Nigeria's President, Muhammadu Buhari Signs Startup Bill To Law

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the Startup Bill into law in Nigeria. From henceforth, it will be addressed as the Startup Act 2022. A law that gives Nigerian startups advantages with investment, tighter regulations and tax breaks. The event was revealed by Isa Pantami the nation’s Minister of Communication,

BNPL

MTN Nigeria Partners with Intelligra to Drive Financial Inclusion in the Country

South African telecommunications company subsidiary in Nigeria, MTN, has signed a partnership with a smartphone financing company, Intelligra through its device financing program. This occurred at a press conference on October 12 where it announced its collaboration with SLOT, Stanbic, VFD MFB, PT MFB and Credit Direct to enable flexible

Business

Egypt's valU Now Joins EFG Hermes, Others in Acquiring Stake in Social Payment Startup, Kiwe

Egypt’s valU, a leading Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) lifestyle-enabling fintech platform in the MENA region, has today announced acquiring a minority stake in Egypt’s fintech startup, Kiwe, a foremost youth social payment app that facilitates onboarding the unbanked youth segment in Egypt. valU has now joined EFG Hermes Finance,

B2B e-commerce

MaxAB, Egypt’s Food and Grocery B2B E-Commerce Startup, Raises $40M Pre-Series B Round

MaxAB, an Egyptian-based food, and grocery B2B e-commerce and distribution platform that connects suppliers with underserved traditional retailers and provides a variety of finance solutions across Egypt and Morocco, announced today that it has secured a $40 million pre-series B equity round to boost its growth across the MENAP region.

Business

Telecel Zimbabwe Set for Corporate Rescue as it Faces Insolvency

Due to severe financial hardship, Telecel Zimbabwe, one of the nation’s three smallest mobile phone companies, is about to be placed under corporate rescue, a type of bankruptcy protection. The secretary general of the Communication and Allied Services Workers Union of Zimbabwe claims that Telecel Zimbabwe is insolvent and

Highlighting what the Continuous Fall in Global Smartphone Demand Spells for Africa

Consumers worldwide have been affected by the current global inflation. The slump in global PC and smartphone demand in the last few quarters reflects this. Most recently, data by global research firm Canalys shows that the global smartphone market has just recorded the worst Q3 since 2014. According to the

E-commerce Startup, Bumpa Secures $4 Million in Seed Round For Expansion

Bumpa, a Nigerian e-commerce startup has secured  Four Million US dollars ($4 million) in the seed round, to propel its expansion in new markets across Africa and also bring in more talent into its team. The seed round was led by Base10 Partners, while it had the participation of SHL

Business

MTN Walks Away from Talks to Buy South Africa’s Telkom

It would seem like MTN has had enough of Rain’s never-ending relationship with Telkom. The Group has terminated negotiations to purchase Telkom. Bloomberg says that MTN claimed it withdrew from negotiations as Telkom failed to assure MTN Group that the discussions were exclusive. In a statement to the stock

Amazon Egypt

Amazon Egypt Rolls Out Intellectual Property Accelerator Program in Egypt

Amazon Egypt has announced the launch of its Intellectual Property (IP) Accelerator program in Egypt, which will allow small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to seamlessly obtain trademarks at a reduced cost to protect their brands, and deal with infringing goods on Amazon EG. The IP Accelerator connects SMB owners in

Edtech Startup Foondamate Expands Operations in Nigeria

To provide students with access to multilingual online learning resources using low-data instant messaging services like Whatsapp, the South African Edtech startup Foondamate has expanded its operations to Nigeria. WhatsApp is used by Foondamate as a teaching tool because it enables students without reliable internet access to learn with the

eFinance Group

Nexta, Egypt's FinTech Startup, Receives $3M Funding to Launch its "Next-Gen Banking App"

Nexta, an Egyptian digital banking startup, has received a $3 million investment from eFinance Group, a state-owned provider of digital payments solutions, to launch its “Next-Gen” banking app in the coming months. Ahmed Hisham founded Nexta in 2021 with the singular vision of disrupting the Egyptian fintech scene with its

The Ouut Spotlights Univelcity As The Tech Academy Clocks 6 Years

Various instances and events have occurred, recognizing Nigeria as one of the countries across the African continent that have produced a significant amount of tech professionals in the ecosystem. They have individuals who have won highly competitive competitions, raise funds from international tech contests, and many more. They have built

Business

Visa Partners FTX to Roll Out Bitcoin Debit Cards

According to a report from Bitcoin.com, Visa and FTX have teamed up to introduce bitcoin debit cards in over 40 nations, including the US and certain Latin American, European, and Asian nations. Users will be able to pay for goods and services at businesses that accept Visa cards using

Apple Pay

Fintech Startup, NALA Activates Apple Pay For African Customers In Diaspora

Tanzanian fintech startup, NALA has added Apple Pay to a list of its payment options for its users based in the US and UK. This will enable cross-border payments to beneficiaries dominating East African markets (Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Rwanda) and Ghana. This update comes after the company deployed a

ALMA Sustainable Finance

Trella, Egypt’s B2B Digital Trucking Marketplace Secures $6M in Debt Funding

Trella, Egypt’s B2B Tech Platform and trucking marketplace, has secured $6 million in debt financing from ALMA Sustainable Finance (ALMA) and the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to support its growth. Trella, which was founded in 2018, is a B2B technology platform and trucking marketplace that connects

ecommerce

Kenzz, an Egyptian-based Mass E-Commerce Platform, Raises $3.5M Seed Fund to Scale

Kenzz, the mass eCommerce platform providing reliable online shopping options to the masses in Egypt and the MENA region, has today announced that it has raised $3.5 million in Outliers Venture Capital – a venture capital fund backing early-stage outlier founders in the US & MENA-led seed funding round with

ShaQ Express Hits 13,000 Customer Base Plans Local, International Expansion

ShaQ Express, a Ghanaian startup in logistics has gained a customer base of 13,000 users even as it bootstrapped itself during the growth experience. With this achievement, the startup is planning to expand its market both at home and abroad Founded by Anthony Owusu-Ansah in 2020, ShaQ Express has

AltSchool Africa

Meet The Three Founders Building Fast Forward Venture Studio to Help African Startups from Idea Level

Opeyemi Awoyemi is a Nigerian serial tech founder having led several significant startups. Before exiting one of his well-known establishments, Jobberman, an online job site founded in 2009 — he was the co-founder. It was eventually acquired by Ringier One Africa Media (ROAM) in 2016. After this, he went on to

Business

Yellow Door Energy Closes $400 Million New Equity to Advance its Projects in the Middle East, Africa and Asia

Yellow Door Energy (YDE), a partner in sustainable energy for businesses, has raised a $400 million new equity round to accelerate the growth of its sustainable energy projects in Africa, the Middle East, and other regions. Actis, YDE’s newest and current majority stakeholder, contributed the finance, and existing shareholders

Business

Mastercard Launch Crypto Source to Offer Crypto Trading Tied to Bank Accounts

A new service from Mastercard will let customers to purchase and sell digital assets using their bank accounts, possibly opening the door for thousands of financial institutions to provide cryptocurrency trading. According to Ajay Bhalla, president of cyber and intelligence at Mastercard, the product, named Crypto Source, will launch in

Clean Energy

Morocco Set to Become Key Supplier of EV Batteries

Morocco is investing in the development of phosphate-based lithium EV batteries that are low-cost, widely available, and more efficient.  Leila Benali, Morocco’s Minister of Energy, said at an international conference on EV batteries at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Benguerir yesterday, that the country is currently investing

Business

EEP, Acquires Majority Stake in Egypt’s Education Content Developer, Selah El Telmeez

EEP, Egypt Education Platform, Egypt’s fastest growing education service provider, and The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE) have announced entering into definitive agreements on 6 October to acquire a majority stake in Selah El-Telmeez (SET), the famous 60-year-old legacy K-12 education content developer. This combines EEP’s distinct education

Business

Airtel Zambia Completes Additional Spectrum Purchase in Zambia

The parent company of the cellco, Airtel Africa, announced that Airtel Zambia has finalized the acquisition of 60MHz of additional spectrum in the 800MHz and 2600MHz bands for a total price of $29 million (payable in local currency). The airwaves would be used to assist the Zambian unit’s network

Software Startup, Snapt, Shuts down

Application delivery controllers (ADCs) and load balancing software provider Snapt, located in South Africa, has shut its doors amid what appears to be a financing shortage. After the agritech WeFarm, Notify Logistics, and the Kenyan foodtech Kune, Snapt is the third well-known business to close its doors. In order to

Business

Eskom Signs First Land Deals for Private Solar, Wind Farms

Eskom has signed a leasing agreements with backers of private energy producers for the development of renewable energy facilities on the property owned by the state-owned utility in Mpumalanga. HDF Energy South Africa, Red Rocket SA, Sola Group, and Mainstream Renewable Power Developments South Africa are the winning bidders. The