TikTok has developed a bad reputation for harboring dangerous viral “challenges” in its application, which in the worst case, have resulted in serious injury or death, as in the case of the blackout challenge that prompted Italian regulators to take action. against the social network to remove underage users. More recently, the app has made…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a statement regarding its observation on eNaira, the new digital currency of Nigeria’s central bank (CBDC). The IMF, in the statement, said: “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) officially launched the ‘eNaira’, a central bank digital currency (CBDC), on October 25, 2021. This is the second CBDC fully…
Tyro, an Egyptian startup educational technology platform that connects students with qualified instructors through individual and group sessions, is acquiring Nafham, a social startup that offers free, crowd-sourced educational content, under a share swap agreement. Tyro is an online tutoring platform that connects students with the best professional instructors, and currently operates in Egypt, the…
Nokia said on Wednesday that it plans to launch a cloud-based software subscription service aimed at telecommunications companies to provide analytics, security and data management software. Many tech companies have been moving toward a subscription model from licensing in advance to building a predictable, recurring business. While part of Nokias’ software portfolio will be offered…
Microsoft, the global tech giant, is establishing the Africa Transformation Office as part of doubling its investment on the continent, as well as an effort to continue to enable “African-led for Africa” ??digital transformation. The company has also announced that the Africa Transformation Office (ATO) will be led by new Managing Director (MD) Wael Elkabbany….
Rwanda’s technology start-ups PesaChoice and Viebeg have raised seed funding from the Kigali-based Norrsken Foundation. Founded in 2016 by Niklas Adalberth, one of the founders of the Swedish fintech unicorn Klarna, Norrsken aims to help entrepreneurs solve the world’s biggest challenges. Disrupt Africa reported in 2019 that the Impact and Tech Entrepreneurship Support Foundation began…
Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, today announces that its subsidiary Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria has been granted approval in principle by the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate as a super agent in Nigeria. The super agent licence is distinct from the Payment…
The emergence of ecommerce in Africa has seen online shoppers take advantage of the convenience it offers, as goods can now be delivered directly to their doorsteps while they also have the flexibility of selecting the payment channel either using their debit cards or payment upon delivery option. However, as ecommerce continues to evolve and shape how business is…
Google Meet has been updated to support up to 500 participants in Premium Workspace video conferencing services. The company has updated the service, which has grown in popularity with the rise of teleworking during the COVID-19 epidemic, so that users using more expensive applications can have conversations with more participants. The new limit is still…
Nigerian money transfer startup Aboki Africa has raised a round of seed capital to help the team grow and expand their product range. Aboki Africa was launched in July this year by Idorenyin Obong and Femi Aghedo after a year of testing, and it enables users to create a free global virtual bank account for…
Tunisian startup iCompass is using artificial intelligence to help companies across Africa and the Middle East communicate with their customers in their own languages. Founded in 2019 by Ahmed Nouisser and Hatem Haddad, iCompass specialises in natural language processing (NLP) products using the latest deep learning and reinforcement learning technologies to develop speech transcription services, automatic voice…
South African security and medical response marketplace AURA has secured a ZAR62 million (US$4 million) Series A funding round to support its global expansion plans. AURA is a marketplace that enables anyone to access the closest vetted private and public security and medical response unit to their location – anywhere, anytime – using a connected device….
Ever wished you had your own personal bank assistant on speed dial? Well look no further. The banking experience has just got that much easier with African Bank’s new Chat Banking service on WhatsApp. Sbusiso Kumalo, chief marketing officer at African Bank The platform has been designed with simplicity in mind and customers can chat…
Zembo, a Ugandan electric mobility startup, has obtained a $3.4 million investment grant to expand its electric motorcycle company in Kampala, Uganda. The startup signed the funding agreement with InfraCo Africa, a private infrastructure development group (PIDG) company, along with a consortium that includes Dutch private equity firm DOB Equity and Toyota Tsusho’s venture capital…
Innovectives, a transaction solutions company focused on making wealth possible through innovation, has launched a five-year mandate to empower 1 Million SMEs across frontier markets. Innovectives is a member of US-based Index Group, with over 8 years operating experience in digital financial services covering key markets in Africa and Europe. According Emmanuel Agha, the group…
It had been three days since the lights went out on the off campus streets of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA). Exams were approaching, and students trooped out of their lodgings to find public places—barbing salons, electronics and grocery stores, eateries—to charge their phones and laptops. In a corner, at one such place,…
Nigerian e-health startup DrugStoc has raised US$4.4 million in Series A funding to expand access to quality medicines while providing sustainable supply chain financing for healthcare providers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Launched in 2017, DrugStoc is a cloud-based platform that provides healthcare providers with the interface for easy access to pharmaceuticals and healthcare products. The startup ensures that…
Nigerian tech start-up TeamApt is in the market raising its third round of funding at a value of more than US$1-billion (R15.2-billion), which will result in the banking software firm joining a spate of Africa-tech companies to become so-called unicorns. The Lagos-based company is targeting to raise about $150-million, said founder and CEO Tosin Eniolorunda in…
Cairo-based mobility assistance startup BlinkApp has raised a six-figure US dollar pre-seed funding round to finance its ambitious expansion plans. Founded in 2017 by Wael Noufal and Ahmed El-Mahdy, BlinkApp aims to achieve better general driving behaviour, faster roadside assistance, and safer roads. The startup’s app captures and analyses thousands of miles of data by using a…
African startups with solutions in the climate sector are invited to apply for the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation, which aims to support digital innovations tackling challenges around climate change. The GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation is the latest such fund run by the GSMA, after other focused offerings in 2018, 2019, 2020 and earlier this…
When it comes to technology and digital life, the pandemic has been the ultimate accelerant of increased online behaviour. When our movements were physically restricted, we turned to our devices to find digital solutions that enable us to continue with our lives. People have excelled by working, attending school, and even socialising online; but the…
Healthcare startup, Africa Health Holdings, has secured $18,000,000 in a Series A round to expand operations across Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. The funds raised will stimulate the growth of Africa Health Holdings beyond Ghana, into new countries such as Nigeria and Kenya. The telemedicine service provider also plans to take more advantage of the current…
Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has disclosed plans to launch N50 million Innovation Development Fund (IDF), TechEconomy.ng can authoritatively report. The NCS will launch the fund – a startup grant – tagged ‘Innovation Development Fund’ at this year’s National Information Technology Merit Awards (NITMA) conference and awards, TechEconomy.ng gathered. Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) as the umbrella…
Paratus Namibia and Ongos Connect have signed a commercial connectivity agreement, confirming that Paratus will be the technology/infrastructure partner to bring fibre connectivity to over 11,000 new residents in Ongos Valley, Namibia’s first smart city development. The agreement is the conclusion of a two-year planning process during which time Paratus has been working on building…
Nigerian Aba-based e-commerce startup Chooya has secured US$100,000 cash and a further US$850,000 in programme support from Entrepreneurship World Cup. Founded in 2019 by Igwe Uguru as a “search engine for African traditional markets” and bootstrapped since inception, Chooya was one of 100 finalists – chosen from 200,000 participants – for the Entrepreneurship World Cup, organised by…
VC4A is launching another round of the Mentor-Driven Capital (MDC) programs for 2022 in January in Egypt and Somaliland, with MDC in Nigeria kicking off Spring 2022. MDC is supported by the Work in Progress program, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Oxfam being the lead program implementer. Mentorship is a critical factor…
Root, a Cape Town-based startup building infrastructure for the digital insurance economy, has closed a US$3 million seed funding round to expand into new markets. Founded in 2016, Root is a cloud-native end-to-end insurance platform that enables organisations of any size to build, sell and manage digital insurance products and unlock modern engagement channels. The startup, which…
There is absolutely no doubt that South Africa is in the midst of a major unemployment crisis. The latest stats show that the official unemployment rate is 34.4%, a record high. The expanded unemployment figure, which includes discouraged job seekers, sits at an even more alarming 44.4%. Such high levels of unemployment are unsustainable and need to…
“How will Africans protect our culture in unexplored places?” This was one of the questions David Alabo, a Ghana-based artist with Moroccan heritage, was thinking about when he created “One Africa Three Futures”. Alabo, an afro-surrealist, used 3D and virtual reality (VR) to help his audience at the recently concluded Art X Lagos to see and interact with…
Global losses from payment fraud have tripled from $9.84 billion in 2011 to $32.39 billion in 2020, according to Deutsche Bank’s 2021 report on the future of payments. And financial professionals are saying COVID-19 hasn’t helped matters, with 65% believing that the global pandemic is to blame for some of the accelerated rate in fraud…