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…
Nigerian startups have been invited to apply to pitch for share of a US$30,000 pre-seed equity funding pool provided by SSE Angel Network at the upcoming StartupSouth event. Disrupt Africa reported earlier this month the Southeast Nigerian city of Enugu will host the sixth edition of the StartupSouth conference, the biggest startup and innovation-focused event in…
Egyptian startup ClickMare is providing users with health micro-insurance to make private healthcare accessible to all by breaking financial barriers. Launched in October 2016, ClickMare aims to bridge the gap between public and private health insurance, in a country where millions of people and 87 per cent of SMEs are medically uninsured. These kind of figures have…
Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, H.E. Dr. Amr Talaat, has revealed plans to bring high-speed internet to more than 60 million people in rural areas as part of an ambitious campaign to create new opportunities for economic development. Minister of State for Digital Economy and Employment H.E Talaat said the project is part…
Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group, has been named Leadership Person of the Year by the Leadership Newspaper Group in Nigeria. “In appreciation of his immaculate public service record and extraordinary accomplishments in promoting the expansion and development of the African Development Bank Group,” the award was presented. “In the…
Ethiopian construction-tech startup ConDigital has raised a pre-seed funding round to help it cement its presence at home and expand into the wider East African region. Launched in January of 2019, ConDigital digitises the process of construction project management for contractors, consultants and owners. Among the services it provides are data calculation, processing and reporting; schedule, resource…
Lagos-based media and experiential marketing agency, Bedouin Nation has reaffirmed plan to focus on strengthening long-term competitiveness in African creative and technology industries by completing its rebranding as Bedouin Group. The new move includes the introduction of a new operating structure, additions to its leadership structure and a renewed mandate as a strategic branding and…
The Chinese version of the popular short video app TikTok, known as Douyin, will limit users in China who are under 14 years old to 40 minutes a day, parent company ByteDance said in a blog post Saturday. The app’s youth mode keeps it in line with the Chinese government’s new restrictions on access to video games…
Many students go to university but few think about creating businesses that can even help them afford some basic needs at school. Marie Aline Iraguha , 22-year-old young female student currently second year African Leadership University, has beaten the odds by founding AliFarms Group Ltd, an agribusiness that focuses on growing fruits and vegetables with…
The World Health Organization (WHO), a South African consortium and partners from COVAX, are working to set up a technology transfer hub for mRNA vaccines in South Africa to help boost and scale up vaccine production in Africa. The initiative marks “a major advance in efforts to build vaccine development and manufacturing capacity that will…
South African fintech startup Centbee has successfully completed testing of its remittance service Minit Money within the framework of the South African Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group’s Regulatory Sandbox. Launched in 2016 by co-CEOs Lorien Gamaroff and Angus Brown, Centbee launched its bitcoin cash wallet to market late in 2018, allowing users to send bitcoin cash directly to their…
Egyptian e-health and IoT solutions startup Sotech has raised US$1 million in pre-seed funding to scale into the rest of the MENA region. Founded in 2020, Sotech specialises in smart IoT, trackable OOH advertising, and data gathering. The startup bridges the worlds of offline advertising with online campaigning, via an app that helps clinics understand the volume,…
Written by Aline Alonso Design Thinking for Innovators – a brand new course for entrepreneurs now available at the VC4A Startup Academy. The self-paced course by Butterfly Works includes real cases and challenges faced by entrepreneurs as well as interactive tools and methodologies to test new theories and develop agile solutions. Design thinking is a human-centered creative…
Written by Alexander Onukwue Besides being a key ingredient for cooking jollof rice, vegetable oil is used industrially in paints, soaps, biofuels, and lubricants. But getting the oil from palm nuts can be a hassle for manufacturers if they have to engage smallholder farmers directly. In most cases, the Nigerian farmer cracks palm nuts with…
The Financial Times is hosting the first FTxSDG Challenge in collaboration with Seedstars, a Swiss-based organization that invests in and supports startups from emerging countries. The competition was created to provide learning and financial opportunities to innovative, impact-driven firms and entrepreneurs. The application period is now open. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being…
The Global Innovation Initiative Group has announced the creation of a fund to support African innovation. Over the next three years, the vehicle will invest $100 million in African early-stage tech firms. The GIIG Africa Fund aspires for returns of more than 25%. “We are not simply opening a new fund; rather, this is the…
Written by Luis Monzon Data has undoubtedly permeated every aspect of our modern life, from what we buy to the news we consume to fundamental truths we believe; data has become the bedrock of the modern decision-making process. The data analytics landscape has evolved drastically over the past five years, with Big Data and IoT…
Written by Luis Monzon A new report by The Financial Times Focus and Mambu shows banks must redesign their role in society to avoid extinction. More than two thirds (67%) of banks think they will lose market share within two years if they fail to digitally transform, according to a new report from cloud banking platform Mambu…
Yellow, a Malawian off-grid solar company, has received a $4 million loan from SunFunder, a company that finances solar energy projects all over the world. The funding will help the company expand its solar home system sales. Yellow has enhanced energy availability for over 400,000 people while also reducing CO2 emissions by 12,000 tons per…
Written by GILEAD EDELMAN, WIRED.COM One case in Turkey cuts to the heart of the search giant’s power. Being a global company has its perks. There’s a lot of money to be made overseas. But the biggest US tech companies are finding out that there’s also a downside: Every country where you make money is…
Yearly, the amount of e-waste produced by the entire bitcoin network is comparable to that produced by a country like the Netherlands. Written by Jody Serrano There’s no doubt that cryptocurrency in its current form is bad news for our planet. But while much attention has been paid to crypto’s carbon footprint and electrical use, its impact on…
Written by Joan Aimuengheuwa Mobility platform, Bolt, formerly known as Taxify, focused on ensuring affordability, ease and sustainability in urban travel, has taken a step in Kenya which is considered ‘unreasonable’ by the public. Recently, one of the company’s drivers was assaulted by female passengers. Rather than Bolt taking adequate actions, the company suspended the driver…
Google Chrome, approximately used by 2.65BN users, dominates the web browser market. The problem with such dominance, however, is Chrome has become the number one target for hackers and now Google has had to issue another serious upgrade warning. This dominance has caused it to be a major target for hackers. The company recently issued…