28th February 2022 – (Cairo, Egypt) OPay Egypt, the leading fintech and electronic payments company, has announced the opening of its first “OPay” store in Egypt in the Downtown area in the 5th Settlement, to offer all the company’s services and products for individuals and corporates. The move comes as part of OPay’s expansion plan in the…
Boxconn, a Ghanaian logistics startup, has already launched operations in Nigeria and Botswana and plans further expansion after facilitating thousands of deliveries. Boxconn, a logistics software platform that allows businesses and individuals to deliver on-demand, was founded in January 2021 by a team formed during the MEST Africa program in Accra. It provides a white-label…
Companies are using data to make more informed business decisions now more than ever before in a world of increased competition and ever-changing customer expectations. This data-driven approach has permeated almost every industry, with financial services being a forerunner. The value of data and analytics is derived from their ability to solve real-world problems through…
The Hatchery, an international clean-tech startup incubator based in Cape Town, has announced a strategic ZAR5 million (US$330,000) partnership with Valinor, a Norwegian clean-tech investment firm focused on sustainable solutions that promote economic growth. Disrupt Africa reported in November on the launch of The Hatchery, an international clean-tech incubator based in Cape Town that invests…
The long-awaited electoral amendment bill has finally been signed into law by the government, bringing hope and excitement to everyone, including the tech ecosystem, in the country. The recently signed Electoral Amendment Bill of 2022 amends the Electoral Act of 2010 and is intended to help Nigeria improve its electoral process in comparison to previous…
PerchPeek, a relocation platform, has raised $11 million in Series A funding to address this employee relocation issue – and make it easier for companies to grant employee relocation requests. Stage 2 Capital and AlbionVC co-led the funding round. PerchPeek claims to have a step-by-step app that assists employees relocating to 47 countries worldwide –…
Silvertree Holdings has completed the full acquisition of South African meal kit delivery company UCOOK for US$12.3 million. Silvertree Holdings had previously invested in the startup, which has now been acquired entirely, with co-founders David Torr, Christopher Verster-Cohen, and Katherine Barry exiting and Silvertree’s Peter Allerstorfer and colleagues taking over the executive reins. In the…
Viva Translate, a technology startup, announced $4 million in funding and the release of a new AI context-aware translation software. Viva Translate is an artificial intelligence software that translates emails and other written communications between Spanish and English in real time. The software works as a Chrome browser extension to provide automatic and instant translation….
Cisco, a multinational technology corporation headquartered in the United States, has announced the appointment of Smangele Nkosi as General Manager of its South African operations. According to Cisco, Nkosi’s focus as general manager is on leveraging the company’s technology leadership to support the country’s innovation, prosperity, and social inclusion. Her role will entail working closely…
Volta Trucks, a Swedish electric vehicle startup that believes it can build better urban delivery vehicles and other trucks that are safer and have a lower carbon footprint than their gas-guzzling, more clumsy, existing counterparts, has closed a large round of funding to help it get through the final mile of development before its Volta…
What exactly is User-Generated Content? User-generated content is any content created by your users that expresses their feelings about your brand. Customers, clients, and even employees can be among your users. UGC refers to all of the content created by these users about your brand and its product or service. UGC can be found everywhere…
Africa and Asia are the birthplaces of mobile money, and the transition to digital wallets is well underway in countries with high smartphone penetration. According to a recent report, African and Asian consumers are increasingly accepting digital payments. This is the conclusion of a white paper published by TerraPay in collaboration with IBS, highlighting trends…
Njoku Emmanuel dropped out of school to focus on coding after his father confiscated his laptop for “coding too much” and failing to face his studies. After three years, he has established himself as one of the best blockchain engineers of his generation, traveled the world, and now runs his own startup, Lazerpay, a cryptocurrency…
While analyzing the threat landscape of African countries, Kaspersky experts observed a steady decline in mobile device attacks in the region, as cybercriminals concentrated their efforts to focus on more complicated, dangerous, and profitable threats. These and other findings are included in Kaspersky’s report, Mobile Threats in 2021. Overall, South African users faced 38% fewer…
Meta Platforms, the company that owns Facebook, has established a special operations center to monitor the conflict in Ukraine, and it has launched a feature that allows users in the country to lock their social media profiles for security, a company official said in a series of tweets on Thursday. Twitter posted tips on Wednesday…
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta, has announced new artificial intelligence projects, believing that AI is “the key to unlocking the Metaverse.” Zuckerberg believes that the mobile internet’s future will be the metaverse, a futuristic concept of virtual spaces in which users can work, socialize, and play. In a livestreamed demonstration, he demonstrated the AI…
The Stanford Africa Business Forum has opened applications for the New Venture Pitch Competition, which will give early-stage ventures the opportunity to pitch on stage at the April event. The Stanford Africa Business Forum, which will take place both in-person and virtually on April 16, will look at how African innovations in various sectors can…
China has issued a new ban on raising funds through “virtual currency,” declaring the practice illegal. In China, anyone who uses cryptocurrency to raise funds for a cause will face a prison sentence. The severity of the punishment will be determined by the amount of capital one has amassed through the use of virtual assets,…
Five more African startups have been confirmed as participants in the renowned Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator accelerator’s W22 batch, bringing the total to 15. The W22 batch of the Y Combinator program is currently in session, and will conclude with a demo day in March, having played a role in the early days of companies…
Voyance, a Nigerian data infrastructure company, has announced a $500,000 pre-seed funding round. Beta.Ventures led the round, with Zedcrest Capital, HoaQ Club, and Assembly Investors also participating. Angel investors included Fola Olatunji-David, founding partner of Kickoff Africa, and Nelly Chatue-Diop, co-founder and CEO of Ejara, among others. Speaking about the funding, Ovo Emorhokpor, General Partner…
As you sit across from the hiring team, reflecting on your past achievements and challenges, it’s time to address the future responsibilities and expectations of this new role. Salary negotiations begin, and the stakes are high—propose too high a figure, and you might be seen as overreaching; too low, and you risk undervaluation. Understanding the…
TradeDepot, a Nigerian B2B e-commerce and embedded finance startup, has announced the acquisition of Green Lion, Ghana’s largest and fastest growing B2B e-commerce platform, in order to accelerate service delivery across the country. TradeDepot, which was founded in 2016, connects African consumer goods brands directly to a target market of several million retail outlets across…
According to a press report published by Forbes Middle East, OPay has received widespread support in Egypt. The Nigeria-based fintech firm is unquestionably one of Africa’s fintech unicorns and one of the continent’s most valuable startups. Since its initial launch in Egypt at the beginning of 2021, it has also been regarded as one of…
PayJustNow, a Cape Town-based fintech startup, has sold a controlling stake in its business to Weaver Fintech as it seeks to expand in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) space. PayJustNow, which launched in August 2019, is the largest business of its kind in Southern Africa, with over 180,000 customers and over 1,000 retailers carrying…
Clickatell, a Cape Town-based and California-based fintech firm, CPaaS innovator, and creator of the Chat Commerce platform, announced yesterday that it had raised $91 million in its latest Series C round of funding. Arrowroot Capital led this round, with Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, Endeavor Global, and Harvest also participating. According to a press release, Clickatell…
Three African startups have been chosen to participate in the 12th edition of the SOSV MOX accelerator, where they will receive up to $150,000 in funding and tailored support. SOSV invests in 150 companies each year through category-leading startup development programs, providing multi-stage investment to develop and scale big ideas for positive change. MOX is…
The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has revealed that it has selected the name JAMAICA DIGITAL EXCHANGE – JAM-DEX, as well as the tagline “No cash, no problem!” and logo for its digital currency, which will be launched later this year. The choices for the digital currency’s branding came as a result of a public competition…
Canza Finance, an emerging markets neobank that is building the world’s largest non-institutional-based financial system, announced the completion of its $3.27M seed round. The fundraising round was led by Fenbushi Capital, with participation from Dominance Ventures, Bixin Ventures, Consensys, Protocol Labs, Emergo Ventures, MEXC Global, NGC Ventures, XanPool, Hashkey, the founders of Celo, and others. This funding enables Canza to continue headcount growth and expand its service…
Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) is the country’s busiest international airport, with approximately 3 million international passengers passing through each year. When arriving passengers arrive at the airport, they must pass through the doors depicted above in order to proceed to immigration. A lone sign above it reads “Welcome to Nigeria.” Airports, particularly international ones,…
Today, Meta, a tech and social media touchstone based in the United States, announced the expansion of the availability of its Facebook Reels for iOS and Android to more than 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The “Reels” feature debuted on Meta’s Instagram platform in 2020 in response to the rising popularity of then-newcomer TikTok. Reels…