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Facebook sets to launch its Sabee App for Nigerian Learners

Facebook sets to launch its Sabee App for Nigerian Learners

The internal Research and Development (R&D) team at Facebook has announced it is working on an educational mobile app called Sabee. A report from TechCrunch said that the Sabee app is currently in early alpha testing with fewer than 100 testers who are under non-disclosure agreements (NDA) with

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

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

Bolt launches vehicle financing for Nigerian Drivers

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.

Egypt’s Celebrity Platform Minly raises 3.6m Seed fund

Egypt’s Celebrity Platform Minly raises 3.6m Seed fund

Egypt-based creator economy platform Minly has announced it closed a $3.6m seed round to accelerate its growth process. The round which is described as oversubscribed was co-led by 4DX Ventures, B&Y Venture Partners, and Global Ventures, including other unnamed regional funds and angel investors like Scooter Braun,

Villgro Africa provides $170k funding to 4 African Health startups

Villgro Africa, a venture capitalist firm supporting early-stage social entrepreneurs in Africa, has disbursed funding to four health-focused startups amounting to a total of $170k. Villgro Africa expanded to Africa in 2017 with a launch in Kenya, the firm only expanded across the continent in 2020 in a bid to

Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator acquires SA recruitment startup, Giraffe

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

South African Agritech Startup OmnioFarm releases AI-enabled Platform for Poultry Farmers

Artificial Intelligence

South African Agritech Startup OmnioFarm releases AI-enabled Platform for Poultry Farmers

South African Agritech startup Omniolytics has announced a partnership with IBM. The partnership will enable the startup to use IBM Watson running in the IBM Cloud to develop a suite of smart farming solutions for emerging and commercial poultry farmers. With the local poultry industry facing challenges such as unavailability

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

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

Kenyan Edtech Startup Ed Partners raises $1.9m Funding

Kenyan Edtech Startup Ed Partners raises $1.9m Funding

Kenyan Edtech startup Ed Partners has announced it raised $1.9m in funding. The round was secured by global social impact investors Acumen, I&P, Zephyr, and other existing investors. Ed partners were founded in 2018 by the duo of Lydia Koros and David FitzHerbert with the aim of

Egyptian ride hailing startup, Swvl expands to Saudi Arabia

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

South African Visitor Management Startup WizzPass acquired by FM:Systems

South African Visitor Management Startup WizzPass acquired by FM:Systems

Johannesburg based visitor management startup WizzPass has been acquired by US digital workplace solutions firm FM:Systems. WizzPass was founded in 2015, the startup focuses on improving the often manual and insecure processes and systems involved with traditional facility visitor management. Its visitor management system revolutionizes the experience, security, convenience

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

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

South African Edtech startup HyperionDev raises $3.5m Series A funding round

Cape Town-headquartered Edtech startup HyperionDev has announced it raised $3.5m in Series A funding to help it expand its offering to thousands of students globally. The majority of which was raised via crowd investment platform CrowdCube. HyperionDev was founded in 2012 as an online course platform for computer science

Ivorian Mobility Startup Moja Ride, raises Fund, Partners O-City for Expansion

Ivorian Mobility Startup Moja Ride, raises Fund, Partners O-City for Expansion

Abidjan-based mobility startup Moja Ride founded in 2020 has partnered with O-CITY. The partnership comes after a Series A funding round led by Orange Ventures and Toyota Tsusho Corporation (“Toyota Tsusho”) and its group business CFAO SAS. Moja Ride was launched in 2020 by Jean-Claude Gouesse, the startup enables travelers

Kenyan Fintech Startup M-Pesa launches it Super App

Kenyan Fintech Startup M-Pesa launches it Super App

Kenya’s Safaricom has announced that its M-Pesa Super app will be released today. The release of the super app follows the prior announcement by the telecoms firm to obtain an insurance license is on track and the recent debut of its video-streaming app Baze. The M-Pesa Super app was

Kenya’s Apollo Agriculture secures $1m debt funding from ABC Fund

Kenya’s Apollo Agriculture secures $1m debt funding from ABC Fund

Nairobi-based Agritech startup Apollo Agriculture has announced it raised $1m in debt funding from the Agri-Business Capital Fund (ABC Fund). Apollo Agriculture uses its digital approach to help small-scale farmers access the resources they need to maximize their profitability. The platform helps commercial farmers access financial and farming aids including

South Africa’s Finch Tech Acquires Majority Stake in Finance Marketplace, FundingHub

South Africa’s Finch Tech Acquires Majority Stake in Finance Marketplace, FundingHub

Cape Town-based Fintech startup Finch Technologies has made a large investment to become the majority stakeholder in South Africa’s premier business financing marketplace, FundingHub. This investment round follows an initial investment in FundingHub in 2019. FundingHub connects South African SMEs with 33 banks and other lenders that can help

Airtel Nigeria Partners AXA Mansard to makes Health Insurance Available via USSD

Airtel Nigeria Partners AXA Mansard to makes Health Insurance Available via USSD

Airtel one of Nigeria’s telecommunication company has announced a partnership with AXA Mansard, a leading healthcare service provider, to launch a new service that gives access to health insurance through their mobile phones for Nigerian users. The partnership will allow Nigerian Airtel users affordable health insurance plans from AXA

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.

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

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

MTN achieves 88.9% nationwide coverage in Nigeria

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%

African Crypto Startups Audacity Fund launches with New Investors

African Crypto Startups Audacity Fund launches with New Investors

Erikan Obotetukudo co-founder of Crypto for Black Economic Empowerment (CBBE), has announced the launch of Audacity Fund, a new crypto venture capital fund. CoinShares CSO Meltem Demirors, IDEO CoLab Ventures, and Electric Capital, which invests in early-stage FinTech and crypto companies, are among the investors in Audacity. Trump following Nixon

Bank of Uganda Launches Regulatory Sandbox Regime for Fintech Startups

Bank of Uganda Launches Regulatory Sandbox Regime for Fintech Startups

The Bank of Uganda (BOU) has announced creating a Regulatory Sandbox Framework that allows Fintech startups to test their innovative financial products in a safe environment. Prof. Tumusiime-Mutebile, Governor of The BOU, said that the program aims to develop and test their financial innovations in this framework. He further explained

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

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

Nigerian Topship raises funding from Angel Investors to scale

Nigerian Topship raises funding from Angel Investors to scale

Nigerian tech shipping platform helping Nigerian merchants ship locally and internationally Topship, has announced it raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round by angel investors from both the United States and Nigeria. Topship allows merchants to select from a wide range of shipping options (express, basic, and cargo) based