Thrive Agric ThriveAgric, an agriculture investment platform, has announced a $56.4 million debt financing from local commercial banks and institutional investors. According to a company statement, the funding includes a $1.75 million co-investment grant from the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment. This latest round of funding comes on top of the $9 million raised…
Following the launch of the Irish Tech Challenge South Africa, South African tech startups now have the opportunity to gain international exposure and access to global markets. The Irish Tech Challenge South Africa, a collaboration between the Irish Embassy in South Africa, the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), and…
A swift buzz has taken over the streets and suburbs of Kampala about this new and amazing technology, you can almost hear the words ‘my ADAS?’ ringing in your head. On 6th April 2021, Africa Digital Address Systems Ltd, a Ugandan based company, revealed ADAS for the first time, to the world. The ADAS app…
Establishing a new business is not an easy feat as it cannot be compared with a prosperous one that has been in existence. Irrespective of the industry, every startup is likely to go through the same process of development except a variance in time. Subject to certain factors, the speed in growth of startup businesses differ…
Microsoft has announced that it has invested approximately $200 million (two hundred million dollars) in the establishment of its Africa Development Centre (ADC) in Lagos, Nigeria. During Microsoft’s Nigeria Office Launch in Lagos, Gafar Lawal, managing director of its ADC in Nigeria, revealed this. Since establishing the Africa Development Centre in Nigeria three years ago,…
The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) has opened applications for its Innovating Justice Challenge 2022, which seeks innovations aimed at preventing or resolving a justice problem for a large number of people, including small and medium-sized businesses. HiiL is looking for justice innovators from Africa and the Middle East, specifically Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya,…
Lucky, an Egyptian startup that provides credit products, offers, and cashback rewards, has raised a US$25 million Series A funding round to expand its credit capabilities, increase market share, and drive further international growth. Lucky, founded in 2018 by Momtaz Moussa and Ayman Essawy, provides users with access to an expanding range of simple credit…
The 4th Industrial Revolution Incubator, a South African platform for SMMEs, will present its solutions at the fifth edition of the Internet of Things Forum Africa (#IOTFA2022). The conference will address transformational IoT trends and will investigate the benefits of IoT in key industries. IOTFA 2022 will bring together over 600 delegates and 30 speakers…
The difficulties in Africa’s financial sector open up a plethora of opportunities. When one financial service issue is resolved, other layers reveal more issues to be resolved, much like a giant onion bulb. People were hurt by ridiculous bank charges when businesses found it difficult to receive payments online, but fintech companies came to the…
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and Google have announced a new Google.org Fellowship to provide one million more Africans with access to the TEFConnect platform, which connects entrepreneurs with tailored tools, market partnerships, coaches, and investors. The announcement was made at a TEF headquarters event in Lagos, Nigeria, attended by several African political and business…
Africa No Filter and Meta have announced the winners of the Future Africa Grant for Extended Reality Creators. Africa No Filter and Meta (Facebook.com) are pleased to announce the six finalists of the program ‘Future Africa: Telling Stories, Building Worlds,’ which aims to identify and invest in the continent’s next generation of Extended Reality (XR)…
According to Google, an undersea cable that will boost internet speeds for millions of Africans has arrived in Togo, the latest phase in a multi-year program to provide customers with cheaper access across the continent. The Equiano cable, the first of its kind to reach Africa, has twisted its way from Portugal and will increase…
Rwandan online legal marketplace Hence Technologies has raised $1.8 million in seed funding. This brings the company’s total cash raised to $2.6 million. Daybreak Partners, Broad Creek Capital (founded by two former lawyers, Matthew Ruesch and Michael W. Green), Daglar Cizmeci, and a number of other angel investors took part in the round. Hence Technologies,…
Katapult, based in Norway, has collaborated with the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) for Global Change, Norrsken, and Smart Africa to launch the Katapult Africa Accelerator Programme, which will aim to accelerate and invest in agri-tech and climate-tech startups. The Katapult Accelerator, based in Norway, has invested in a number of African startups and launched spin-offs…
Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has reduced the price of .NG domain by over forty per cent (40%). NiRA is responsible for maintaining the database of registered names in the .ng country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) namespace in the public interest of Nigeria and the global internet community. Like the currency, the Naira and…
DilenyTech, an Egyptian deep technology healthcare startup that is developing innovative artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for screening and diagnostic radiology workflow, has been acquired by Astute Imaging LLC of the United States. DilenyTech, which was founded in 2018, aims to revolutionize breast cancer screening and diagnostic workflow by offering innovative AI-based assistance for more accurate…
Simplifyd Systems Inc., a YCombinator-backed Nigerian startup aiming to become the platform of choice for data-free Internet access across Africa, has taken a giant step forward. The company is announcing the launch of ZeroData, its toll-free internet application platform, to address the challenges associated with accessing affordable data in the face of the staggering rate…
Chargel, a Senegalese logistics startup, has raised a pre-seed funding round of $750,000 to help it make the trucking industry in Senegal and Francophone West Africa more efficient, reliable, and transparent. Chargel, co-founded by Moustapha and Alioune Ndoye, brings trucking’s offline operations online by matching shippers with the right transporters at the right price, as…
Kenyans who prefer to order or buy goods online face challenges due to the country’s high logistical costs. According to Business Daily, e-commerce participants say the costs of transporting goods from a store to a buyer are a major impediment to the sector’s growth. “The most significant impediment to e-commerce growth is logistical cost.” “The…
South Africans aren’t unfamiliar with the concept of a side hustle. Indeed, according to a recent Momentum/Unisa Household Index, an estimated 14% of all households are currently engaged in side hustles. While many people wear multiple work hats out of a love for a particular craft or to simply help others, side hustles are more…
Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, has released new insight into an international cryptocurrency trading scam called CryptoRom that targets iPhone and Android users through popular dating apps, such as Bumble and Tinder. The new research, “CryptoRom Swindlers Continue to Target Vulnerable iPhone/Android Users,” is based on first hand stories and content shared with Sophos…
Ransomware is becoming more dangerous and expensive all the time, and it has affected nearly every industry and geography. Nobody is safe from the threat. According to Fortinet’s global ransomware survey, 67 percent of organizations have experienced a ransomware attack. Worse, nearly half of those polled said they had been targeted more than once, and…
Luno, a global cryptocurrency company, has launched an investment arm called Luno Expeditions, which will support early-stage fintech and cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and plans to make 200 to 300 investments per year. Luno, which has over nine million customers and operates in 43 countries across Africa, Southeast Asia, the United States (US), and Europe, makes it…
The news media landscape has shifted dramatically over the last few decades. Searching for news online has become commonplace, whether through Google, social networking sites, major newspapers, or local media websites. Because smartphones are so widely used, people can get the most up-to-date information from all over the world in real time. While digital media…
Ghana’s central bank has released information about its ‘eCedi’ digital currency, which it hopes will encourage more people to use the country’s banking system. The Bank of Ghana has released a digital paper advocating for hardware wallet services for Ghanaians who do not have internet access or bank accounts. The West African country is developing…
Sokowatch, a Kenyan e-commerce company that uses technology to improve the informal retail supply chain, has raised $125 million in Series B funding, rebranded as Wasoko, and expanded into West Africa. Tiger Global, the world’s largest venture capital firm, and Avenir Growth Capital are leading the round, which also includes VNV Global, Flipkart co-founder Binny…
Engen, a South African petroleum company, has opened applications for its Pitch & Polish pitching competition, in which 16 entrepreneurs will compete for a ZAR1 million (US$67,000) first prize. Pitch & Polish, now in its 12th year, went fully virtual for the first time in 2021, when Cape Town-based business partners Pieter du Plessis and…
Startupbootcamp AfriTech and Telecel Group have chosen 11 African startups to participate in the second edition of the Africa Startup Initiative Programme (ASIP), which provides funding and support to participants. Startupbootcamp AfriTech was founded in 2017 as the first pan-African startup accelerator backed by multiple corporations. Disrupt Africa announced in March of last year that…
Mercy Corps, a global humanitarian organization, has established a $1 million Crypto for Good Fund to test and support blockchain-based solutions for people who are low-income and/or unbanked. “We are excited to partner with visionary founding teams to identify, test, and prove the potential of crypto and web3 to improve financial access for the world’s…
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, has confirmed that Instagram will soon launch a non-fungible token (NFT) feature. This statement was made at South by Southwest (SXSW) 2022, an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences held in mid-March in Austin, Texas, United States. Twitter announced its NFT profile picture…