Africa

A collection of 31 posts

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Google Expands Generative AI in Search to Kenya and Other African countries

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Airbnb unveils $500,000 fund to support tourism growth in Africa.

Press Release

Impact Accelerator TRANSFORM Announces Funding for More Enterprises in Kenya

Transform, an impact accelerator that unites corporates, donors, investors, and academics to support visionary enterprises, has announced support for businesses in Kenya to scale new solutions and overcome global challenges. Led by Unilever, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) and EY, Transform advances the development of innovative

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African Development Bank Launches Funding for African startups

Africa

A Call for More Investments as Africa Remains Least Innovative Despite a Thriving Tech Ecosystem

It’s not yet Uhuru for Africa, as the continent has historically lagged behind other regions in terms of innovation. Africa has been consistently ranked as the least innovative continent by the World Intellectual Property Organization in the last 13 years in terms of technological development, and economic growth, despite

Africa

The Silicon Mountain: Highlighting the Cameroonian Tech Startup Ecosystem

Cameroon is a country of about 28.2 million people that is strategically located in Central and West Africa. It has a very youthful population and a 36.5%  internet penetration rate, with GDP expected to reach $47.01 billion by the end of 2022, according to Trading Economics global

AfCFTA

AfCFTA: Why Africa should be Every Smart Investor’s Choice Destination in 2023

Africa currently accounts for only 2% of global trade, moreover, only 17% of African exports are intercontinental, compared to 59% in Asia and 68% in Europe. As a result, the potential for transformation across Africa is significant. As a result, the AfCFTA is a game changer that will allow the

Africa

Why Visa is Dolling Out $1B for Africa’s Digital Transformation

Visa, the world’s leading card payment platform, has announced plans to invest $1 billion in Africa over the next five years to accelerate the continent’s digital transformation. Alfred F. Kelly, Jr., Chairman, and CEO of Visa announced the plan on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, at the US-Africa Business

Africa

Kenyan Tech Startups’ Contribution to the Nation's Economy

Kenya is one of the world’s most entrepreneurial countries, with a thriving tech startup ecosystem. And it’s not just in major cities like Nairobi; tech startups are sprouting up all over the country, from Mombasa to Kisumu. According to a report, Kenya now has over 1,000 tech

Africa

IFC launches $225 million fund directed towards early-stage startups in Africa, Central Asia, and Middle East

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a global development institution and member of the World Bank Group has launched a $225 million venture capital fund to support early-stage startups in Africa, Middle East, Central Asia and Pakistan. The investment, classified into equity and ‘equity-like’ will enable tech startups to attract scalable

Africa

Leveraging Edtech to Eradicate Mass Illiteracy in Africa

According to a 2019 Statista report, approximately 34.7 percent of Sub-Saharan Africans are illiterate. The adult illiteracy rate is the percentage of people aged 15 and up who are unable to read or write. After more than sixty years of independence, such a sad reality and mass ignorance have

Africa

Byld Ventures raises $15 million fund to back fintechs in Africa

Early-stage investment firm, Byld Ventures has announced its new close of $15 million fund launched in May 2022 to support fintechs in Africa. This comes after the fund reached its first close in June and its second close at $10 million in August. The fund is backed by the Dubai

Africa

Pan-African crypto exchange, Yellow Card raises $40 million Series B

Pan-African cryptocurrency exchange, Yellow Card has raised $40 million in Series B funding in a round led by Polychain Capital. Other investors include Valar Ventures, Third Prime, Sozo Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Fabric Ventures, DG Daiwa Ventures, The Raba Partnership, among others. This makes its funding a total of $56.

Africa

Janngo Capital’s first close of €60m fund to support African women

Pan-African Venture Capital (VC) company, Janngo Capital Startup Fund (JCSF), second investment vehicle of the management company has announced the first close of its €60m ($63 million) capital commitments at €34m ($36 million). This was after VC Investor, Founder & Executive Chair of Janngo Capital, Fatoumata Ba announced in 2019

Africa

Yellow Card hits 1 million users across 16 African countries

Pan-African Cryptocurrency startup, Yellow Card has hit one million users across its 16 African countries – where it has launched its operations. Founded in 2016 by Chris Maurice, Justin Poiroux and Munachi Ogueke, the company aims to expand across the 54 countries on the continent to ensure seamlessness in the buying

Africa

Mekan Games’ The President inspired by ex-American President

Kenyan Developer, Evans Kiragu and his team at Nairobi-based video gaming company, Mekan Games developed a game called The President in November 2021 that now has markets in the US. This was fulfilled during a training co-hosted by mobile games developing company, Crazylabs and play and earn South African company,

Africa

Nestcoin’s Metaverse Magna secures $3.2 million seed to build Africa’s largest crypto gaming community

Metaverse Magna (MVM) has raised $3.2 million seed to build Africa’s largest gaming decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). It was incubated in partnership with Old Fashion Research (OFR), a multi-strategy blockchain investment fund. This was after Nestcoin procured a pre-seed fund of $6.45 million in February of this

Africa

Togo Launches Togo Voyage; Digitalized Visa Application Sytem

The completion of Togo Voyage a digitalized visa issuance system (an E-visa application system) has been announced by the Togolese government. According to a statement, this system is meant to permit applicants to apply for a Togolese visa online. This includes submission of visa application, payment for visa application, and

Africa

Onilbox To Take Over Tanzania Fit-Tech

OnilBox, a Tanzanian based startup, is set to become one of the largest fitness technology (FitTech) in the country. Being just over a year after going live, OnilBox has helped various users find comfortable or private fitness locations, therefore building a large fit-tech community in Tanzania. Going live in 2021,

Africa

Understanding the Metaverse: How Africans can leverage information to benefit from the Metaverse

The significance of the Metaverse’s knowledge cannot be over-emphasized. With the rapid increase in the blockchain technology adoption in finance, gaming, entertainment, and several other areas, it has become a necessity to benefit from this emerging technology. The Metaverse is simply a virtual world where people live, work, shop,

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—

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

Africa

Four African startups to participate in the 10th Fintech cohort of the Catalyst Fund

Four African startups have been selected to participate in the 10th fintech cohort of the Catalyst Fund, a global inclusive tech accelerator managed by BFA Capital. The African startups in the program include AquaRech, ColdHubs, TopUp Mama, Tulix, and two other startups, Koltin and Mujer Financiera, from Mexico and Argentina,

Africa

Nigerian Mobility startup, Moove closes $10 million round led by NPK Capital to expand across Africa

The mobility fintech company Moove has secured a $10 million financing deal from NBK Capital Partners Mezzanine Fund II. This makes the sixth investment from the Fund advised by NBK Capital Partners and the first investment in Africa. Moove is a mobility fintech that is Uber’s exclusive fleet partner