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…
Hardware season is heading for a dramatic finale next week, with three events from three major companies, three days in a row. Apple, Google and Samsung (in that order) are all hosting big events next week, getting their last big announcements (hopefully) out of the way ahead of the upcoming holiday season. That means your friendly…
The NFT market is still defying reason, but then again that’s kind of its thing. But one thing I’m especially unsure about lately as I see JPGs continue to sell for millions of dollars is… does any of this actually matter? I’ve spent a lot of time over the last year grappling with the NFT…
Throughout my career as an entrepreneur and investor, I have had the opportunity to work with business leaders of all calibers — and varying degrees of success. After time, I was able to discern the distinct traits that separated those who could build great companies from those who would be limited in what they could accomplish. For…
Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa top 20 other African countries under the enforceability of standard master agreements pillar in the latest African Financial Markets Index presented by Absa, a leading financial services provider. The insight was delivered during the presentation of its Absa-OMFIF Financial Markets Index on Wednesday, October 13, 2021. The top financial services provider also…
Africa.com undertook a rigorous research project to identify the women who run the largest, most complex businesses on the African continent. The result of this extensive research undertaking is The Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs. SAP’s Cathy Smith, MD Sub-Saharan Africa, made the list of 50 women CEOs leading corporate Africa. The list was compiled…
The 6th Orange Digital Center in Africa and the Middle East, which is committed to digital development and innovation and aims to teach young people in digital technology and improve their employability, was inaugurated by Orange Cameroon and the German Development Cooperation. The highest political and administrative authorities from Cameroon, Representatives of Germany and France in Cameroon,…
The UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria, Helen Grant and Nigeria’s Minister of Industry Trade and Investment, Mr. Adeniyi Adebayo, Friday, held virtually the sixth (6th) meeting of the United Kingdom-Nigeria Economic Development Forum (EDF). The meeting was joined by Her Majesty’s Acting Trade Commissioner for Africa, Alastair Long, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria…
Nigerian retail-tech startup Alerzo has acquired fintech company Shago Payments as it looks to build on already impressive growth that saw its annualised September transaction volume exceed US$155 million. Founded in 2019, the Ibadan-based Alerzo is an all-in-one technology and services platform that transforms how Nigeria’s informal retail stores operate. Retailers can order stock, have it delivered…
In emerging economies, where spending billions to build public transit infrastructure can be out of reach, startups are using technology to meet the mobility needs of a rising urban middle class. Swvl, Treepz, Jatri, SafeBoda, Urbvan, Chalo and Buser are just a few of the startups that have popped up in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America in recent years, all with…
Tilting Point, a leading free-to-play games publisher, and Carry1st, a leading publisher of mobile games in Africa, have partnered to bring the award winning game, SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off, to the entire African continent. Africa tops the charts in terms of continents with the most significant download growth, with 4 of the top 6 countries showing fastest download growth globally (Egypt, Nigeria,…