Sybil Fekurumoh

Automobile

South African auto-tech startup Carscan receives $1.3M in follow-on funding round

South African startup Carscan has raised $1.3 million in a funding round to further its expansion operations. Carscan is a prime artificial intelligence and augmented reality app built for vehicle inspection and automobile insurance. The innovative platform makes a complete, reliable, and detectable digital record of cars. In addition,

AUM

Future Africa reaches a $30M mark in AUM in 2021

The Future Africa fund, launched by co-founder and general investor, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, invested $4.3 million in 43 companies in 2021 to take its total assets under management (AUM) to $30 million. The Future Africa Fund enables investors to commit to African startups without a deal-specific risk. Future Africa is

Black Operator Ventures

Proptech Startup, Whose Your Landlord secures $2.1M from Black Operator Ventures

The Nigerian-owned housing startup Whose Your Landlord (WYL) has raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding, led by Black Operator Ventures (Black Ops Ventures). WYL is a US-based multipurpose platform that empowers and appraises rental communities. Founded by Ofo Ezeugwu in 2015, WYL collects rental feedback and uploads them to

Award

Opay wins the best Point-Of-Sale Payment Service Provider Award from The Global Economics institution

Frontier fintech platform Opay, recognized as a mobile payment and collection service platform for Egypt and Africa, has won the ‘Best New Point-Of-Sale Payment Service Provider’ award from ‘The Global Economics’ institution. Mr. Mahmoud Khedr received the award, the company’s Director of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, at the

Africa

Nigerian Mobility startup, Moove closes $10 million round led by NPK Capital to expand across Africa

The mobility fintech company Moove has secured a $10 million financing deal from NBK Capital Partners Mezzanine Fund II. This makes the sixth investment from the Fund advised by NBK Capital Partners and the first investment in Africa. Moove is a mobility fintech that is Uber’s exclusive fleet partner

Daily

Nigerian Eazipay Inc. Joins the Y Combinator W22 Accelerator Program

Eazipay Inc., a Nigerian startup that provides payroll and bookkeeping services to SMEs and corporates, has announced its participation in the Y Combinator Winter 2022 accelerator program. Based in Lagos, Nigeria, Eazipay designs Apps and APIs solutions for payroll and corporate taxes for small businesses and startups. With just one

Business

Tanzanian remittance platform NALA, raises $10 M in a new fundraising round

Tanzanian fintech, NALA, has raised $10 million in a fundraising round. NALA is a cross-border payment company that recently pivoted its services from local to international money transfers. Investors in this funding round include Amplo, Accel, and Bessemer Partners, with local investors like DFS Lab. Also partaking are angel investors

Africa

Ghanaian Fintech OZÉ raises $3M to scale startup

Ghanaian startup providing digital recordkeeping tools with embedded finance products for small and medium scale businesses, OZÉ, has raised $3 million in pre-series A funding round. The funding round was led by European venture capital firm Speedinvest, which invests in pre-seed, seed, and early-stage tech startups. Also participating in the

mobility

Uber launches UberMoto; a new mobility service in western Nigerian city

The ride-hailing platform, Uber, has launched UberMoto, a motorcycle ride-hailing service in the western Nigerian city of Ibadan. Through the Uber app, riders can access affordable and convenient rides on two wheels at a go, with a minimum fare of $0.24. The features using Ubermoto as the same for

Africa

Growing demand for cloud services prompts Oracle to set up data center in Africa

U.S giant computer technology corporation, Oracle, has opened a data center in Johannesburg, South Africa. This center is the company’s first infrastructural project in Africa, aimed at providing local cloud services across the continent. Oracle joins other corporations like Amazon and Microsoft, in the setting up of facilities

Funding

Nigerian TAP, Uganda based Numida, to participate in Y Combinator W22 Batch

Nigeria-based Touch and Pay Technologies Limited (TAP) and Ugandan fintech, Numida join other African startups as they announced participation in the winter batch of the 2022 Y Combinator accelerator program. Touch and Pay Tech Ltd is an IT service agency that digitizes and processes cash-based microtransactions across Africa’s informal

Africa

Nigeria Startup Dojah Announces Participation For Y Combinator W22 Batch

The Nigerian-based tech startup Dojah has confirmed its participation in the W22 Y Combinator accelerator program. “We are excited to announce that we are part of the Y Combinator W22 Batch. As a unified KYC and digital solutions company, we have a single goal of empowering scale and innovation for

Fintech

MPOWER Financing partners Flutterwave to provide Student Loans for African students

MPOWER Financing, a social benefit corporation that helps international students access loans and scholarships in the US and Canada, has announced its partnership with Flutterwave, a tech-enabled global payment company focused on Africa, to offer seamless student loan application and payment for international students in Africa. MPOWER offers students admitted

Funding

Senegalese logistics startup, PAPS, raises $4.5M to expand to other Francophone countries

Senegal-based logistics and delivery company, PAPS, has announced the raise of a $4.5 million pre-Series A round to expand its services to other Francophone regions. The funding round was co-led by Pan-African venture capital firm 4DX Ventures and multi-service operator Orange. Other investors include previous investors Uma Ventures and

Africa

Nigerian startups Moni, Topship, confirm participation for Y Combinator’s W22 batch

Two Nigerian startups Moni and Topship, have now been confirmed as participants of the YCombinator Accelerator Program, Winter 2022 Batch. The program would run from January through March. Participants receive seed funding to upscale their startups as well as other investment opportunities at demo day. Founded by Femi Iromoni, Moni

innovation

Morocco launches MoroccoTech to strengthen its digital hub position

To position itself as a hub for digital innovation in North Africa, the Moroccan government has launched MoroccoTech, a digital hub for techies in Morocco. The hub was launched by Dr. Ghita Mezzour, the minister for Digital Transition and Reform of the administration in Morocco. In his remarks, he emphasized

Africa

Uganda Lowers Bank Cheque Limits To boost e-Transactions

To shore up mobile money and electronic transactions in the country, the Bank of Uganda has announced that it will lower cheque value limits for amounts above the equivalent of about $2,800 in local and foreign currency starting Jan. 15. NOTICE: NEW CHEQUE VALUE LIMITS EFFECTIVE JANUARY 15, 2022.

Funding

Microtration invests in Pivo

In its first deal for the year, VC firm, Microtraction, has announced an investment in fintech startup Pivo, a financial platform for small and medium-sized businesses. In a Medium post, the firm stated that it was excited to be on the journey with the founders as they work hard to

nigeria

Nigerian Government Lifts Ban on Twitter After Six Months

The Nigerian government has lifted the ban on the popular social media platform Twitter, six months after the suspension was made. The government also said the social media company has agreed to its terms of operation in the country. The announcement was made yesterday via a statement by the Chairman

Startup

Ajim Capital Launches $10M Fund for early-stage African Startups

Early-stage VC firm, Ajim Capital has announced the launch of a $10 million fund to invest in startups in Africa. The funding will help founders focus and grow their businesses rather than worry about funding. Ajim Capital is looking to invest in exceptional African founders, with potential for rapid growth

Startup

Y Combinator Increases Standard Deal Size to $500,000 for Startups

The foremost tech accelerator program, Y Combinator has announced an increment to $500,000 in funds to invest in participating startups. The Silicon Valley tech accelerator will now offer an additional $375,000 in the form of an uncapped simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) note from the traditional $125,

Startup

Energise Africa, Solarise Africa raises over $1.13M funds to fund solar projects in Africa

Energise Africa and Solarise Africa, in partnership with crowdfunding companies in the UK, raised over $1.13M million in the space of eight days to fund large-scale energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. “We are humbled by the support we’ve received from the Energise Africa investor community”, said the CEO

Startup

Nigerian fintech Bfree raises $1.7 M to expand across Africa, other emerging markets

Nigerian credit management fintech startup, Bfree has secured $1.7 million in a pre-Series funding round to expand its operations across Africa, into Asia, Europe, and South America. Having raised $800,00 in a seed round in May 2021 brings the total raised funds to $2.5 million. Participants in

Startup

YC backed Namibian startup, JABU gets $3.2 M in seed funding round

JABU, a Namibia-based B2B e-commerce startup has announced the raise of a $3.2 million seed round. The seed funding, which closed last year received investors such as Afore Capital, Y Combinator, FJ Labs, Kli Capital, Quiet Capital, Pareto Capital, and other anonymous seed investors. JABU joined the Y Combinator

broadband

Rwanda snaps $100M from AIDB for its Digital Acceleration Project

The Rwandan government, through its Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, has reportedly borrowed $100 Million from the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIDB) to fund its Digital Acceleration Project. The Digital Acceleration Project is also co-financed by the World Bank to help increase the country’s broadband access and digitalization