Nigeria’s Wealth management startup, Cowrywise has secured an asset management license from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The license gives the startup the right to manage funds and investment portfolios on behalf of retail investors, allowing it to develop and operate any product that pools investor funds. Cowrywise

Egypt-based creator economy platform Minly has announced it closed a $3.6m seed round to accelerate its growth process. The round which is described as oversubscribed was co-led by 4DX Ventures, B&Y Venture Partners, and Global Ventures, including other unnamed regional funds and angel investors like Scooter Braun,

Villgro Africa, a venture capitalist firm supporting early-stage social entrepreneurs in Africa, has disbursed funding to four health-focused startups amounting to a total of $170k. Villgro Africa expanded to Africa in 2017 with a launch in Kenya, the firm only expanded across the continent in 2020 in a bid to

Kenyan Edtech startup Ed Partners has announced it raised $1.9m in funding. The round was secured by global social impact investors Acumen, I&P, Zephyr, and other existing investors. Ed partners were founded in 2018 by the duo of Lydia Koros and David FitzHerbert with the aim of

Johannesburg based visitor management startup WizzPass has been acquired by US digital workplace solutions firm FM:Systems. WizzPass was founded in 2015, the startup focuses on improving the often manual and insecure processes and systems involved with traditional facility visitor management. Its visitor management system revolutionizes the experience, security, convenience

Kenya’s Safaricom has announced that its M-Pesa Super app will be released today. The release of the super app follows the prior announcement by the telecoms firm to obtain an insurance license is on track and the recent debut of its video-streaming app Baze. The M-Pesa Super app was

Nairobi-based Agritech startup Apollo Agriculture has announced it raised $1m in debt funding from the Agri-Business Capital Fund (ABC Fund). Apollo Agriculture uses its digital approach to help small-scale farmers access the resources they need to maximize their profitability. The platform helps commercial farmers access financial and farming aids including

Cape Town-based Fintech startup Finch Technologies has made a large investment to become the majority stakeholder in South Africa’s premier business financing marketplace, FundingHub. This investment round follows an initial investment in FundingHub in 2019. FundingHub connects South African SMEs with 33 banks and other lenders that can help

The Bank of Uganda (BOU) has announced creating a Regulatory Sandbox Framework that allows Fintech startups to test their innovative financial products in a safe environment. Prof. Tumusiime-Mutebile, Governor of The BOU, said that the program aims to develop and test their financial innovations in this framework. He further explained

Nigerian tech shipping platform helping Nigerian merchants ship locally and internationally Topship, has announced it raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round by angel investors from both the United States and Nigeria. Topship allows merchants to select from a wide range of shipping options (express, basic, and cargo) based

Zimbabwean startup Bhala has launched a mobile virtual keyboard that uses machine learning and state-of-the-art deep learning models to improve the experience of writing in African languages. Bhala that started its service delivery in January 2021 supports word auto-complete, spellcheck, and word prediction in ChiShona, IsiNdebele, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, KiSwahili, Sepedi,

Kenyan Foodtech startup Kune delivers freshly-made, ready-to-eat meals at affordable prices and has announced it closed $1m in pre-seed funding round to help its scaling process. The funding round was led by Launch Africa Ventures, with anchor investments from Century Oak Capital GmbH and Consonance. Kune was launched in 2020

Egyptian fashion and e-commerce startup DressCode has announced it secured $250k in funding to help it expand its offering, mostly in the home décor space. DressCode was founded in 2018 by the duo of Mohamed Abdel Dayem and Ali Zakaria. The startup has offered experiential retail environments and a well-curated

Johannesburg-based Wayja has announced it launched its cashless P2P betting platform. The app’s platform will allow users to connect with friends and make cashless wagers on anything, from anywhere. The startup which officially launched in 2020 by Reece Jacobsen and Clinton Holroyd has since been funded by seed capital

Nigerian prop-tech startup Seso has announced it raised $600k in pre-seed funding round as it bids to build on strong initial traction. Ventures that participated in the round include Kepple Africa Ventures, Rising Tide Africa, and Moabi Group, as well as angel investors Albert Essien, Ibrahim Sanga, and Jamie Broderick.

The World Economic Forum has announced its selection of the 100 most promising Tech pioneers of 2021 which includes companies that are shaping industries from their different sectors. The World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers include early to growth-stage tech companies from around the world focused on having a significant

Kenya’s e-commerce startup Sky.Garden has announced it closed a $4 million round of Series A funding to accelerate its growth. The round featured SANAD Fund for MSME, Aavishkaar, UNCOVERED FUND, and KSK Angel Fund, the latter founded by Japanese former AC Milan footballer Keisuke Honda. Sky. Garden was

South Africa’s uYilo– which means “to create” has announced that applications have opened for the 2021 uYilo Mobility Programme. South African mobility startups will be offered up to $73k in grant funding aimed at assisting projects to reach commercialization into the market. The national uYilo eMobility Program was established