Algorand

FIFA  Partners Blockchain Innovator, Algorand for sustainable revenue growth

FIFA, the governing body of football around the globe, has announced technical cooperation and sponsorship agreement with Algorand, a green blockchain technology firm based in the United States. FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Algorand founder Silvio Micali announced the partnership in Los Angeles, making the American firm a FIFA World

Africa’s Disrupt Story: The Case of Web3 Adoption in the Region

As Africans strive to build an entirely new tech ecosystem built on Blockchain, the region edges closer to a more decentralized financial system that strengthens financial freedom. About 2 decades ago, the idea of E-commerce and Fintech was but a mere wish in the region. Today, Africa has joined the

Hello Tractor, Heifer International launch Pay-As-You-Go Tractor funding for Nigerian Agripreneurs

Hello Tractor, a Nigerian tractor-booking platform, has secured $1 million in funding from Heifer International to provide loans for tractor purchases. Farmers will repay with revenue earned by leasing the tractors to local farmers. “We developed the PAYG program to make tractor ownership—and the reliable income these machines can

The Web and its Different Versions: Aligning the Web2 and Web3 Dichotomy

Several Web3 proponents have gone ahead to what the web takeover. Without needing to delve into the deficiencies of all the webs, it is good to correct the assertion that web3 is not an ‘evolution’ of web2.  John Mc Keown explained that what has been termed a modification does not

Startups in Africa raise Over $600M in April to bring total funding in 2022 to over $1,808,963,000

After the first four months of 2022, African startups and their tech ecosystem show no sign of slowing down. As of now, Africa’s tech space has secured over $1,808,963,000B in funding. In addition, Africa’s tech space hit the $600m mark for the third month running

Business

Egypt's SWVL acquires UK-based Largest Smart Bus platform, Zeelo For $100M

SWVL Holdings, a global supplier of disruptive tech-enabled mass transit solutions, has today announced its completion of a formal agreement to acquire Zeelo, the United Kingdom-based largest smart bus platform, and technology scale-up by bookings, for $100 million. Swvl’s recent successful acquisitions of Viapool and Shotl, as well as

From Funding to Tech Talent to Emerging Tech; Africa’s Tech Space Will Unleash more Tech Waves in 2022

The advancement of technology in Africa has piqued the interest of the rest of the world. Despite been labeled an “emerging market” for a long time, it has grown dramatically over the last decades. Africa’s tech ecosystem had snowballed into one of the world’s fastest-growing tech ecosystems, with

Daily

Nigeria’s Eden Life expands to Kenya, acquires Lynk

Eden Life, Africa’s first home concierge services scheduling platform has acquired Lynk, a Kenyan gig marketplace in a move that will see Eden Life expand into Kenya. The strategic acquisition, brokered by Enza Capital will allow Eden Life leverage Lynk’s successful platform that connects informal workers with end-users

Fintech

Techstars Accelerator comes to Lagos

Techstars, one of the most influential accelerators in Africa has announced the ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator for early-stage fintech and proptech startups across the continent. The ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator will receive applications this June through August. Up to 12 startups will be selected on an annual basis

bitcoin

The Central African Republic becomes first country in Africa to make Bitcoin a legal tender

The Central African Republic has officially adopted bitcoin as an official currency, making it the first African country to do so and the second in the whole world after El Salvador became the first country in the world to introduce bitcoin as an official currency in September 2021, allowing citizens

The Role of Tertiary Institutions in Africa’s Preparation for the Next Tech Wave

As Africa continues to align itself with the global tech trend, the continent’s tech space continues to surge. New techs have always disrupted old ones. Globally, technology has always progressed in “tech waves,” which signal the widespread dissemination and adoption of new ideas. Manufacturing, for example, was the main

Business

Solar company, Bboxx reportedly acquires Ghana’s PEG Africa for $200 million

Bboxx, a London-headquartered cleantech startup that provides clean energy in Africa, has reportedly acquired PEG Africa, another cleantech startup based in Accra, in a deal worth $200 million, according to reports from TechCabal. This deal is the largest across all categories—including venture funding, grant, or M&A—in

BeyondNetZero

Sun King secures $250m in Series D to deliver off-grid energy tech across Africa, Asia

Sun King, (formerly Greenlight Planet) one of the largest solar companies in Africa and Asia, has today secured $260 million in a Series D funding round led by BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic, with participation from M&G Investments’ Catalyst and Arch Emerging Markets Partners The

Blockchain

Nigerian Afriex Raises $10 Million For Its Blockchain Money Transfer Platform

Nigeria-based fintech startup, Afriex has announced the close of a $10 million Series A round to expand its blockchain money transfer platform. This funding round was led by Sequoia Capital China and Dragonfly Capital with participation from Goldentree, Stellar Foundation, and Exceptional Capital, among others. Founded in 2019 by Tope

Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund

Ghana’s Farmerline raises $12.9m in Pre-Series A and Debt Funding Round to scale, help farmers get maximum output

Farmerline Group, a Ghanaian agtech startup that helps African farmers get maximum output from their farming business has raised $6.4 million in Pre-Series A investment and $6.5 million debt from Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF) and FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank-led equity round with participation from Greater

Google

Google's Product Development Centre: what is in for the Kenyan talents?

Kenya is an emerging East African economic hub with a population of about 55 million people with the youth constituting a large chunk of the population. Regrettably, this youthful population is not translating into economic growth due to the youth unemployment rate which stands at 13.5 percent, according to

Business

African Banks are Scaling through Banking as a Service: Evidence from South Africa's Nedbank

Nedbank has been able to achieve giant strides over the years in Africa’s Fintech space. According to Barret Value Centre, their focus on building a strong foundation of values has contributed immensely. However, Nedbank have not been without some challenges. In fact, Nedbank was once considered the lowest of

Elon Musk

Elon Musk acquires Twitter for $44 bn.

Global social networking company, Twitter, has on Monday announced that it has agreed to be acquired by Elon Musk, for $54.20 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company. Under the terms of

Celebrity shout-out Platform, Minly, is Creating Personalized Experiences Between Celebrities and Fans

In discussing the uniqueness of Minly’s service, then we are looking at a startup interested in spreading positivity. Minly, an Egypt-based creator economy platform launched in 2020.  Mohamed El-Shinnawy, Tarek Hosny, Tarek ElGanainy, Ahmed Abbas and Bassel El-Toukhy all co-founded the startup. Minly’s focus is to provide tools

Wave

Wave gets e-money license to operate in 8 francophone countries

Senegal based fintech unicorn, Wave Digital Finance, has acquired an e-money license from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). This licence will allow Wave to provide its financial services to 8 Francophone West African countries—Benin, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo—

Equiano-subsea-cable

Google and its cable landing partner, WIOCC lands Equiano subsea cable in Nigeria

Google and its cable landing partner, the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) have today announced the landing of its state-of-the-art Equiano subsea cable, expected to significantly impact Nigeria’s current and future international internet connectivity demands, increase internet speeds by a factor of six, reduce internet retail prices by

Africa

 Electric Vehicles: When will Africa be ripe for mass adoption?

Africa is home to over 1.3 billion people, and about 72 million vehicles ply the roads across the continent. Most of these vehicles use Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), powered by fossil fuels—petroleum and natural gas, which pollute the air and are dangerous to humans and the environment. Also,

Google

Google launches first product development center in Nairobi

Global tech giant, Google has announced the launch of a product development center in Nairobi, its first in the continent. The company said it set up the centre to build “transformative” products and services for the African market and the world. Suzanne Frey, Google VP for products disclosed that the

Business

Chooya is Leveraging Word-of-Mouth Advertisement for Business Growth

African businesses are more aware of the reality of demanding, brand-conscious consumers living in a challenging environment. However, they still have to find the most efficient and effective way to reach them. This essential aspect of commerce has been simplified most effectively by Chooya. The Nigerian E-commerce startup is looking

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Features

6 startups bridging the tech talent gap in Africa

A joint report by Google and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in 2020 disclosed that there are only 700,000 professional developers in Africa.