The COVID-19 disease has infected over 290 million people worldwide, claimed over 5 million lives, and pushed millions into extreme poverty. The pandemic has been devastating in every way, and its impact has been felt in Africa as well, where over 9.7 million cases and 228,000 deaths have been reported. However, the magnitude of the…
John Pinette, the head of communications at Facebook parent Meta Platforms, is leaving the company, the social media company announced late Friday. A Meta spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement that Chris Norton, vice president of international communications, will fill the role on an interim basis. “Meta has lost John Pinette. We are grateful…
Cameroonians’ new year celebrations have so far coincided with opposition to the Paul Biya administration’s new tax on mobile money transactions. A 0.2 percent tax on money transfers and withdrawals via mobile wallets went into effect on January 1, 2022, as required by the newly enacted 2022 Finance Bill, which President Biya signed last November….
JABU, a Namibian startup with venture capital firm YC backing, has received a $3.2 million investment for its B2B e-commerce and retail operation. Afore Capital led the seed round, which was joined by Y Combinator, FJ Labs, Quiet Capital, Kli Capital, Pareto Capital, and unnamed angel investors. In the mid-2020s, CEO David Akinin founded JABU…
Nigeria has taken another step toward enacting its landmark Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB), which will further deepen the country’s technology ecosystem and enable a sector on the verge of exponential growth. President Muhammadu Buhari has worked with the Presidency and leaders in the Nigerian technology industry on the bill, which has now been approved by…
Sprint, an Egyptian e-commerce logistics startup, has processed one million shipments since its inception in 2019. Sprint offers technology-enabled solutions that enable e-commerce merchants and retailers to benefit from high-value, end-to-end logistics services and solutions. Sprint has processed one million shipments with a success rate of more than 90% over the last two years. More…
For the global cryptocurrency industry, 2021 will be remembered as one of the many years when bitcoin broke through its all-time price high and pushed the sector even closer to mainstream adoption. However, from a regional standpoint, it is arguably the year in which Africa took center stage. From a reported 1,200 percent increase in…
While eCommerce has grown in Africa over the years, online shopping on the continent remains significantly lower than the global average. Only around 35% of Africans shop online. This simply demonstrates that many Africans (approximately 65 percent) continue to rely on retailers and small shop owners for their daily household needs such as groceries, utilities,…
How novel approaches to angel investing are bridging Africa’s massive early-stage funding gap for high-growth ventures. Angel investment in African startups has recently increased rapidly, in tandem with the development of startup ecosystems, which has greatly increased the number of investable opportunities. Early indications of success, such as the emergence of several successful fintech startups,…
According to an Apple App Store listing, former US President Donald Trump’s new media venture plans to launch its social media app Truth Social on February 21. Truth Social, the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) alternative to Twitter, is now available for pre-order ahead of its launch on Presidents’ Day in the United States….
Denis Mutirithia, a frontline health-care worker at Isiolo County referral hospital, plays a critical role in saving lives – and he now has a new digital tool to help him do so. The pharmaceutical technologist is responsible for forecasting and preventing shortages and stockouts of critical medical supplies such as contraception. If he receives stock…
Bfree, a Nigerian credit management fintech, has launched a global expansion after raising $1.7 million in a pre-Series A round to capitalize on opportunities in emerging markets, where digital lending apps have proliferated. 4Di Capital, Octerra Capital, VestedWorld, Voltron Capital, Logos Ventures, and several other angel investors participated in the latest round, bringing the total…
As the Twitter debates continue, most tech founders and venture capitalists have chosen a side: Web 2.0 or Web 3.0. Web3 proponents believe it is the internet’s future, and that blockchain-based products will completely replace Web 2.0 within the next few years. Web 2.0 stalwarts argue that it’s all just hype spewed by crypto bros…
Fixit45, a Nigerian startup, has launched its one-stop-shop platform for car owners, connecting them with a variety of necessary services. Fixit45’s current iteration was released in July of last year, but the business and model have evolved over the last two years or so. “So, before Fixit45 became a standalone brand with its own set…
Network for Social Entrepreneurship Ashoka and the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim have opened applications for their Making More Health accelerator program (MMH). Ashoka identifies and supports the world’s leading social entrepreneurs, learns from patterns in their innovations, and mobilizes a global community to embrace these new frameworks in order to create a “everyone a changemaker…
Volaris Group Inc. (Volaris) has acquired Adapt IT Holdings Limited (“Adapt IT”) for R7 per Adapt IT share, effective 3 January 2022. Volaris is a wholly owned subsidiary of Constellation Software Inc., a publicly traded company in Canada. All conditions and regulatory approvals, including those from various competition authorities, the Takeover Regulation Panel, and the…
Africa, with over 700 banks, is one of the world’s most promising untapped banking markets. As incomes rise, the African continent will become a more appealing market for various banking services such as loans, investments, and savings. Consumers, on the other hand, have new preferences and expectations from the banking system, which is changing the…
Aspiring entrepreneurs and innovative startups from Nigeria are encouraged to apply for two new entrepreneurship programs developed by the University of Oxford. The Oxford Foundry, University of Oxford, and FMDQ Private Markets Limited announced a global partnership in July with the goal of fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange between the UK and Nigerian angel investment…
Airbnb, the popular accommodation-booking platform, may start accepting cryptocurrency payments this year. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky shared a list of customer requests on Twitter, with enabling crypto payments ranking first. Chesky stated in his post that his company is already working on most of the customer suggestions, while promising to investigate others. Recently, a number…
Volvo Cars and self-driving sensor maker Luminar Technologies announced on Wednesday that a hands-free driving system called “Ride Pilot” will be available for the first time in California, though no specific date was given. Volvo intends to use the technology, which will allow the car to fully take over driving tasks in certain limited situations,…
In many ways, 2021 was a watershed moment for online privacy. Apple released an update in April 2021 that allowed users to opt-out of app tracking, with the majority of iPhone users having done so by the end of the year. There were even discussions about turning off tracking technology in the world’s most popular…
In 2021, more and larger deals were closed in Africa, with tech startups across the continent raising nearly $5 billion. This amount was more than double the previous year’s investment and nine times what was raised five years ago, demonstrating how much the startup scene has changed in recent years. According to a report by…
mPharma, a Ghanaian health tech startup, is establishing a network of community pharmacies across Africa with the goal of becoming the region’s primary healthcare provider for millions of people. MPharma intends to expand its community (Mutti) pharmacies across eight African markets in order to serve as patients’ first point of contact. Mutti pharmacies are essentially…
Alvin, a Kenyan startup that helps people align their daily spending around savings goals, has raised a US$740,000 pre-seed funding round as it continues to hone its product, which is currently in private beta. Alvin, which was founded in May of last year, is a smart money manager app that uses automated budgeting, personalized offers,…
While 2021 was the crypto year, 2022 will be the custody year. Central banks all over the world are racing to develop and launch their own CBDCs, and surveys indicate that investment in digital assets will continue to rise. Blockchain-powered digital assets have the potential to completely reshape how we interact with the financial system….
Alphabet-owned Google announced the acquisition of Israeli cybersecurity startup Siemplify by its cloud division on Tuesday, as the US tech giant expands its security offerings in the face of rising cyber attacks. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed by the companies, but a source familiar with the matter stated that Google paid…
Kosovo’s government banned cryptocurrency mining on Tuesday in an effort to reduce electricity consumption as the country faces the worst energy crisis in a decade due to production outages. “All law enforcement agencies will halt this activity in collaboration with other relevant institutions that will identify the locations where cryptocurrency production occurs,” Economy and Energy…
According to the CEO of a game-changing global financial giant, Bitcoin will be legal tender in three more countries by 2022. Nigel Green of deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory, asset management, and fintech organizations, doubled down on a prediction made by El Salvador’s President on Sunday. Nayib Bukele tweeted a…
The rate of digital transformation in Nigeria (and across Africa) is increasing; there were 104.4 million internet users in Nigeria in January 2021, a 19 million (+22 percent) increase between 2020 and 2021. In January 2021, Nigeria’s internet penetration will be 50.0 percent (source). So, what does all of this mean? Because of the increase…
Many people believe that the latest paradigm shift for the internet is already underway: the metaverse, they claim, is almost here. When a company invests in a space and the media declares a moment, it’s reasonable to take a step back and see if the reality can live up to the hype. But, if this…