South African startup BotsZA is helping companies and organisations improve their talent acquisition processes and better liaise with customers using artificial intelligence (AI). Launched in November 2016, BotsZA is helping businesses both locally and internationally to integrate its two main products – Hazie and MASON – into their business processes to help them improve productivity and efficiency,…
Seven Africa-based startups have been selected to take part in the latest edition of the Techstars Toronto accelerator, securing access to mentorship, US$120,000 in funding and the opportunity to secure further investment at demo day. The 13-week Techstars Toronto accelerator programme is designed to provide mentorship, funding and access to the Techstars network. It culminates…
The UAE-based Fintech Galaxy has partnered with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to launch a new cross-border accelerator programme to help startups from Egypt and Jordan expand into both markets. The two-month Yalla Xtech programme is aimed at helping startups to expand beyond their borders. It hopes to promote cross-border inclusion and knowledge…
South African payment solutions provider Pay@ and local startup FinChatBot, which specialises in conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions, have partnered to launch what they say will be a unique payments solution they hope to export across the continent in future. Established in 2007, Pay@ is one of Southern Africa’s leading payment solutions providers, while FinChatBot, launched in 2016, specialises in…
Commercial Fifth Generation (5G) network deployment is now in 176 countries around the globe, serving more than 500 million subscribers. This was disclosed at the12th yearly Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF) held in Dubai recently. Huawei’s Rotating Chairman Ken Hu, who disclosed this at the forum, stressed the need for the global ICT industry to…
Brass, a Nigerian digital bank delivering easy access to affordable premium banking services for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), has today secured $1.7mn in funding to address the heavily underserved banking needs of local entrepreneurs, traders and fast-growing businesses. The financing round sees participation from Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola (Co-Founder of Flutterwave), Ezra Olubi (Co-Founder of Paystack, acquired…
Vodacom South Africa is launching Eco-SIM cards made from recycled plastic as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to reduce its impact on the environment by halving its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. Vodacom will soon provide customers with new Eco-SIMs in the half-sized format made from recycled plastic, progressively replacing SIM cards currently made from new…
Chrome 95 has rolled out to the stable channel for Android, Windows, Mac and Linux users. The exact desktop firmware version is Chrome 95.0.4638.54, while on Android, its Chrome 95.04638.50, and they contain a number of fixes and improvements. It brings along improved payment authentication, and the ability for web apps to register themselves as…
Africa is being hit hard by climate change but has huge potential to minimise the impact and in some instances even triple a return on investment by embracing climate change adaptation, according to a report by the World Bank. Three African countries could more than triple returns on investments in climate-smart infrastructure and create thousands of…
Since its release in 2017, over 40,000 organizations have chosen Zoho One as their operating system. In 2021, Zoho One witnessed a 60% y-y customer growth with average number of apps used by businesses rising to 21 Zoho Corporation, a leading global technology company, today introduced five new apps, three new services and seven major…
Public fascination with innovation, entrepreneurship and startups in Africa seems to have reached an all-time high, thanks to leading Pan African network organizations like AfriLabs that support the ecosystem. AfriLabs is a Network Organisation of over 300 technology innovation hubs spread across 49 African countries. As the organization marks its 10th anniversary, TechEconomy.ng looks at the CV of Anna…
During a company livestream, Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, with MTN SA CEO, Godfrey Motsa today announced the launch of the MTN Online School, a free online portal that provides a comprehensive digital curriculum for grades R-12 and additional features like video lessons, assessments and extra-tuition lessons for Grade 10 to 12 learners. The solution…
MTN Eswatini and other mobile network operators have reportedly been ordered by the country’s government to suspend access to Facebook and its messenger app “until further notice.” This comes as Africa’s last absolute monarchy has been rocked by another week long surge of pro-democracy protests. Earlier this year in July, protest action began in the Southern African…
GE Healthcare and medical group AFRIPHARMA has announced the opening of the Afri-Egypt Health Services Center, a first of its kind medical and diagnostic centre in Uganda. The Center is located in Jinja and is expected to serve over 60,000 people from the region, allowing for improved accessibility in the surrounding communities. The facility is…
Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he will launch his own social media platform, TRUTH Social, according to a press release by Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG). Trump’s new social network is set to launch a beta version in November, which will be available to invited guests only. Its national rollout is expected in the…
Following moves by major tech platforms to better protect minors using their platforms, Snapchat is preparing to introduce its own set of “family engagement” tools in the coming months. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel teased the planned offering during an interview at the WSJ Tech Live conference this week, where he explained that the new product will essentially…
As African governments grapple to manage economies digitally, integrated digital payment and e-commerce company, Interswitch, has tipped blockchain technology to be the surest way. Blockchain technology is a digital ledger that stores transactions. The digital system essentially records transactions in multiple places at the same time, thereby making it impossible to falsify the data stored on…
Nigerian fintech startup Baxi, one of the country’s leading super-agent networks, has been acquired by the pan-African payments company MFS Africa to enable the latter’s expansion into Nigeria. Founded in 2014 by Degbola Abudu and Folu Majekodunmi, Baxi provides a cash-in/cash-out offering as well as value-added services – account opening, money transfer, bill payment and more –…
South African fintech startup Peach Payments has set up an office in Mauritius as it continues its pan-African expansion following a foray into Kenya in 2018. Founded in South Africa in 2012, Peach Payments enables businesses to easily accept payments on their websites and mobile apps, integrating with leading e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce, Shopify, Wix and Magento….
Rideshare group Bolt has announced its food delivery service Bolt Food has launched in Johannesburg. The service will provide the city’s residents with access to food deliveries from more than 300 restaurants and fast food outlets. Bolt Food has been available in Cape Town since April 2020, where 800 restaurants have been added to the…
Microsoft has published a new advisory warning of a security bypass vulnerability affecting Surface Pro 3 convertible laptops that could be exploited by an adversary to introduce malicious devices within enterprise networks and defeat the device attestation mechanism. Tracked as CVE-2021-42299 (CVSS score: 5.6), the issue has been codenamed “TPM Carte Blanche” by Google software engineer Chris…
On Wednesday, just before bitcoin surpassed the digital asset’s all-time high (ATH), the crypto analyst known as “Techdev” says the “2-week chart looks strong and ready for much higher highs.” Just 26 days ago, Techdev said that “$200-300K bitcoin looks almost too programmed” and this week, the analyst noted that we are “nowhere near a…
In what may seem like a pat on the shoulder to investors who are bullish on Bitcoin, the world’s leading cryptocurrency has stunned critics to rake in profits for investors, climbing to a new ATH of $66,000 today. Bitcoin has maintained its bullish pace to surpass its previous ATH of $64,863, soaring to $66,950 today,…
Francophone region-focused neobank PaySika has completed a fundraising round. The funding will allow the fintech to deploy online payment services to Cameroon, Benin, and Gabon. These funds are from British, French, and Nigerian investors. The company is soon gearing for an official launch in the first quarter of 2022. The investment roundtable was led by top fintech…
Crypto adoption in Africa continues to grow at a rapid pace, with Luno today announcing that 45% of one million new customers added since June are based on the continent. Luno, the crypto company founded by two South Africans, now has 9 million customers in over 40 countries. The remarkable growth of the company is…
Egyptian logistics startup ILLA has secured a US$2 million seed funding round to boost its growth in the market and diversify its offering to the FMCG value chain. Launched through the Flat6Labs Cairo accelerator in March 2019, ILLA caters for corporates and SMEs, providing full-fledged transportation and logistics solutions tackling major pain points unique to the FMCG…
Green businesses in Uganda are invited to apply for an accelerator programme that offers free finance-focused workshops and discounted loans to help them scale up. The Ugandan Green Enterprise Finance Accelerator (UGEFA) is looking to help high-potential small and medium-sized enterprises that specialise in eco-tourism, clean energy, sustainable transport, waste management and green manufacturing. During…
Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a leading pan-African telecommunications technology group has announced the launch of its shortest terrestrial fibre route between the East to the West coasts of Africa, connecting Mombasa, Kenya to Muanda, DRC. With the completion of this route, Liquid establishes a new global internet transit route between Asia and the USA through Africa,…
Mobile apps keep changing and evolving every single day. It is so hard to keep up with customer demands since they are ever-increasing. However, app developers from around the world constantly improve used technology. According to Tech Surprise, the following mobile app technologies are going to be quite huge in 2020. This is why you should…
Facebook is planning to rebrand itself with a new name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse, the Verge reported on Tuesday, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about the name change at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28, but it…