Apapa, the Lagos town that hosts Nigeria’s largest and busiest port, is synonymous with gridlock. Roads leading into the port are lined by scores of trucks waiting days or weeks to be allowed into terminals where they load containers for transfer to warehouses. Most drivers, customs agents, and terminal operators trudging along at Apapa and other African…
WhatsApp just keep pulling clear of the competition in the world of messaging applications, as the app owned by Facebook keeps on striving for perfection. With more than two billion users, WhatsApp are looking to make their app as perfect as they possibly can and their latest update is sure to please the masses. Voice…
API fintech startups are thriving in Africa’s tech ecosystem as they build the infrastructure to facilitate payments, banking, e-commerce, and insurance. By creating the technical foundations, they are allowing businesses to focus on serving their customers rather than work on a non-core business of building tech. An API, or application programming interface, is a group…
Safaricom has announced that it will increase its 5G sites by 200 by the end of 2021, and launch a commercialised version of its 5G services in 2022. Kenya’s leading telco launched 5G technology for the first time in the country in March, starting with 15 sites. Now the telco says it wants to take…
Africa Data Centres, the only pan-African network of interconnected, carrier-and cloud-neutral data centres on the continent, has completed its new Johannesburg data centre, based in its Midrand Campus, which, the company says, is one of the largest in Africa. This state-of-the-art facility, designed with the latest global standards is the ideal location for technology companies…
Egyptian startup Shiphaly, a platform connecting shoppers and travellers, has raised an undisclosed six-figure seed funding round from angel investors to help it build on its steady growth. Launched in October 2019, Shiphaly is a mobile app and marketplace connecting shoppers who want to buy products from abroad with travellers who can buy and deliver the products…
Apple’s latest major software update — packed with features to help people better focus, connect with others on FaceTime and keep track of medical records, including vaccine status and test results — is now available for download. Although it’s not a massive design overhaul, many of changes coming to iOS 15 reflect how our needs have changed…
Now that Microsoft lets you ditch your passwords for Outlook.com, Xbox Live and other online accounts, you might want to consider taking the jump. Dumping your logins can improve security and convenience. Ditching your password can improve security, if only because it means you don’t have to rely on your memory to get into your accounts. We…
It’s a doozy of a digital spying case. Security researchers have found evidence of attempted or successful installations of Pegasus, software made by Israel-based cybersecurity company NSO Group, on 37 phones of activists, journalists and businesspeople. The targets appear to have been targets of secret surveillance by software that’s intended to help governments pursue criminals and…
Bitcoin mining produces electronic waste (e-waste) annually comparable to the small IT equipment waste of a place like the Netherlands, research shows. Miners of the cryptocurrency each year produce 30,700 tonnes of e-waste, Alex de Vries and Christian Stoll estimate. That averages 272g (9.5oz) per transaction, they say. By comparison, an iPhone 13 weighs 173g…
Africa’s transport and logistics start-ups are on track to raise more growth funds this year, in deals that could help ignite intra-Africa trade. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19, there has been a rising shift towards tech-enabled transportation across the continent to overcome movement restrictions, improve efficiencies and grow food chain resilience. The wider growth of…
Orange Middle East and Africa has partnered Ericsson as a strategic partner for its pan-African Orange Money service, tapping Ericsson’s Wallet Platform to accelerate financial inclusion for its customers across fourteen African countries. Ericsson’s Mobile Financial Services solution is financial services platform built on the latest security technologies and open architecture framework principles. Orange Money has…
COVID-19 and its resulting worldwide pandemic have resulted in a fifth of Nigeria’s workforce losing their jobs, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics. The job cuts followed significant disruptions to supply chains, continuing supply and demand shocks, and a drop in consumer confidence, the agency said in a statement, seen by Bloomberg, citing a study…
IBM today announced that 6 major financial institutions across Africa have selected the technology corporation for hybrid cloud and AI capabilities to promote digital innovation and continue developing digital-first solutions. COVID-19 continues to accelerate the already rapid changes that were happening across the financial services sector in Africa, fast-tracking the adoption of digital technologies to…
There is no doubt that the pandemic has accelerated most digitalisation trends, compressing what was expected to take years into months. And this has been applauded by the technology industry and business alike, with, for instance, even the most cloud-skeptical CEO appreciating technology’s ability to ensure business continuity as we rapidly shifted to a distributed…
South African fintech startups have been invited to apply for the ZAR1.5 million (US$100,000) AlphaCode Incubate programme, which aims to identify, partner with and grow innovative entrepreneurs in financial services and related industries. The AlphaCode Incubate programme is open to entrepreneurs with early-stage fintech or related sector startups, or even ideas for one. Innovative business concepts led…
Egyptian social commerce startup Brimore has raised funding from e-payments solutions and banking services provider Fawry, the North African country’s first startup “unicorn”, as part of its upcoming Series A round. Founded in 2017, Brimore has built a platform that leverages the power of individual social networks to enable broad, cost-effective market access. It enables manufacturers to…
Ugandan startup gnuGrid has increased the size of its seed funding round to US$612,500 as it pivots its product offering to move into the fintech space. Launched in 2019 by David Opio and James Dailey, gnuGrid built Solar Sentra, which aimed to streamline and automate the highly fragmented solar industry in Uganda and beyond by using AI-optimised…
Alpha Medical, a telemedicine company focused on women’s healthcare, closed a $24 million Series B round on Tuesday. It’s another company situated squarely in the crosshairs of a pandemic-fueled boom in telemedicine investment, though Alpha Medical’s approach has one notable difference: you won’t be logging on to any Zoom calls. Alpha Medical was founded in 2017. Since…
Apple is reportedly researching ways to use the cameras inside of the iPhone to detect childhood autism, aiming to use data from the camera to observe a child’s behavior that could be used for early diagnosis, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. According to the report, which echoes previously announced research efforts, Apple wants to be…
Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and eighth largest population in the world with a booming 200+ million people, 53.2% of whom fall into the active population of 15 to 65 years- indicating abundant vast human capital. She parades some of the World’s most ingeniously innovative minds, industry champions and technology leaders scattered within her population….
Africa’s cryptocurrency market grew by over 1200% between July 2020 and June 2021. This is according to Chainalysis 2021 Geography of Cryptocurrency report. The growth is based on the value of cryptocurrencies received on the continent in that period. While noting that the African market is one of the most dynamic and exciting in the…
Google Meet is bringing a new feature to correct poor lighting during video calls. Following the introduction of a low-light mode on mobile last year, the internet giant has now added a new feature that automatically detects when a Web user appears underexposed during a video call and enhances the brightness of their device to…
Netflix said on Monday it is launching a free mobile plan in Kenya as the global streaming giant looks to tap the East African nation that is home to over 20 million internet users. The free plan, which will be rolled out to all users in Kenya in the coming weeks, won’t require them to…
Today, Cartona is announcing that it has raised a $4.5 million pre-Series A funding round to connect retailers and manufacturers via an application. It’s looking to take a large pie in the budding e-commerce and retail play, where multiple startups in Egypt are pulling their weight including Capiter, also a year-old startup we reported on last week. The…
To demonstrate further the UK’s commitment to support the growth of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem through the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub and its Digital Access Programme (DAP), Ben Llewellyn-Jones OBE, the British deputy high commissioner in Lagos, hosted Ms Catriona Laing CB, the British high commissioner to Nigeria and tech leaders to a reception on the 20th of September. The UK-Nigeria Tech…
Instagram is one of the highest-grossing social media apps, and many use it to expand their businesses and acquire fame.To this day, Instagram has more than one billion active users, making it an excellent brand launching and identity-building platform. If you want to use Instagram to grow yo ur network fast, you might be thinking about…
On the first privately funded, non-government mission to orbit, the Inspiration4 mission an all-civilian crew raced into space atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, a historic three-day flight devoted to raising $200 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Chris Sembroski, an “everyday” aerospace engineer; Sian Proctor, an artist-educator who will become only the fourth…
Beyond the immediate benefits like having data about business operations available in real-time, businesses are increasingly exploring and adopting Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to drive their sustainability goals. The global outbreak of COVID-19 and the impact it had on economies around the globe, coupled with the USA’s renewed resolve to address climate change, has…
We recently caught up with longtime VC Mark Suster of L.A.-based Upfront Ventures, which last raised both an early-stage fund and a growth stage fund several years ago and, according to regulatory filings, is in the market right now, though Suster couldn’t discuss either owing to SEC regulations. We did talk about a wide range of things, from his…