IFC, a World Bank Group member, will invest $15 million in Algebra Ventures’ second fund, which will support the growth of approximately 20 technology startups in Egypt and across Africa. Algebra Ventures II, with a target size of $90 million, will focus on women-led businesses and those serving rural communities, and will provide access to…
Neural Labs, a Kenyan startup, uses AI-enabled medical imaging to aid in the real-time diagnosis of various respiratory, heart, and breast diseases and pathologies. Neural Labs was founded in January 2021 by Tom Kinyanjui and Paul Mwaura Ndirangu, two machine learning engineers, with the goal of reducing Africa’s disease burden and hospital workloads while improving…
Injini, a Cape Town-based ed-tech non-profit, is launching a think tank to provide market research to entrepreneurs in the space and to advocate for educational reform. According to Injini, which was co-founded by the Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative (CiTi) and has run a number of accelerator programs for ed-tech startups in Africa, the Injini…
Shift EV, an Egyptian electric mobility startup, has raised an undisclosed Series A funding round to help it onboard more clients and expand operations into other Middle East and North Africa (MENA) markets. Shift EV, founded in 2020 by Aly El Tayeb and Amr Helmy, converts existing gasoline-powered vehicles to electric ones using in-house designed…
The “Women’s Investment Club” (WIC) Senegal and Ecobank have signed a collaboration contract worth one billion CFA francs (USD1,600,000) to support female entrepreneurship in Senegal. Ecobank’s Managing Director, Sahid Yallou, and Evelyne Dioh Simpa, Executive Director of WIC Capital Senegal, officially presented the symbolic cheque. “This one-billion-franc financial partnership is a key component of the…
Mrs. Ujama Akpata and Mrs. Kikelomo Fola-Ogunniya, founders of Jand2Gidi, held a media conference on Wednesday, April 13th. Ms. Nancy Ogbue, Event Host MC, moderated the event and introduced Jand2Gidi, praising them for their consistency over the years. She also mentioned that with Jand2Gidi, the usual frustrations associated with sending deliveries are becoming a thing…
According to reports, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) intends to begin issuing degrees and certificates with blockchain security features to prevent fraud. According to Broad Media, the certificates will aid in the prevention of counterfeiting and the false representation of qualifications. UJ was among the first universities to begin providing digital certificates to students in…
Google has announced the opening of its first product development center in Africa, which will be located in Nairobi. The new product development center will assist in the development of transformative products and services for people in Africa and around the world, and it will hire visionary engineers, product managers, UX designers, and researchers to…
Leatherback, a cross-border payments network based in the United Kingdom, has received a $10 million Pre-Seed fundraising round from Zedcrest Capital, a major pan-African principal investment group. The funding will allow the growing Fintech company to focus on critical activities, including hiring strategic roles, elevation in its marketing and branding strategy, and traction and visibility…
FibreOne Broadband, Nigeria’s broadband and fiber-to-the-home provider, reports a nearly 300 percent increase in customer base. Residential customers increased by 77%, while small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) increased by 23% during the same time period. FiberOne Broadband, which was founded in 2017, connects people in their homes and businesses, allowing them to enjoy a whole…
ETAP, an insurtech startup that makes it easier to buy and claim insurance, has raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding to expand its team and drive the adoption of much-needed car insurance throughout Africa. Starting in Nigeria, the new funding will help ETAP’s game-changing app, which allows drivers to buy insurance in 90 seconds, complete…
Rology, an on-demand teleradiology platform based in Egypt, has closed a pre-Series A round of funding to help it expand across the Middle East and Africa. Rology, founded in October 2017 by Amr AboDraiaa, Moaaz Hossam, Mahmoud Eldefrawy, and Bassam Khallaf, has built a cloud-based platform that provides intelligent matchmaking between patients and remote radiologists,…
Transfy, a Nigerian fintech startup, has seen strong early adoption of its payment infrastructure, processing $15 million in its first year, and is planning continental expansion. Transfy, based in Lagos, will launch a blockchain-powered financial services platform in April 2021, making it simple for individuals and businesses across Africa to send and receive money seamlessly,…
Kudi, an African payment network, has rebranded as Nomba. This was announced in a press release as part of the company’s transition from a single payment platform to an omnichannel payment platform. Payment collections, trade finance, company reporting, and multiple location administration are among the new business capabilities produced by the new omni-channel payment platform,…
Algebra Ventures, an Egyptian venture capital firm, has received a US$15 million commitment from the International Finance Cooperation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, for its US$90 million second fund. Algebra Ventures invested in startups such as Trella, elmenus, GoodsMart, and Halan with its first US$54 million fund, and Disrupt Africa reported last…
TeamApt, a Nigerian fintech startup, is relaunching its Moniepoint product as a business bank in order to provide a broader range of services to its customers. TeamApt was founded in 2015 to address inefficiencies in Nigeria’s growing digital financial services market, and it offers a variety of products. The startup’s customers include all of the…
Venture capital plays a “catalytic role” in innovation and fills a critical gap in the global financial and business landscape, but VCs must strike the right balance between assisting their portfolio companies and simply interfering once an investment has been made. According to VCs at Quona Capital, a venture firm focused on fintech in emerging…
OXFORD, U.K. – April 14, 2022 – Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, todayunveiled advancements to Sophos Cloud Workload Protection, including new Linux host and container security capabilities. These enhancements accelerate the detection and response of in-progress attacks and security incidents within Linux operating systems, improve security operations and bolster application performance. According to new…
Founded in January 2020 by Dady Maël and Kader Saka, PAL creates its own payment infrastructure for cash-in and cash-out to mobile wallets, without the need for a third-party technology component integration. It offers this service as an open API with a web interface that can be used for inbound remittance, payment, loans, and many financial…
The last e-Track Programme concluded earlier this month with seven of the graduating startups pitching their businesses to an audience at a hybrid event hosted on the GSB campus, which was run by UCT GSB Solution Space – a specialized centre of the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business focused on high-impact early…
Elloe is a first-of-its-kind AI-powered conversational commerce platform that allows SMEs to buy and sell products online across any messaging platform. It was founded by Owen Sakawa. Mad Ventures, located in the Philippines, led the US$1 million pre-seed fundraising round, which would help Elloe expand across Kenya and other emerging economies. “The opportunity to engage…
Customer satisfaction should be a business aim as it is vital to success for all brands. Customer satisfaction can be improved through user experience, which can have a favorable impact on your company’s return on investment (ROI). A happy customer is a satisfied customer. Customers that are dissatisfied with your service are less likely to return. From research,…
The most well-known use of blockchain is to facilitate the emergence of digital currency. But did you realize that this technology has a plethora of other uses? Many large organizations and government bodies use it to improve their current business processes. That isn’t to say that only established businesses can benefit from blockchain technology. It…
WhatsApp has finally caught up to the competition and increased the file limit. Large files of up to 2GB can now be shared. WhatsApp also intends to expand the range of emoji message reactions from Thanks to Sad, Surprised, Like, Laugh, and Love to cover all emojis and skin tones. WhatsApp groups are also getting…
According to filings filed with the SEC, Elon Musk, who recently purchased a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, has made an offer to buy the firm altogether for $54.20 per share in cash in a hostile takeover worth around $43 billion. Musk stated in the filing that if his offer is rejected, he will most…
At Huawei’s ICT Competition Awards Ceremony on April 9, 2022, the company announced the commencement of its LEAP digital skills development program. According to the Chinese tech conglomerate, the LEAP program seeks to help over 100,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa improve their ICT abilities in three years. LEAP (Leadership, Employability, Advancement, and Possibilities) is a…
Gaviti, an automated service that helps businesses collect and manage customer bills, has closed a $9 million Series A fundraising round headed by Flashpoint in the United Kingdom, with participation from Moneta VC, North First Ventures, TAU Ventures, and LETA Capital. Their platform allows organizations to manage their collections process through a user-friendly application, giving…
Pylon, an Egyptian infrastructure management business for emerging market water and energy utilities, has raised a $19 million seed round to advance water and electricity software. Endure Capital of the United States led the round, which was a mix of debt and equity, and was backed by British International Investment (previously CDC Group), the UK…
The Central Bank of Nigeria granted MTN the permission to operate Mobile Money (MoMo). Since its inception in 2019, MTN Nigeria’s Mobile Money (MoMo) service has attracted over 9 million subscribers. According to TechCabal, the license means MTN Nigeria would be able to provide practically all the services provided by traditional commercial banks, except for…
Truck hijackings in South Africa continue to affect the country’s economy. These crimes have been on the rise for some years now, with Police Minister Bheki Cele reporting one of the most considerable increases (31.7%) in truck hijackings just over a year ago. Arrive Alive outlines several factors to help reduce the risk of hijackings, including the importance…