From showcasing of talents, to the art of fashion design, identifying youths in the food business and lots more, Nigeria’s leading financial services providers, First Bank of Nigeria Limited has reiterated its commitment to Youth Empowerment and Entrepreneurship through the celebration of its ongoing 2021 Youth Week. The Youth Week, themed “The Future is Now, Let’s Takeover” started on Monday, 8…
Tesla CEO Elon Musk offloaded a combined $6.9 billion worth of shares in the electric car company this week, taking advantage of a meteoric rally that vaulted the firm’s value to over $1 trillion. The billionaire sold 1.2 million shares held by his trust for more than $1.2 billion on Friday, the latest in a…
Google Trends publishes the top google searches for every day of the week and covers 4 African countries in which it sees the most activity, namely Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. The top search trends from along the week provide an interesting insight into the minds of each country, what captivated users the most,…
BlackHouse Media (BHM) has congratulated Nigerian media and tech executive Alex Okosi after he was named as one of Britain’s 100 most influential black people in the Powerlist 2022. Now Managing Director, Emerging Markets, YouTube (EMEA), Alex Okosi formerly helmed Viacom’s African operations, including music channel MTV Base. The Powerlist is an annual event that recognises…
During COP26 Gender Day on Tuesday, the UK announced £165 million to tackle climate change while addressing the inequalities that make women and girls more vulnerable to climate change and empowering them to take climate action. Around the world, the UN has found that women are more vulnerable to the effects of this than men,…
Tech media organisation, Technext has announced its maiden event, Technext Coinference 2021. The event will provide a visible platform for key players in the African blockchain tech ecosystem and crypto enthusiasts to discuss the possibilities of cryptocurrencies, in order to position for future leverage. The maiden event is billed to hold on Thursday, December 9, 2021, at…
Internet giants, including social media apps Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, joined several world leaders to issue a global call to better protect children online at a Paris summit on Thursday. The call, initiated by France and the UN child protection agency UNICEF, acknowledges that “in the digital environment, children can come across harmful and violent…
Ericsson has been awarded the Green ICT Champion of the Year Award 2021 at the Africa Tech Festival for its Breaking the Energy Curve initiative. The 14th edition of the Awards acknowledges and recognizes innovations and innovators who are enabling transformation, inclusivity, and digital democracy across the African continent. The Green ICT Champion of the Year…
I-invest, a mobile application, has provided a secure and safe platform for millions of Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora, to invest in and secure their future. The application that was developed by the Parthian Partners, and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and FMDQ, allows retail investors to conveniently buy and…
Twitter will no longer automatically crop image previews on the web after rolling out full-size image previews on mobile earlier this year. On Twitter for the web, images will now display in full without any cropping. Instead of gambling on how an image will show up in the timeline, images will look just like they did when you shot…
Instagram added two features to Reels yesterday: text-to-speech and voice effects. These features are popular already on TikTok, but now, creators can use them on Instagram too. This marks yet another effort from Instagram to keep up with TikTok when it comes to short-form video, as Instagram offers big reels bonuses to incentivize creators, Text-to-speech is a necessary accessibility…
Semicolon Africa, a Nigerian startup focused on developing software engineering talent, has raised $1.2 million in a seed funding round headed by renowned venture capital companies Launch Africa Ventures and Consonance Investment Managers. Sam Immanuel launched Semicolon Africa in 2019 with the goal of tackling technological skill gaps, stimulating innovation, cultivating talent, and establishing a…
The increase in cyberthreats recorded by internet security group Kaspersky in the first half of this year in Kenya amounted to 32.8 million. Compared to similarly prominently targeted countries in the African region the recorded number was on par with South Africa accounting for 31.5 million, and near double the number recorded in Nigeria at…
Egyptian startup Sympl, a buy now, pay later service that allows merchants to sell products and services directly to customers on short-term and interest-free repayment plans, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from local VC firm A15 as the startup launches operations in earnest. Founded by Yasmine Henna, Mohamed El-Feky and Karim Tawfik, Sympl launched its…
Moove, an African mobility fintech, has signed an exclusive partnership with Lori Systems, the leading e-logistics company in Africa. The partnership marks Moove’s first foray into the logistics industry, building on rapid growth over the last 15 months in car financing, as it leverages its revenue-based financing model to bridge the financing gap across one of…
Egyptian startup Rabbit, an on-demand delivery company delivering groceries, cosmetics, electronics and more using dark stores, has raised a US$11 million pre-seed funding round. Launched last month by Ahmad Yousry, Walid Shabana, Ismail Hafez, and Tarek El Geresy, Rabbit runs on tech enabled hyper-local fulfillment centres and claims to be able to guarantee consumers that what they…
International clean-tech startup incubator The Hatchery has launched its new Africa office in Cape Town, South Africa, aiming to discover and support cutting-edge entrepreneurs in areas such as smart utility metering, solar energy, and mobile financial platforms. Also based out of Oslo and Detroit, The Hatchery is an international clean-tech incubator that is invested in technologies that…
Applications are now open for the latest Google for Startups Accelerator Africa, a three-month programme designed to help startups scale across the continent. Launched in 2017, the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa programme has so far supported 82 startups from 17 African countries, which between them have raised more than US$117 million in funding and…
Kenyan quizzing startup mSwali has raised an undisclosed pre-seed funding round to enable it to expand its mSwali Quiz MVP from USSD to a web app. Founded in July 2020, mSwali has developed mSwali Quiz, a USSD-based quiz game with topics focused on individual African countries, the continent, and the world as a whole. “mSwali is a…
MFS Africa has raised US$100 million Series C through an equity and debt financing round. The fundraising marks another milestone in MFS Africa’s expansion, following a series of acquisitions and investments in other African fintechs, including the recently announced acquisition of Baxi in Nigeria. The new investor, AfricInvest FIVE, is one of the most experienced private…
If you’re a fan of action thrillers, you’ve probably seen security operatives working with hi-tech gadgets like smart glasses and smartwatches (looking at you, James Bond). In case you’re wondering if those are real or if they’ll ever be commonplace in Africa, we are taking a closer look at a Nigerian-founded company building hi-tech gadgets…
For most startup founders looking to raise money, the obvious choice is equity financing. However, there is another option – debt financing. Equity financing requires that founders give away shares in their business in exchange for capital. Debt financing allows founders to raise money by selling debt instruments to individuals or investors, and this money…
YouTube announced Wednesday the tally of “dislike” clicks on videos will no longer be visible to the public to protect creators from harassment and targeted attacks. A public count of likes — or dislikes — that social media posts rack up is regularly cited by critics as harmful to well-being, and Facebook as well as Instagram have allowed users…
Meta today announced the launch of Facebook Business Coach, an innovative and easy-to-use tool for SMB owners in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and other English-speaking countries to learn more about how to expand their business online with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The Facebook Business Coach, which is available on WhatsApp, is a free-to-use, low-cost educational…
Elon Musk has sold about $5 billion worth of Tesla stock, according to a slew of regulatory filings that posted late Wednesday. Initial filings showed Musk had sold 934,091 shares for about $1.1 billion out of more than 2.1 million options he received as part of a compensation package. Musk disclosed in a regulatory filing that he…
Nigeria-based health tech startup Helium Health has acquired Meddy, a Qatar-headquartered and UAE-based doctor booking platform for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition, termed “a great deal” by Helium Health CEO Adegoke Olubusi on a call, is unusual in the sense that it overlaps two regions that rarely do in tech: Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Meddy CEO Haris Aghadi and COO Abed…
South African VC firm Grindstone Ventures has launched a ZAR100 million (US$6.5 million) fund dedicated to predominantly funding startups that have completed, or are part of, the Grindstone Accelerator programme. Grindstone Accelerator is a structured entrepreneurship development programme co-owned by VC fund manager Knife Capital and Thinkroom Consulting, and principally funded by SA SME Fund. An equity-free structured…
Africa-focused early-stage investor DFS Lab has invested in 19 African tech startups so far in 2021, making it one of the most active firms on the continent and taking its total portfolio size to 22. Founded in 2017, DFS Lab helps founders leading next generation digital commerce businesses in Africa build solid foundations, and matches them with…
Egyptian ed-tech startup OTO Courses has raised US$400,000 in cash and in-kind services from EdVentures to further develop its product to reach more users. Founded in 2015 by Ahmed Badr and Tarek Nour El-Din, OTO Courses has developed an online learning platform that offers general and specialised English language courses for individuals or businesses. Teachers are carefully…
Electric cars and shared mobility concepts are starting to disrupt Africa’s taxi industry. Just a few years after cab-hailing apps upended the market and made city transportation cheaper and safer, they’re now about to get greener. Last month, Nopea Ride, Kenya’s electric taxi fleet service, opened a new electric vehicle (EV) charging hub at Village Market…