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Nigeria’s Bongalow adds to seed round with UNCOVERED FUND investment

Nigeria’s Bongalow adds to seed round with UNCOVERED FUND investment

Nigerian home financing startup Bongalow has announced it has raised an extra undisclosed seed fund in a seed funding round from Africa-focused Japanese venture firm UNCOVERED FUND. Bongalow is a mobile-powered home financing marketplace created by Kelechi Nwokocha. The startup enables users to shop for the best home loan to

Organizations of women in tech empowering African women to pursue careers and businesses in tech

Organizations of women in tech empowering African women to pursue careers and businesses in tech

According to Georgina Varley, Gender diversity in the tech industry is smart economics. Despite receiving 50% less venture capital funding, global technology firms led by female entrepreneurs typically achieve a 35% higher return on investment than those run by men in 2019. The number of pioneering women in business is

Ghanaian Virtual Reality tours startup DOBIISON Announces Expansion Across Africa

Ghanaian Virtual Reality tours startup DOBIISON Announces Expansion Across Africa

Ghana’s virtual tours and immersive digital experiences for the real estate, construction, and tourism industries startup DOBIISON, has announced its plans to scale its service across Africa. DOBIISON was founded in 2018 by Selasie Awity and has since built the largest collection of Ghanaian virtual reality (VR) content. The

Dubawa Inducts 26 Fact-Checkers for 2021 Fellowship

Dubawa Inducts 26 Fact-Checkers for 2021 Fellowship

West Africa’s verification and fact-checking platform, Dubawa, has announced the conclusion of plans to induct 26 fellows into its 2021 cohort of fact-checkers to combat misinformation in the sub-region. The stage, under the guidance of the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), reported the initiation of the yearly

South African Fintech startup Ukheshe Expands to Asia-Pacific

South African Fintech startup Ukheshe Expands to Asia-Pacific

South African Fintech startup Ukheshe Technologies has announced its expansion into the Asia-Pacific region stemming from its introduction of an innovative digital-first payment solution. Ukheshe has fostered an innovation platform that provides banks and telecoms SMMEs with moderate advanced banking and installment administrations, with customer obtaining, onboarding, and dissemination costs

South Africa’s Safcoin to be listed for Exchange Offering

South Africa’s Safcoin to be listed for Exchange Offering

South African cryptocurrency startup Safcoin has announced it will undergo an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) this month, followed by an international listing in June. The listing is coming less than three years after the currency was founded by the South African entrepreneurial trio of Michela, Tony, and Neil in Hartenbos.

Twitter launches its verification program, things you should note

Twitter launches its verification program, things you should note

Microblogging platform, Twitter has officially launched its verification program for all users. Meaning, users can apply and get the blue checkmark displayed on their profile. The blue badge is meant to distinguish the authenticity of accounts that are of high public interest. This new announcement is coming after the process

Microsoft Announces Plans to retire its Internet Explorer

Microsoft Announces Plans to retire its Internet Explorer

Microsoft has announced that its Microsoft’s Internet Explorer will finally be retired next year after more than 26 years of service. The web browser that was released alongside Windows 95 will no longer appear on consumer versions of Windows 10 after June 2022. Microsoft had had to issue an

Startup Circles secures $150k investment from Enygma Ventures

Startup Circles secures $150k investment from Enygma Ventures

Today, Startup Circles, an innovative practical business school that helps startup founders scale their business and become investor-ready has secured R2.1-million ($150k) in funding from US Venture Capital fund, Enygma Ventures. This fund will be used to support the work of startup Circles and invest in companies that have

PE fund manager Ascent closes $100m fund for East African SME investments

PE fund manager Ascent closes $100m fund for East African SME investments

African private equity fund has announced the first rolling close of its Ascent Rift Valley Fund II (ARVF II) at more than $100 million, investing in small and medium-sized enterprises in East Africa. Investors in ARVF II include leading Africa investors such as Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries, the

Polaris Bank Nigeria launches VULTe; a new Digital Bank

Polaris Bank Nigeria launches VULTe; a new Digital Bank

On Tuesday, Polaris bank, a leading financial institution in Nigeria launched its own digital bank – VULTe. At the well-attended unveiling ceremony which took place at the Eko Hotel, Lagos, and virtually for a national and global audience. Chairman of the Bank, M.K Ahmad (OON) disclosed that the corporate goal

African Startups can apply for UNFPA’s Climate HackLab Project

African Startups can apply for UNFPA’s Climate HackLab Project

UNFPA East and Southern Africa, in partnership with Safeguard Young People Programme, has announced the ‘Climate HackLab’ project, which aims to empower young people to be game-changers and drivers of a sustainable green future. The program aims to drive young minds aged between 14 and 35 with smart innovations that

Kenya’s Alatpres launches Mobile Safety Application

Kenya’s Alatpres launches Mobile Safety Application

Kenya’s public safety and data analytics startup Alatpres Technologies has announced it has launched a mobile solution to provide reliable emergency notification and management solutions for individuals and businesses. Alatpres was launched in 2020 to help develop technologies that are designed to enhance public safety in ways that enable

IFC partners with MTN SA to expand MoMo network

IFC partners with MTN SA to expand MoMo network

MTN South Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services has announced a $2 million partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to expand its Mobile Money (MoMo) operations in South Africa. According to the terms of the partnership, IFC and MTN will recruit 10,000 MoMo agents

African Startups can apply for the Ugandan Green Enterprises Accelerator Program

African Startups can apply for the Ugandan Green Enterprises Accelerator Program

* Uganda Green Enterprise Finance Accelerator has announced that African startups can apply for its UGEFA Program. The accelerator program is a four-year European Union (EU)-funded project supporting green enterprises with access to tailored loans and direct acceleration support. The program will focus on assisting startups looking to raise between

Flutterwave Announce Partnership with Basketball Africa League

Flutterwave Announce Partnership with Basketball Africa League

The importance of the Premier League to the UK economy has been confirmed by a study that reveals the League contributed more than £3.3billion in tax and, with its clubs, supported almost 100,000 jobs in the 2016/17 season alone. EY’s Economic and Social Impact Assessment also

Egyptian e-commerce startup Homzmart raises $15m Series A funding round

Egyptian e-commerce startup Homzmart raises $15m Series A funding round

Homzmart, an Egyptian home goods marketplace platform, has secured $15 million in a Series A funding round led by China’s MSA Capital, a global investment firm with over US$1.5 billion in assets under management and Nuwa Capital. Other investors who participated in the round include EQ2 Ventures,

South Africa’s Pay@ Expands into More Africa Countries.

South Africa’s Pay@ Expands into More Africa Countries.

South Africa’s leading payment aggregator and provider of secure payment solutions Pay@ has announced it has expanded into several African countries and providing consumers and businesses alike with a variety of payment methods. The company’s CEO, Andrew Hardie speaking on the expansion said that with the startup already

Nigeria Speed-up Plans to Roll out 5G nationwide

Artificial Intelligence

Nigeria Speed-up Plans to Roll out 5G nationwide

Nigeria has announced its intention to speed up processes to join Kenya and South Africa to get one of the countries in Africa using the 5G network. The country’s most recent move to get ready for public enactment of 5G happened recently, when it signed an understanding with satellite

Egyptian ecommerce logistics startup, Bosta raises Series A funding to expand across Africa and MENA

Egyptian ecommerce logistics startup, Bosta raises Series A funding to expand across Africa and MENA

Bosta, an Egyptian e-commerce logistics startup, has raised $6.7 million in its Series A funding round led by venture capital firm Silicon Badia. Participants in the funding round include 4DX, Plug and Play Ventures, Wealthwell VC, and Khwarizmi VC from Saudi Arabia as well as other regional and global

Village Capital Announces 23 African Startups for its Future of Work Africa 2021 Cohort

Village Capital Announces 23 African Startups for its Future of Work Africa 2021 Cohort

Village Capital, with support from Moody’s Foundation and IFC, has announced the 23 early-stage startups selected to participate in its Future of Work Africa 2021 acceleration program, the program that comes in two cohorts in May through August 2021. The program aims at accelerating startups that are leverage technology

Rwandan, Zambian Startups secure funding from Opes-LCEF

Rwandan, Zambian Startups secure funding from Opes-LCEF

Rwanda’s Munyax Eco and Zambia’s WidEnergy have both announced they secured funding from Opes-LCEF, a female-focused impact investor that provides investment, management, and technical support to enterprises that improve the lives of low-income people. Opes-LCEF currently has a portfolio of 17 investments, operating across 11 countries, focused on

1-month-old Egyptian neobank, Telda, raises a $5M pre-seed round led by Sequoia Capital

1-month-old Egyptian neobank, Telda, raises a $5M pre-seed round led by Sequoia Capital

Telda, a month-old Egyptian neobank working to digitize how Egyptians save, send, and spend money, has secured $5million in a pre-seed round led by Sequoia Capital. The round also saw participation from Berlin-based Global Founders Capital (GFC) and emerging markets-focused fund Class 5 Global. Last month, we reported that Flextock

African Startups can apply for UN WFP Innovation Challenge 2021

African Startups can apply for UN WFP Innovation Challenge 2021

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has announced it has launched the WFP Innovation Challenge 2021 to support and scale startups with solutions to global hunger, achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal (2). The WFP Innovation Challenge was launched in 2015 to combat disruptions in the global food system

African startups can apply for support from Bayer Foundation

African startups can apply for support from Bayer Foundation

Early-stage African tech startups have been invited BY Bayer Foundation to apply for its support program that aims at helping impact startups validate their solutions. Bayer Foundation has positioned itself over the past two years to tackle the global challenges of science and social innovation, nothing that the two are