Yellow Secures $5m from Oikocredit to Expand Clean Energy Financing in Africa

Yellow, a provider of pay-as-you-go off-grid solar solutions and appliances, has secured a $5 million loan from African social impact investor Oikocredit to assist an additional 89 000 underprivileged households in sub-Saharan Africa. Michael Heyink, a tech entrepreneur, launched Yellow, which has already served more than 350 000 clients across

Digital Payments

Leveraging the Naira Scarcity to Scale the eCommerce Sector in Nigeria

Since the Covid-19 surge resulted in the lockdown of cities across the world in 2020, the eCommerce sector has witnessed a surge in activities and exponential growth. Here in Africa, the sector has witnessed a bull run in the past six years, generating over $37 billion in revenue in 2022

2Africa Can Help Improve Digital Access in Kwazulu-Natal Province

The largest undersea cable in the world, 2Africa, is due to land in Amanzimtoti, KwaZulu-Natal, today. The cable is anticipated to be the engine that propels the digital economy in the region. The enormous underwater cable will link Africa, Europe, and Asia, has already made landfall in several regions of

Djibouti Startup Ecosystem, Ripple Effect Of National Economy

Djibouti’s economy is one of the smallest economies in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). It is situated in the Gulf of the Red sea which accounts for most of its major growth. With a largely unskilled labour force and minimal natural resources, the country’s economic

Building an E-Commerce Brand for Minimalists

Africa’s population is young, its cities are expanding quickly, and its disposable income is rising quickly. It is the home to 54 nations, each of which is at a different stage of economic development. According to a Deloitte report, specifically more than 70% of South Africans shop online at

Partech

Partech Creates Record as it Closes $263M in its Africa-focused Fund, Partech Africa II

Partech, a global venture capital firm, announced today the first close of Partech Africa II at $263 million, a significant milestone for the African tech ecosystem. This fund, the largest Africa-focused fund to date, will bring much-needed capital to the continent and aid in the growth of startups in a

Asset Recovery Agency

Flutterwave Gets Image Makeover as Kenyan Government Withdraws Financial Impropriety Case

Flutterwave, Africa’s most valuable tech startup and tech unicorn has recently had charges of financial impropriety dropped by a Kenyan high court. This was revealed in a Kenyan High Court document obtained by Bloomberg and confirmed by Robert Gitau, a lawyer for Flutterwave. The charges, which included card fraud

Orange Venture Invests in Moroccan Startup, Chari

Middle East and Africa-focused Venture Capitalist (VC) Orange Ventures has made a new investment into Morocco-based e-commerce startup, Chari. According to the startup the VC has been in its support before the funding. VC made an investment of $ 1 million into the B2B e-commerce and B2B platform. This investment supports

Fawry Partnership With Orange Cash; A Tool For Egypt Vision 2030

Egypt’s Super App, Fawry has recently gone into a partnership with Orange Cash through an agreement. The partnership is meant to provide a more sophisticated digital payment service and expand Orange Cash’s features as a digital payment provider on its own. The strategic partnership goes in line with

Thamsanqa Sibiya Speaks on Siza’s Drive to Democratize Access to Healthcare across Africa

Stakeholders in health, such as the World Bank and WHO, have deemed telemedicine to be excellent for global health. The WHO states that telemedicine can improve efficiency and lessen stress on medical staff by reducing the effects of a shortage of healthcare personnel and excessive hours spent on routine medical

African Healthtech

We Do Not Need Another Pandemic to Sustain the Growth of Healthtech in Africa

Healthtech, also known as digital health, is the intersection of healthcare and technology. It has been a rapidly growing industry globally in the last decade. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated its growth, leading to a surge in demand for digital health solutions that helped to contain the spread of the virus

Crypto

Crypto Activities In Lebanon; The Finance Safe-Spot

The current state of cryptocurrency regulations in Lebanon The economic crisis in Lebanon has caused citizens to look for alternative ways to store their wealth and protect their savings. This has led to an increase in the use of cryptocurrencies, despite warnings from the Banque du Liban (BDL), Lebanon’s

Vantage Capital Moves to Support Startup Growth after Second Close of Fourth Mezzanine Fund

The fourth mezzanine fund’s ultimate close was announced by Vantage Capital, the largest mezzanine fund manager in Africa. A total of $377 million has been committed from a variety of commercial investors with bases in Europe and the United States as well as a number of development finance institutions

Finance for Entrepreneurs: A Story of One of SA’s Oldest Fintech Credit Startup, DirectAzis

Financial inclusion has always been difficult in South Africa. As of 2022, 31% of the population still lacked access to financial services like bank accounts or loans. Because of the stringent lending requirements, many small and medium-sized firms and retail clients cannot access regular bank credit. Because of this, about

Cashless Policy

Dotting the 'I's and Crossing the 'T's for a Successful Implementation of the Cashless Policy in Nigeria

The recent scarcity of the naira across Nigeria as a result of the CBN directive to phase out old notes of the #1,000, #500, and #200 denominations has increased the country’s alternative payment options to an all-time high, a win for the CBN cashless policy. As we recently

Overview Of Israel Health-Tech Ecosystem

Israel is well known for its highly effective and renowned healthcare system. With about 1600 innovative companies, technology and a wide range of governmental programs, Israel has become a pioneer in the health sector worldwide. Over the last 25 years, the country has managed to create a healthcare system that

MNT-Halan Joins Africa’s Unicorn Gang With $400M Funding.

MNT-Halan/Cairo: Over the years, the African ecosystem has exponentially grown with proof. Startup numbers across the continent are currently more than 8,000 and the likelihood of many more coming into the field is inevitable. While some of these startups are still struggling with user traction, bootstrapping or team

Lulalend Secures Series B Round to Meet Lending Demands

Lulalend, a digital lender based in South Africa, has announced that it has raised a $35 million (about R600 million) Series B investment, which was headed by Lightrock and included DEG, Triodos Investment Management, and Women’s World Banking Asset Management as investors. Participating investors already in the market included

ARM Labs Lagos

Lagos ARM Labs Techstars Accelerator Program Selects 12 African Startups for its Inaugural Batch

The African and Nigerian tech ecosystems are set to benefit greatly from the ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator Program. In partnership with Techstars and Lagos-based innovation ARM Labs, this program is focused on building early-stage African fintech and proptech startups. The program selected its inaugural class of 12 startups, comprising

Jaqqui Posthumus Discusses How Digitail is Redesigning the Pet Care Industry

Every minute of every day, technology exceeds human expectations. With creative minds at work, it wasn’t long before animals began to enjoy the advantages of technology. Recently, there has been a meteoric rise in the pet healthcare sector. Pet care businesses are growing quickly thanks to the rapid acceptance

Quick Dive Into Bahrain Policy For Startup Convenience.

Bahrain:  Policies are important to every aspect of any organization. They provide a guideline for operations and check the activities of the company. Policies are also a great way for prospective founders and investors to explore the system and collate data for future investments. Government policies play a significant role

Nambu Looks to Close Feedstock Gap after Seed Fund close

Nambu Group, a South African Agritech business, has received seed funding from E Squared Investments for its technology, which uses the larvae of the Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia Illucens) to make high-nutrition animal feed. By providing food and organic waste to the Black Soldier Fly larvae, who then proliferate to

Business

Enabling the Merchant

Some 20 years ago, businesses had to adopted inefficient payment methods that were thought to be efficient. Typically, the procedure include entering card data into merchant platforms, or accepting payment personally or by mail. Businesses have had to regularly deal with ineffective payment methods, merchant tools, and internal corporate software

UAE Metaverse Strategy; Dubai's IFC Launches Metaverse Platform To Generate $4 billion In GDP

Metaverse: At the opening of the year 2023, The United Arab Emirates (UAE, Dubai)  revealed its intention to make the nation one of the top 10 metaverse economies in the world. This plan was tagged as the Metaverse Strategy, which is aimed at attracting over 1,000 companies and startups

Network Connectivity: What to Expect as Starlink Goes Live for the First Time in Africa

Starlink, owned by the American billion and Twitter CEO, Elon Musk is an internet satellite service supplied by SpaceX that intends to give high-speed, low-latency internet access to people all over the world, particularly in remote areas where conventional infrastructure is lacking. The network is made up of thousands of