Villgro Kenya gives away $150,000 to 12 startups fighting COVID-19 in Africa.

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

Novastar Ventures fund raises $108m.

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 acquires online property platform, Lamudi Global.

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

Voyance introduces fraud monitoring platform to block fraudsters.

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 Africa's GovChat to partner with the country's Social Security Agency to digitize relief campaign.

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 to attach labels and warning messages to misleading COVID-19 info.

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 CVentures commits to London-based fintech, Countingup.

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 grocery delivery startup Zulzi receives R30m from JSE-listed company.

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, ‘Source Beauty’ secures pre-seed investment from 500 Startups.

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

WHO to launch contact tracing app.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is planning to launch a contact tracing app this month. This app will help people in under-resourced countries to test and trace people exposed to Corona-virus. According to Reuters, the contact tracing app is Bluetooth-based. Chief Information Officer for WHO, Bernardo Mariano said that the

Gozem collaborates with Etisalat Benin.

Gozem, Ride-hailing company collaborates with Etisalat Benin Francophone ride-hailing company, Gozem has collaborated with Etisalat Benin to make it’s “Moov Money” service accessible to its customers.This move by the two companies will allow Gozem customers to use Moov Money to top up their wallets and pay for trips.

Zoom

Zoom acquires Keybase to reinforce its encryption.

Video Communications Inc. Zoom has acquired Keybase Inc to reinforce its service encryption. This follows several complaints from users about the security of the platform. The company in a statement said the procurement will push Zoom’s goal to become the most popular video conferencing tool with end-to-end encryption. As

Ugandan government imposes strict guidelines for Boda Boda and taxis.

Ugandan government through the ministry of Kampala is imposing strict guidelines for all boda-boda as and taxis requiring them to operate under digital companies. This requirement comes after the lift of the coronavirus lockdown in the region. Regarding the guidelines, Lord Mayor of Kampala, Erias Lukwago said, all boda-boda motorcycles

Swvl, an Egyptian transportation startup secures $20m in a new round.

Swvl, an Egyptian transportation startup has secured over $20-million in a new round before the  COVID-19 invaded the country. Swvl is a premium mass transit system that provides buses. It allows people to share a ride in a van or bus during morning and evening commutes for a fixed fare

Zoom

Zoom to introduce new security features.

Video conferencing platform, Zoom is planning to introduce new security features to address the criticisms that have plagued the platform recently. This follows the several backlashes on security the App has received from cybersecurity experts and other legal authorities. One condemning report by The Intercept stated that Zoom’s meetings

Andela CEO confirms laying off staff in four African countries.

African tech giant,  Andela has laid off 135 employees in New York and across four African countries. The four African countries which were affected include; Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, and Egypt. Directors and above are taking cuts ranging from 10% to 30% depending on seniority. Also, Andela is cutting down on

Twitter tests a prompt that tells you to rethink offensive replies.

Twitter Inc will test users to reconsider using “offensive or hurtful language” by prompting them before the post replies. This move is an effort by the social media platform to clean up vulgar  conversations. When users hit “send” on their reply, Twitter will alert users if the words in their

Econet Zimbabwe offers cheaper bundles to enhance e-learning participation.

Econet Zimbabwe is offering cheaper bundles to enhance e-learning participation in the country. This comes after the uproar when Econet increased it’s data prices on May 5, 2020. However, Econet sent a letter to schools, calling on them to apply for the discounted data bundles. Data Bundles applies for

Spotify introduces its Premium Family plan in South Africa.

Spotify has introduced its Premium Family plan in South Africa to allow family members to access Spotify Premium through a single shared subscription. The subscription cost R100($5.44) per month and can be purchased from the Spotify website. A statement by the company said, “Spotify Premium Family is now

Apple, Google designs new coronavirus contact tracing technology that does not use location tracking.

Apple and Google have designed a new corona-virus contact tracing technology that does not use location tracking. Reuters in a statement said,“ Apple and Google, whose operating systems power 99% of smartphones, said last month they would work together to create a system for notifying people who have been near

Teraco constructs new data Centre in Cape Town, South Africa.

Teraco is constructing Teraco Cape Town 2 (CT2), a new 30MW data center facility in South Africa. This project comes after Teraco’s recent 60MW expansion announcement of its Johannesburg data center campus in Isando which makes the Cape Town facility the second-largest on the continent. Speaking on the issue,

MEST Africa selects the first cohort for “Tech By Her accelerator program”

MEST Africa, in partnership with Make-IT in Africa, has selected the first cohort for the Tech By Her accelerator program. These ten (10) female founders were selected from different parts of Africa. The 2020 cohort of the Tech By Her Accelerator include: * CodeLn: A company that helps recruiters find their

Egyptian Startup Instabug Raises $5 million series A round from Accel, Cloudera & Mopub.

Debugging Software startup, Instabug has acquired $5 million Series A round led by Accel with participation from angel investors such as Amr Awadallah, co-founder of Cloudera, and Jim Payne, founder and CEO of MoPub. Speaking on its investment in Instabug, General Partner at Accel, Rich Wong said, “I just love

UberEats to discontinue in seven markets including Egypt.

UberEats will discontinue its high demand food offer in 7 markets. These 7 markets include; the Czech Republic, Egypt, Honduras, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, and Ukraine. The discontinuity of UberEats in the aforementioned markets will take effect from June 4, 2020. UberEats is a food delivery platform where individuals can

Vodacom introduces Africa's first 5G mobile network in South Africa.

Mobile operator Vodacom Group has introduced Africa’s first 5G mobile network in three cities in South Africa. The three cities include Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Cape Town. According to Vodacom, the 5G network would support both mobile and fixed wireless services. In response to Covid_19, South Africa’s Telecom