Founder of Moroccan MyTindy Selected For the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women's Program

Aida Kandil, founder and CEO of Moroccan marketplace MyTindy, has been selected as one of 52 women entrepreneurs from the Middle East, Africa, India, and Europe for the 2022 class of “EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women,” as reported by Morocco World News. The EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women program has produced over

Financial Inclusion

How Fintech is Driving Financial Inclusion in Morocco

Africa is still considered a cash economy, with less than 10% of financial transactions performed electronically in 2021, per McKinsey report. This is because, despite having a population of approximately 1.3 billion people and a GDP of approximately $2.4 trillion, Africa still has a whopping 65 percent of

BitOasis

BitOasis Partners with Mastercard to Roll out Crypto-Linked Cards across MENA

BitOasis, a leading cryptocurrency platform in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Mastercard have partnered to launch a series of crypto card programs in the region, facilitating day-to-day cryptocurrency usage at points of sale and across e-commerce platforms. Customers of BitOasis will be able to convert their cryptocurrency

54gene

54gene CEO Bows Out 2 Months after the Startup Sacked 30% of its Workforce

54gene co-founder and CEO, Abasi Ene-Obong, has resigned as CEO of the US-based, African-focused health tech startup. Meanwhile, Teresia L. Bost, the company’s General Counsel, has been named interim CEO, according to an official statement from the three-year-old company. She will be supported by Chief Operating Officer, Delali Attipoe.

Business

Sawiris, Egyptian Billionaire to Invest $100M in Moroccan Tech Sector

Egyptian billionaire, Naguib Sawiris, CEO of Egypt-based Orascom Investment Holding, has expressed his interest in investing $100 million in the Moroccan tech sector once the opportunity arises. The billionaire stated on the sidelines of the African Business Forum in Casablanca that his company “will be entering the Moroccan market” in

Chari

Moroccan Chari, 4 Other Startups to Visit India to learn from the Indian Tech Ecosystem

The Moroccan Ministry of Digital Transition of Administrative Reforms and the Agency of Digital Development (ADD) have selected e-commerce platforms, Chari and myTindy, as well as SOWIT, NHS, and OCP Maintenance Solutions, to represent the North African country on a five-day trip to India from October 26th to 30th to

Business

Juhayna Signs a Contract with KarmSolar to Establish a Hybrid Central Power Plant

Juhayna, Egypt’s foremost food, and beverages company has signed a second contract with KarmSolar to establish a hybrid central power plant at the Al-Enmaa farm in Abu Minqar, New Valley, to generate and sell energy using solar panels, diesel generators, and industrial batteries. This is part of both companies’

Banque Misr

Seqoon, Egyptian Prop-Tech Startup, Secures $500K Pre-seed

Seqoon, an Egyptian prop-tech startup facilitating estate co-ownership, has raised $500,000 in a pre-seed round through Banque Misr‘s pilot program to expand its team. Seqoon equally announced its launch in El Gouna as its first co-ownership destination. Several notable angel investors also participated in the round. The Banque

KarmSolar

KarmSolar, Egypt’s Clean Energy Tech Startup, Receives $2.4M to Scale up its Operation

KarmSolar, Egyptian-based clean energy, and multi-utility tech startup has announced receiving $2.4 million in funding from Qatar National Bank ALAHLI (QNB ALAHLI) for the first financed solar Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) battery storage system in Egypt, with advisory led by Ezdaher Financial Advisory, an Egypt-based debt advisory firm. The

Business

Jumia Egypt Signs Lease Agreement with Hassan Allam for Space in East Cairo Logistics Complex

Jumia Egypt, a leading e-commerce platform, has signed an agreement with Hassan Allam Utilities, an investment and development arm of Hassan Allam Holding that operates across four key verticals focused on sustainable infrastructure to address service and availability gaps in water, energy, social infrastructure, transport and logistics in Egypt and

Cassava Technologies

Liquid Telecom South Sudan Formally Rebrands as Liquid Intelligent Technologies

Liquid Telecom South Sudan, a pan-African technology company and a subsidiary of Cassava Technologies, formally rebranded as Liquid Intelligent Technologies South Sudan on September 19, 2022, to reflect its transformation into a one-stop-shop technology group for local businesses and consumers. The rebrand also represents Liquid’s expansion into several business

Business

Egypt's valU Now Joins EFG Hermes, Others in Acquiring Stake in Social Payment Startup, Kiwe

Egypt’s valU, a leading Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) lifestyle-enabling fintech platform in the MENA region, has today announced acquiring a minority stake in Egypt’s fintech startup, Kiwe, a foremost youth social payment app that facilitates onboarding the unbanked youth segment in Egypt. valU has now joined EFG Hermes Finance,

B2B e-commerce

MaxAB, Egypt’s Food and Grocery B2B E-Commerce Startup, Raises $40M Pre-Series B Round

MaxAB, an Egyptian-based food, and grocery B2B e-commerce and distribution platform that connects suppliers with underserved traditional retailers and provides a variety of finance solutions across Egypt and Morocco, announced today that it has secured a $40 million pre-series B equity round to boost its growth across the MENAP region.

Amazon Egypt

Amazon Egypt Rolls Out Intellectual Property Accelerator Program in Egypt

Amazon Egypt has announced the launch of its Intellectual Property (IP) Accelerator program in Egypt, which will allow small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to seamlessly obtain trademarks at a reduced cost to protect their brands, and deal with infringing goods on Amazon EG. The IP Accelerator connects SMB owners in

eFinance Group

Nexta, Egypt's FinTech Startup, Receives $3M Funding to Launch its "Next-Gen Banking App"

Nexta, an Egyptian digital banking startup, has received a $3 million investment from eFinance Group, a state-owned provider of digital payments solutions, to launch its “Next-Gen” banking app in the coming months. Ahmed Hisham founded Nexta in 2021 with the singular vision of disrupting the Egyptian fintech scene with its

ALMA Sustainable Finance

Trella, Egypt’s B2B Digital Trucking Marketplace Secures $6M in Debt Funding

Trella, Egypt’s B2B Tech Platform and trucking marketplace, has secured $6 million in debt financing from ALMA Sustainable Finance (ALMA) and the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to support its growth. Trella, which was founded in 2018, is a B2B technology platform and trucking marketplace that connects

ecommerce

Kenzz, an Egyptian-based Mass E-Commerce Platform, Raises $3.5M Seed Fund to Scale

Kenzz, the mass eCommerce platform providing reliable online shopping options to the masses in Egypt and the MENA region, has today announced that it has raised $3.5 million in Outliers Venture Capital – a venture capital fund backing early-stage outlier founders in the US & MENA-led seed funding round with

Clean Energy

Morocco Set to Become Key Supplier of EV Batteries

Morocco is investing in the development of phosphate-based lithium EV batteries that are low-cost, widely available, and more efficient.  Leila Benali, Morocco’s Minister of Energy, said at an international conference on EV batteries at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Benguerir yesterday, that the country is currently investing

Business

EEP, Acquires Majority Stake in Egypt’s Education Content Developer, Selah El Telmeez

EEP, Egypt Education Platform, Egypt’s fastest growing education service provider, and The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE) have announced entering into definitive agreements on 6 October to acquire a majority stake in Selah El-Telmeez (SET), the famous 60-year-old legacy K-12 education content developer. This combines EEP’s distinct education

BNPL

One Finance Rolls Out BNPL Services in Egyptian Market

One Finance, an integrated consumer financing platform, has launched its Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) services in the Egyptian market with an issued and paid-up capital of $5 million (EGP 100 million.) For the first time in the Egyptian market, the company introduces an innovative buy now pay later (BNPL) business model by

b_labs

B.TECH Launches “b_labs”, a Hub for the Egyptian Tech Talents

B.TECH, Egypt’s leading integrated omnichannel retailer and consumer finance platform, has officially launched “b labs,” a technology hub that will serve as B.TECH’s transformation and digitization engine. According to the firm’s statement, b labs is intended to serve a wide range of business verticals such