Facebook has launched shops to bring more businesses online during the pandemic. The company today announced the launch of Shops, a convenient way for businesses to set up free storefronts on Facebook and Instagram. The shops are designed to turn the social network into a shopping destination and  will be

BECO Capital, a venture capital firm, will commit up to $150,000 in a new pre-seed initiative to fund exceptional founders of tech-enabled startups in  North Africa and the Middle East. The program, known as Launch with BECO, will select up to 10 founders and provide each one of them

An innovative app, named Malaicha is helping Zimbabweans living in South Africa to order and send groceries to Zimbabwe. Usually, citizens in Zimbabwe depend on food supplies from South Africa, however, these supplies were suddenly prohibited when the two countries restricted across border movements in March in a bid to

Nairobi-based healthcare incubator and investor Villgro Kenya has committed a total of $90,000 into Kenya’s The Pathology Network and Uganda’s clinicPesa. Villgro Kenya is an early-stage business incubator and impacts investor that provides mentoring, funding, and access to networks to startups in the healthcare and life sciences

Senegal online food company, Club Kossam has doubled its sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This boost in sales comes after when coronavirus reached Senegal. Residents who live in the capital now ordered groceries online. Club Kossam is a dairy home-delivery service sourcing fresh local Senegalese milk to serve customers.

Egyptian startup, Interact Labs, has raised funding commitments worth US$60,000 after it took part in the Zoom-based digital accelerator event “The Nest”. Interact Labs designs effective and affordable hardware and software solutions that enhance collaboration, increase engagement in the educational sector in Egypt. Its product, TACT is a

Ventures Platform has invested in three African tech startups, namely; Tambua Health, Brass, and FunnelJoy to help them scale their operations. Ventures Platform is a Pan-African seed and early-stage fund that supports successful startups building capital-efficient platforms to fill infrastructural gaps, connect underserved communities, create efficiencies, solve for non-consumption, and

Social media giant, Facebook Inc has acquired GIPHY to join Instagram’s team. GIPHY is a leader in visual expression and creation. It contains a searchable library of animated GIFS that have integrated with a variety of apps. According to Facebook, 50% of GIPHY’s traffic comes from the Facebook

Zimbabwean fintech company, Bitkesh, has rolled out a new WhatsApp-based digital wallet named, Uhuruwallet to help unbanked foreign nationals in South Africa make payments. The Uhuru digital wallet is a platform that allows people to perform transactions such as person to person, person to merchant, cash-in, cash-out, utility bill payments,

MTN Group Ltd. cuts off spending for the year to save money and maintaining networks as Africa’s biggest wireless carrier amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. According to a statement by the telecom company, MTN will invest 21 billion ZAR ( $1.1 billion ) to 22 billion ZAR in 2020, which

Facebook Inc. in collaboration with China’s largest Telecom carrier, China Mobile Ltd, and other Telecom carriers will build a giant undersea cable to give Africa a faster and more stable internet. The cost of the project will not exceed $1 billion, however, the exact budget has not been made

Uber, the leading ride-hailing service provider, has mandated all its drivers in the United States, Canada, India, most of Europe and Latin America, to wear a mask before offering services. As cities begin to relax their lockdown policies, Uber drivers will not be able to offer hail riding or delivery

Digital pitch event ‘The Nest’ is helping African startups acquire over US$135,000 in funding. The Nest which is supported by UNTAPPED is a Zoom-based digital event where each week three startups pitch to a panel of angel investors and anyone who wishes to listen, in an attempt to

Egypt-based digital lending startup, Shahry has received $650,000 in pre-seed funding from the investment arm of Egbank, a leading Egyptian bank. Shahry uses a proprietary AI-based credit scoring engine which allows users to apply for virtual credit through its mobile app which they can use to purchase different products

Messaging service Telegram has renounced its blockchain platform Telegram Open Network (TON). This comes after a lengthy battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The founder and Chief Executive, Pavel Durov wrote on his channel, “Today is a sad day for us here at Telegram. We are

South African stock exchange startup, A2X Markets has secured an undisclosed investment from Absa bank to offer a strong validation model that can lower the cost of investing. The startup is a licensed stock exchange that gives a secondary listing venue for companies. Commenting on the startup, Chief Executive Officer

Villgro Kenya, a Nairobi-based impact investor has given away the $150,000 in grant funding to 12 startups in East Africa. These startups are vested in technologies and innovations that can help in testing, monitoring, and managing the COVID-19 outbreak. Villgro Kenya is an early-stage business incubator and impact investor

The Novastar Ventures Africa Fund II (NVAF II) has closed $108 million, which will be used to support businesses in both East and West Africa. Previously, the fund was limited to East Africa but now it is expanding to West Africa. Novastar Venture Fund is one big platform committed to

EMPG, one of the leading digital classifieds groups in the MENA, South Asia, and Southeast Asia regions, has acquired online property platform Lamudi Global. The acquisition will help EMPG expand to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Mexico. Lamudi is an online property platform that focuses on emerging markets. The platform was

Data science company, Voyance has introduced a fraud monitoring platform named Sigma that accumulates data from fintech within Africa to block fraudsters. Sigma is a fraud graph database platform that helps fintech companies to block known fraudsters who perform activities on their platform. The fraud monitoring platform addresses the problem

South African civic engagement technology platform, GovChat is planning to partner with the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to digitize the application process of the COVID-19 social relief grant. The partnership will give the advantage to the unemployed in the country to have access to the platform for them

Twitter is planning to attach labels and warning messages to tweets that contain misleading information about COVID-19. This follows the disinformation in a new conspiracy video about COVID-19 which has gone viral on Social Media. The video came from a well-known vaccine conspiracist, discredited scientist, and fired researcher-turned-book author. The

Egypt’s venture capital arm of Commercial International Bank (CIB) CVentures, has committed an undisclosed amount in London- based fintech Countingup. The round was led by the VC arm of a leading pan-European banking and financial services ING Group with the participation of CVentures. Countingup offers banking and services to

South African online grocery delivery startup, Zulzi has received R30-million from a JSE-listed company. The platform allows users to get direct access to thousands of grocery items through a mobile app. The app then lets customers build their grocery lists and purchase items without visiting a store. Trained shoppers handpick

Egyptian beauty Startup, an e-commerce platform Source Beauty has secured an undisclosed pre-seed investment from 500 Startups. Source Beauty allows users to purchase beauty products for women with a focus on local millennial price-friendly products. Speaking on the investment, the founder, Lydia Schoonderbeek said, “We are very pleased to receive