Open banking

Open banking in Africa after COVID-19

Open banking is a system where banks allow or authorize third parties, such as financial technology or fintech companies, to access their clients’ financial data to build applications or services. Anchored on providing better customer experiences, open banking in Africa has stirred a lot of interest, including banking apps with detailed analytics of finances, the…

Cyberchain Conference

Cyberchain Conference: Hackathon Competition Registration Is On

The third edition of the Cyberchain Conference, which is a two-day event, will kick off on the 19th of November at the Lagos Oriental Hotel. With the theme for this year unveiled, the conference will revolve around “Enabling The Digital Economy.” The Cyberchain convener, Jude Ozinegbe, made it clear during a media parley that the…

Gokada

Nigeria’s Gokada expands into Ibadan, moves towards resuming ride-hailing

Gokada, the Nigeria-based last mile delivery, logistics and transportation startup, has launched in Ibadan following consolidated growth in Lagos.  Founded in 2018 as a ride-hailing app, Gokada has evolved to become a leading food delivery, parcel delivery, and last-mile e-commerce fulfillment solution. The startup secured US$5.3 million in Series A funding in 2019, but was then hit by Lagos state’s…

Yobante Express

Senegalese logistics startup Yobante Express raises $1.2m seed round

Senegalese delivery startup Yobante Express, an online marketplace that connects local couriers with local commerce to optimise domestic, cross-border and last mile delivery, has raised a US$1.2 million bridge funding round as it looks to build on its impressive growth. Founded in November 2018, Yobante Express is a web and mobile platform that uses gig economy, independent…

Pravica

Egyptian blockchain startup Pravica raises funding to scale operations

Cairo-based startup Pravica, a communication platform using blockchain technology to empower user privacy and security, has secured an undisclosed investment for a Swiss VC firm to help it scale operations. Founded in 2019 by Mohamed Abdou, Pravica utilises blockchain to empower user privacy and security in the communication industry, specifically messaging apps, where enormous amounts of data…

Flat6Labs

Flat6Labs announces 2nd close of Tunisia seed fund at $10m

Flat6Labs, a regional seed and early-stage VC firm, has announced the second close of its Tunisia-based Anava Seed Fund (ASF), taking the total size of the fund up to US$10 million from US$3 million. The Anava Seed Fund was launched in 2017 in partnership with the Tunisian American Enterprise Fund, BIAT Bank and Meninx Holding,…

mobile money

How mobile money grew in sub-Saharan Africa in the last 10 years

Two of Africa’s biggest startup stories of 2021 involve the billion-dollar valuations accorded to OPay, and Wave. Propelled by Chinese and American venture capital, each rose rapidly to own large shares of the financial services sector in Nigeria and Senegal respectively, primarily because of their sprawling mobile money operations. But Opay and Wave are just two among many companies…

Releaf ’s Ikenna Nzewi
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AgriTech: Releaf ’s Ikenna Nzewi, others feature as CNN explores Nigeria’s palm oil industry

Once the world’s leading producer of palm oil, Nigeria has seen an output decline over the last three decades. The country is the fifth largest producer of palm oil in the world, the main ones currently being Malaysia and Indonesia. CNN learns that a host of challenges are to blame for Nigeria’s palm oil production shortcomings,…

African nonprofits

African nonprofits want to “decolonize” donor funding

International development funding to Africa has a “colonial” approach that favors Western organizations at the expense of local civil society organizations (CSOs), a new independent report funded by the Vodafone Foundation says. Most donor resources go to intermediary non-governmental organizations (NGOs) based in the northern hemisphere, the report says, describing the system as one that is…

World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum has named the University of Cape Town Online School a global Top Innovator

The University of Cape Town (UCT) online school has been recognized for its revolutionary educational innovations, having been named one of the 12 Top Innovators in The WorldClass Education Challenge at the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Summit 2021. The World Class Education Challenge debuted in May of this year on the World Economic…

Startup
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Tips To Keep Your Startup Afloat In The First Year

For any Startup or business, it is necessary to keep in mind that no business plan or strategy is foolproof. For this reason, business schools that teach entrepreneurship teach that startups should aim to fail fast forward frequently and frugally. The key is to accept that some form of failure is inevitable but, the way…

Netflix

Netflix acquires its own video game studio and launches mobile games

Netflix has announced the acquisition of video game developer Night School Studio, as well as the release of five mobile gaming games in key European markets, as it seeks to diversify revenue sources amid increasing competition in the streaming arena. The company’s initial gaming studio acquisition, Night School Studio, is most known for its debut…

Frogfoot networks

Frogfoot SA Acquires Link Africa’s FTTH Network

Frogfoot, a licensed open-access infrastructure provider, has announced its acquisition of the Link Africa Western Cape FTTH (Fibre to the Home) network. The deal comes a few months after MetroFibre Networx purchased  Link Africa’s FTTH network in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Frogfoot says in a statement that the deal will aid in solidifying the company’s position in…

Nigerian mobility startup Moove expands to Cape Town

Nigerian mobility startup Moove expands to Cape Town

Nigerian mobility startup Moove, which provides revenue-based vehicle financing to help individuals across Africa own their own vehicles, has expanded to Cape Town and is gearing up for further pan-African growth. Founded by British-born Nigerians Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi, who have successfully built three other businesses in Africa over the last eight years through…

Paratus

Paratus to Open Brand-New Data Centre in Zambia

Paratus Group has announced that its brand-new data centre will open in Lusaka, Zambia on 1 October 2021. The new data centre in the East African country will offer colocation services – 24/7 connections for local and multinational businesses, together with a sophisticated range of digital and aligned services. Colocation Customers are given the option…

Yellow Card
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Nigerian crypto exchange Yellow Card raises $15m Series A funding

Nigerian cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card has raised US$15 million in Series A funding to ramp up hiring and continue its expansion across the continent.  Launched in 2018, Yellow Card makes it easy for anyone, anywhere in Africa, to buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT Stablecoin using cash, mobile money, card, or bank transfer. The company now…

high-tech

The new era of education is high-tech and high-touch

We’ve heard a lot about the role of technology in pandemic education, and for good reason: Digital solutions enabled school communities to maintain learning through uncertainty and interruption none of us could have imagined. However, the triumphs of edtech have been paired with critical challenges. Since the pandemic closed schools in March 2020, school districts…

Oxenfree
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Netflix acquires its first games studio, “Oxenfree” developer Night School

Night School Studio, the independent game developer known for narrative-driven titles like “Oxenfree,” announced today it has been acquired by Netflix. This makes it the first games studio the streaming giant has purchased. In Netflix’s announcement, Mike Verdu, vice president of game development, wrote Night School’s “commitment to artistic excellence and proven track record make…

Facebook

Facebook’s Effort To Attract Preteens Goes Beyond Instagram Kids, Documents Show

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Wall Street Journal : Facebook has come under increasing fire in recent days for its effect on young users and its efforts to create products for them. Inside the company, teams of employees have for years been laying plans to attract preteens that go beyond what is publicly known, spurred…

Afreximbank

Afreximbank launches pan-African payment platform to ease cross-border transactions

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has launched the pan-African payment and settlement system (PAPSS), a financial market infrastructure, to enable cross-border payments in local currencies across different markets in the continent. The Afreximbank, in a statement made available on its website on Tuesday, September 28, said PAPSS will underpin the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade…

eNaira

Nigeria’s Awaited eNaira Website Goes Live, Here’s all you Should Know

Exactly three days before the official launch of Nigeria’s digital currency called eNaira, the Central Bank of Nigeria opens the website. Before now, CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, had announced that the eNaira would be launched officially on Independence day, October 1st, 2021. According to the CBN, the digital currency is a legal tender just like…

2Africa Cable

2Africa Cable Extends to India: Now Longest Subsea Cable in the World

The 2Africa consortium, comprised of China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC, announced today the addition of a new segment to its subsea cable system – the 2Africa PEARLS branch – extending to the Arabian Gulf, Pakistan and into India. This extension will bring the total length of the…

Climate change across Africa increases the risk of droughts and low agricultural yields. Image sourced from MIT News.

$280-Billion Investment Needed to Tackle Climate Change in Africa, Report

An investment of about $280-billion will be needed for 35 cities across South Africa, Kenya, and Ethiopia to cope with the harmful effects of climate change by 2050, according to new research. A report released on Monday by the Coalition for Urban Transitions, which advises governments on economic development and climate change, says that Africa is…

Nearly Half of SSA Consumers Are Using Mobile Money Services – Ericsson

Nearly Half of SSA Consumers Are Using Mobile Money Services – Ericsson

A major new consumer and market insight report from multinational networking and telecommunications firm Ericsson titled Mobile Financial Services on the Rise reveals that nearly half of all consumers in Sub-Saharan Africa use mobile financial services in 2021 – a more-than three-fold increase in the last six years. The Mobile Financial Services on the Rise report also highlights the impact of…

WhatsApp Testing to Expand Multi-Device Feature to Secondary Android, iOS Devices: Report

WhatsApp Testing to Expand Multi-Device Feature to Secondary Android, iOS Devices: Report

WhatsApp is found to be working on expanding its multi-device feature to let users access the instant messaging app on multiple devices based on Android and iOS. At present, the feature works in beta as an opt-in offering designed for WhatsApp on the Web, desktop, and Facebook Portal. It allows users to access WhatsApp on…

LinkedIn is testing a new, paid ticketed events service
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LinkedIn is testing a new, paid ticketed events service

LinkedIn earlier this month unveiled a new push around creators to bring more original content (and engagement) to its platform, but that’s not the only effort they are making to bring more activity to its networking site. TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that LinkedIn is also running a test around events — specifically, paid events. We were…

YC-backed Malloc wants to take the sting out of mobile spyware

YC-backed Malloc wants to take the sting out of mobile spyware

Mobile spyware is one of the most invasive and targeted kinds of unregulated surveillance, since it can be used to track where you go, who you see and what you talk about. And because of its stealthy nature, mobile spyware can be nearly impossible to detect. But now one Y Combinator-backed startup is building an app with the aim…

Do you need another app to discover beautiful places when you travel?

Do you need another app to discover beautiful places when you travel?

In the summer of 2019, Timilehin Ajiboye became intrigued with the idea of building a travel app after conversations with a circle of friends. One friend reached out to Ajiboye asking if he knew of any platform where she could find new, aesthetically pleasing places to dine in, visit and take pictures. And then, during a trip to Miami, he and…

Egyptian auto-auction platform Sa3ar acquired by Contactcars

Egyptian auto-auction platform Sa3ar acquired by Contactcars

Egyptian startup Sa3ar Technology Solutions, a platform that digitises auto-auctions deals, has been acquired by automotive marketplace Contactcars, a subsidiary of Contact Financial Holding. Founded by Adham Hosny and Hussein Hosny, Sa3ar Technology Solutions provides car valuation technology and a dealer-specific auction platform. The startup has just been acquired by Contactcars, Egypt’s leading automotive marketplace, in…