The Rice Business Plan Competition 2023 for Student Entrepreneurs, which offers student entrepreneurs practical experience and financial rewards, is now accepting applications. The tournament, which is organized by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, has grown over the past 20 years from nine teams from around the world fighting for US$10,000 in rewards in…
As the advertising-based business model that has long ruled the internet begins to fail, Facebook, the social network that was intended to be free “always,” and its stablemate Instagram introduced a premium subscription service on Sunday. The launch of Meta Verified, a service that starts at $11.99 (about Rs. 990) per month to authenticate one’s…
General Motors (GM) is a traditional vehicle and truck manufacturer, but it also keeps a finger on the technological pulse of the day. Also, GM has been granted a patent for a fresh innovation that would benefit users of touchscreen devices like smartphones and tablets as well as motorists. The patent safeguards GM’s concept for…
A Nairobi-based accelerator known as The Baobab Network has revealed its most recent batch of five investees, each of whom received US$50,000 in cash. The Baobab Network invests in early-stage software startups around Africa. Since 2019, The Baobab Network has assisted startups with capacity building and fundraising; its most recent cohort was accepted at the…
TechCrunch has learnt that Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), the largest innovation hub in Africa, is establishing The Edtech Fellowship Program, a $15 million accelerator program to support and fund 72 entrepreneurs in Kenya and Nigeria over the next three years. The accelerator program, according to a statement released by the company, will promote and magnify the…
The most popular mobile app in Africa, Bolt, has declared plans to spend €500 million there over the next two years. More than 300,000 additional drivers and couriers will have the opportunity to join the platform in 2023 thanks to the expansion of Bolt services throughout Africa. Bolt, which debuted in South Africa in 2016,…
MobileMasr, an e-commerce platform established in Egypt, has partnered with Intercap Capital Investment Bank to raise $500,000 in a seed round from a group of angel investors in the media and telecom sectors in the UAE and Qatar. Mobile Masr, a marketplace for old gadgets and mobile phones with a variety of payment options and…
Three updates and new features have been made to WhatsApp’s Android app, according to the company. Features include the ability to share up to 100 media assets, longer group subjects and descriptions, and document captions. Any users who download the most recent version of WhatsApp for Android from the Google Play Store can now access…
The African Development Bank has opened a second Information and Communications Technology Centre of Excellence at the United States International University-Africa in Nairobi. This represents a significant accomplishment for the Bank’s Coding for Employment initiative and its expanding collaborations with institutions of higher learning as well as technical and vocational education and training. “The Bank…
A Nigerian insurtech firm called Curacel has raised $3 million in seed capital to expand into North Africa, which includes Egypt, Morocco, and other countries on the continent. Curacel’s mission is to bring contemporary insurance infrastructure to emerging markets. Tencent, AAF Management, Elefund, and other strategic investors joined Covergenius, Zopper, and Pie Insurance in leading…
In order to lower costs and risk for acquirers, Mastercard has teamed with Network International to address fraud, declines, and chargebacks. Through the collaboration, Network will make available to acquirers and companies in the area Mastercard’s Brighterion Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology for transaction fraud screening and merchant monitoring. Losses from credit card theft are anticipated…
In the present day data-driven world, businesses are increasingly turning to the cloud for data engineering solutions. Cloud platforms like as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure provide a wide range of services and capabilities for developing scalable and robust data engineering solutions. In this in-depth essay, we’ll look at how organisations…
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) among other obstacles are faced with the inability to have a seamless business operation due to internet connectivity. There is a need to digitalise businesses for a wider reach and global influence. Service providers have come up with strategies to enhance internet access. 3G, 4G, and 5G are now the standard levels…
A cryptocurrency trading platform has been launched by Neobank Be Mobile Africa, a neobank that offers affordable banking services to people and businesses in 30 countries across Africa. This platform will allow people in South Africa to purchase and trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL), as well as USD stablecoins like…
According to Paula Ingabire, minister of ICT and innovation, nearly 3,000 schools without an internet connection will have it by 2024 thanks to funding from the World Bank and China Exim Bank. Ingabire revealed the information last week while responding to questions on the ICT industry at a plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies….
Sendmarc, a leading provider of email and domain security based in South Africa, has raised US$7 million in a Series A fundraising round to grow its market enablement approach and advance its solution. Sendmarc protects customers’ email domains and keeps an eye out for attempted abuse to help them avoid email impersonation, such as phishing…
Triggering Exponential Climate Action (TECA), a company that launches climate resilience ventures, has chosen seven entrepreneurs to receive US$55,000 in funding each to develop their ideas for the blue economy in Africa. The TECA initiative was established to hasten the creation of climate-resilient solutions to safeguard and sustain the environment and vulnerable populations. It is…
Fashion items are among the most popular, if not the most popular, on many e-commerce platforms. In Africa, for example, fashion has consistently been the most popular category of items sold on Jumia. This means that there is no shortage of demand for fashion items across the continent, and supply is increasing even in higher-end…
Opera is expanding its sidebar with a ChatGPT-powered tool that generates brief summaries of webpages and articles. You can activate the feature by selecting the “shorten” button to the right of the address bar, as shown in a demo included in Opera’s blog post. From there, a ChatGPT sidebar will appear on the left, generating…
Sophos, a global leader in innovating and delivering cybersecurity as a service, today released details of two expansive, still operational, pig butchering or sha zhu pan rings (elaborate and lengthy financial fraud scams that can cost victims thousands of dollars) that scammers are operating from Asia. One of the rings, based in Hong Kong, involves a fake…
Infopercept Consulting Pvt Ltd, a global cybersecurity solutions and services company, today announced the appointment of Jitendra Bulani as Chief Marketing Officer. Bulani brings 15 years of global marketing experience at cybersecurity companies. He will be responsible for driving awareness and demand for Infopercept’s offensive security, defensive security and security compliance solutions as well as…
The Nigeria’s Top 50 Digital Economy Enablers 2023 holds this week in Lagos February 14, 2023 at the prestigious Providence Hotel in Ikeja GRA, Lagos. “The Top 50 honours corporate entities and individuals, who embody the struggle, profound insights, stamina, infectious optimism and triumph in the extremely challenging but rewarding Nigeria’s digital economy sector. The…
Today, Microsoft announced new AI-powered classroom tools. As children prepare for an increasingly technologically advanced world, the company believes that its new “Learning Accelerators” will help them improve their speaking and math skills while also making teachers’ jobs easier. Speaker Progress is a new artificial intelligence (AI) classroom tool for teachers. It saves time by…
Digital file-sharing service WeTransfer is partnering with blockchain platform Minima to launch non-fungible tokens (NFT) on the network, allowing users to generate NFTs directly from their phones. A layer 1 blockchain and peer-to-peer network designed specifically for mobile use is called Minima. Its website states that individuals will be able to “operate a full constructing…
The “digital pound,” often known as “Bitcoin,” a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for the UK, will “likely” materialize. A consultation document from the Treasury and the Bank of England makes the case for the establishment of a state-backed digital pound, or CBDC. The number of persons who routinely use cash has significantly decreased since…
Yodawy, a pharmacy benefits platform established in 2018 with the goal of restructuring Egypt’s drug supply chain, has secured $16 million in a Series B financing to support its expansion beyond the Middle East and Africa. With the help of Yodawy’s platform, insurance firms and hospitals may streamline approvals, reduce expenses, and enhance customer satisfaction….
After a presentation of its brand-new artificial intelligence chatbot, Bard, raised worries that the tech titan has fallen behind in the contest for the foreseeable future of internet search, Alphabet Inc. had its biggest one-day decline in more than three months. Since the unveiling of developer OpenAI’s enormously well-liked chatbot, ChatGPT, which many in the…
Nigerian blockchain payments firm Bingtellar has announced the availability of its quick crypto-to-fiat conversion service, allowing individuals and organizations to buy, sell, and receive payments in local money with ease. Bingtellar, founded in 2021, enables real-time conversion of cryptocurrency to fiat and offers users rapid liquidity in their home currency. With a typical transaction time…
The largest Africa-focused fund to date, Partech Africa II has reached its first close at €245 million (about $263 million), according to the international venture capital firm. According to managing partners Tidjane Deme and Cyril Collon, the company, which focuses on early- and growth-stage entrepreneurs throughout the continent, aimed to raise roughly €230 million ($250…
In order to grow across the continent, Umba, a digital bank for emerging countries that has only previously operated in Nigeria, has begun operations there. Umba is a digital bank created specifically for Africa with the goal of expanding financial services to the continent’s sizable untapped market. The startup wants to make it simpler for…