Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are altering our perceptions of art, and financiers are paying attention. NFTs have risen to prominence in the cryptocurrency industry in recent years. Artists have taken use of the technology’s ability to generate real-world scarcity for digital goods using cryptographically unique tokens. NFT markets like Nifty Gateway and OpenSea marketplace have experienced record trading volumes…
To solve problems African businesses have when settling payments within the continent, convince banks to transition from centralized systems to those based on a blockchain. That is the argument by Appzone, a 13 year-old Nigerian fintech company that has launched a payment processing system built on its own private blockchain network. Appzone’s blockchain-based payment processor,…
Asante Financial ServicesAsante Financial Services, an African fintech, has raised a $7.5 million Series A round of funding to expand its credit offers to the underrepresented MSMEs in Kenya and Uganda, as well as Nigeria and Rwanda. Asante stands out with its ecosystem-based digital lending platform, which approves loans to SMEs using alternative data and…
Sales are a determinant of whether a business would survive or not. The life blood of every business is embedded in the day-to-day activities that can generate consistent cash flow. Some organizations get caught up in trying to do many things are at time which makes their progression towards activities that contributes to their down line flawed and…
The latest edition of Kaspersky’s annual IT Security Economics report reveals the growing severity of cybersecurity incidents affecting businesses through suppliers that they share data with. The average financial impact of such an event for an enterprise reached $1.4 million in 2021 which makes it the costliest type of incident worldwide, while the same type of attack…
Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) has announced the launch of the third edition of the African App Launchpad Cup, aimed at supporting African tech startups in the field of digital applications and game development. ITIDA, the executive arm of the Egyptian Ministry of Communication & Information Technology (MCIT), founded to spearhead the development…
The Attacks From All Angles 2021 Mid-year Cybersecurity Report by Trend Micro highlighted a 47% year-on-year increase in email threats as well as malicious files and URLs in the first quarter of 2021 globally. South Africa’s technology landscape is almost identical to that of other countries, which has seen black hat hackers using it as a testing…
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…
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has strongly warned telecoms consumers to ensure they do not allow their National Identification Number (NIN) to be linked to another person’s Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, no matter how close the person is to them. The Commission gave the warning during its third run Telecom Consumer Town Hall on Radio (TCTHR)…
WhatsApp has integrated its joinable calls feature — which lets users join an ongoing group video — directly into group chats. The latest update will give users the option to join an ongoing group call right from the group chat tab. Joinable calls were first introduced on WhatsApp in July this year. The instant messaging…
The market capitalisation of all the cryptocurrencies put together has crossed a milestone of $2.5 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,87,42,625 crores) according to cryptocurrency tracker CoinMarketCap. The development comes at a time when Bitcoin, which is the most-valued cryptocurrency in the world, is trading at over $65,000 (roughly Rs. 49,000) on Indian exchanges CoinSwitch Kuber, and…
What is it about information systems that makes them so important in the modern world? Why are companies spending so much money on information systems and technology? Information systems are critical to running a firm on a daily basis and accomplishing long-term strategic goals. However, without significant investments in IT, entire sectors of the economy…
Sendbox, the Nigeria-based e-commerce fulfillment platform for merchants in Africa, has today announced the completion of a $1.8 million seed round from investors including 4DX Ventures, Enza Capital, FJLabs and Golden Palm Investments. With participation from Flexport and YC Combinator as part of its 2021 winter cohort, Sendbox’s total investment raised has now reached $2 million following a pre-seed round from Microtraction and 4DX Ventures in…
Egypt-based life science startup Nawah Scientific has sold a strategic stake to Essam Abdelhadi, the former vice president Middle East, Turkey, Africa and Pakistan (METAP) of Abbott, a US-based healthcare multinational, ahead of its upcoming Series A round. Founded in 2015, Nawah Scientific is an online platform that receives experiment requests, collects samples, conducts tests and returns…
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general of the National Information Technology Agency (NITDA) has inaugurated a five-day capacity training programme for members of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA) in Lagos, Nigeria, TechEconomy.ng can report. The DG said the capacity training programme aims to upskill the members of NITRA – an umbrella body for journalists reporting information…
Decentralised Finance (DeFi) doesn’t only take power away from traditional governmental institutions and corporations, it also may provide an opportunity for underrepresented groups to break away from the restrictions placed on them by the world’s traditional trade and power systems. The term, DeFi, was coined in a Telegram group by a community of software developers…
SEACOM, a fibre-led telecoms provider and owner of extensive ICT infrastructure across Africa, has announced a 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100GE) upgrade for its IP network. The increased capacity of 100 Gbps equipment reduces the cost and complexity associated with procuring and maintaining multiple 10 Gbps ports and also simplifies load balancing through the flexibility of…
Amid rumours that it lost a colossal N2 billion of investor funds to a fraudulent investment scheme, Piggyvest, an online saving and investment platform has announced to its users that their funds are ‘safe and secure’. The rumours started after an Instagram user @_trapselena_ alleged that Piggyvest and some other top organizations in Nigeria invested in an…
The Canadian city of North Vancouver is considering Bitcoin mining as a way to generate and provide heat to its residents. The city’s energy provider Lonsdale Energy Corporation (LEC) is planning to move away from the use of conventional natural gas and “decarbonise” the production of heat. In 2022, the LEC in collaboration with a…
Sophos cybersecurity researchers identified a Bitcoin wallet filled with tokens worth $1.4 million (roughly Rs. 10 crores) that were collected through scams. The crypto scammers were targeting iPhone users on popular dating apps such as Bumble and Tinder. Along with ripping off people’s cryptocurrency, the hackers were also compromising the personal details of their victims…
Nigerians without access to internet-enabled phones would also be able to utilize the eNaira currency. This was revealed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in a document titled “Design paper for the eNaira”. The CBN, through this document, stated that the eNaira solution will take into consideration all Nigerians, irrespective of the device type they…
Square Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey said on Friday the fintech firm is looking to build a Bitcoin mining system based on custom silicon and open source for individuals as well as businesses. This would add to Square’s existing Bitcoin-focused projects including a business to build an open developer platform, as well as a hardware wallet for the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin price…
Tala, a fintech company, announced that it has raised USD 145 million in a Series E funding round led by Upstart and with participation from Stellar Development Foundation. Tala’s total capital now stands at over USD 350 million, thanks to new investors including Kindred Ventures and The J. Safra Group, as well as current investors…
Every October for the last four decades, Breast Cancer Awareness Month has helped to raise visibility of the most prevalent cancer on Earth — one that takes almost three-quarters of a million lives every year. Despite recorded cases stretching back to ancient Egypt, breast cancer was considered an “unspeakable” condition for millennia. Women were expected…
The United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, and PwC Nigeria recently signed a ground-breaking Memorandum of Understanding, (MOU), to collaborate on strategic initiatives centred on facilitating skills transfer, knowledge and competencies. The first of its kind collaboration in Africa is aimed at catalysing development and policy dialogues that connect and link the private and public sectors with the start-up…
Cairo-based startup Talabeyah, which runs a food and grocery B2B e-commerce and distribution platform, has raised US$1.1 million in funding from a group of angel investors to help boost its strong early growth. Founded by Karim Nassef, Amr Abbas, Khaled Hussein and Adel Hodroj in July 2020, Talabeyah provides a tailored simple solution for retailers, allowing them…
Techpoint Africa currently operates in a hybrid co-living and remote work environment. About half of the team live on the same premises, and once every month, we take a trip to the market to stock up on food items. Almost without fail, we discover that the prices of foodstuffs have increased since our last visit. Often,…
In a drive to discover emerging filmmaking talents, Netflix and UNESCO have partnered to launch a creative short film competition. Focused on a common goal, Netflix and UNESCO believe in the importance of promoting diverse local stories and bringing them to the world. Through this competition, both organisations seek to ensure the African tradition is…
Don’t you hate it when your keyboard skills are superior to the power of your computer monitor? Being a keyboard warrior – in the gaming world and daily work life – is no easy feat, especially if your monitor is outdated and can’t keep up with your activity level. Throw in dull graphics and delayed…
Google Trends publishes the top 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 and what…