Wowzi, a Kenyan startup, has secured new funding to expand the reach of its platform, which turns social media users into brand influencers, to West and Southern Africa — as it capitalizes on the continent’s rising social media usage, driven by the proliferation of smartphones and increasing internet penetration. Wowzi, which connects social media users…
Google has announced Android 12 (Go edition). According to the company, the lightweight operating system (OS) will be available in affordable entry-level smartphones in 2022. The news comes just two months after Google released Android 12 for its Pixel smartphone lineup. Google claims that over 200 million people are actively using the lightweight Android (Go…
Automatic captions for videos are now available on Twitter. On Wednesday, December 15, the much-anticipated functionality began rolling out globally for iOS, Android, and the Web. Currently, 37 languages are supported by the auto-captions feature. Because translation is not yet available on Twitter, the captions will appear in the language of the device used to…
Ogow Health, a Somalian e-health startup, is improving care pathways, access to patient data, reporting, and public health information for major interventions like maternal health and immunizations through app and web-based tools that are now affecting thousands of patients. ogow health creates digital health solutions that empower and equip healthcare providers, caregivers, and governments in…
The Financial Times and Seedstars have announced the startups that have advanced to the final round of the FTxSDG Challenge, with the winners receiving US$500,000 in funding and growth support. According to Disrupt Africa, the Financial Times and Seedstars partnered in September to launch the FTxSDG Challenge, which aims to find impact-driven entrepreneurs and ventures…
South Africans are big fans of televisions and home entertainment systems. In fact, according to Nielsen, the average citizen watches 165 minutes of television per day on top of working from home, home schooling, and other adulting responsibilities, and that doesn’t include time spent on mobile devices. With nearly three hours of viewing time per…
Networks Unlimited, a subsidiary of Exclusive Networks, has continued its end-of-year tradition of assisting the students and parents of Nokuphila School in Tembisa, Midrand. According to Managing Director Anton Jacobsz, the school is a beneficiary of the non-profit educational organization The Love Trust, which is Networks Unlimited’s 53 percent broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) partner….
Treepz, a mobility startup, has announced a partnership with CMS Taxi and Motor Nigeria Limited (CMS T&M), a Lagos-based traditional bus company, just a few weeks after raising $2.8 million in seed funding and acquiring Ugabus, a Ugandan bus company. Through this collaboration, CMS T&M passengers will have access to convenient payment options and predictable…
Salaam Somali Bank has set aside US$4 million for Somali entrepreneurs to be distributed over two years beginning next year in an effort to jumpstart economic growth. Salaam Somali Bank, Somalia’s first privately-owned bank, was established in 2009 and now has more than 20 branches throughout the country. Through specialized, zero-interest micro-loans, the Salaam Entrepreneurs…
MTN and MAFAB COMMUNICATIONS emerged as the winners of the Federal Government’s 5G spectrum auction held yesterday at the Transcorp Hotel in Abuja. A mock auction was held at the same location to prepare participants for the main event, which was a success. Using the Ascending Clock Auction System, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) auctioned…
A cross-party group of British lawmakers has said that Google, Facebook, and other online services should be held legally accountable for advertisements on their platforms in order to prevent fraudsters from duping millions of consumers. Britain has proposed a landmark online safety law to punish abuses such as child pornography, racism, and violence against women,…
When it is released, the Samsung Galaxy M33 5G will reportedly have a 6,000mAh battery. The upcoming smartphone is expected to be the successor to the Galaxy M32 5G, which was released in August. The existence of the Galaxy M33 5G was first revealed in October, when the smartphone’s internal model designation was leaked online….
Climate change is the most pressing issue of our time. Every one of us, from policymakers to individuals, has a responsibility to do our part to ensure that sustainability and green practices are implemented throughout society. Indeed, governments around the world, from the United States to China, are increasingly taking a proactive stance on climate…
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has been named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2021, a year in which his electric car company became the most valuable carmaker in the world and his rocket company soar to the edge of space with an all-civilian crew. Musk is also the founder and CEO of SpaceX,…
Bitcoin’s value fell 3.43 percent on Tuesday, December 14, continuing its trend of greater losses and smaller gains. Kuber, the world’s oldest cryptocurrency, is currently trading at $50,553 on the Indian exchange CoinSwitch. Bitcoin’s value is currently hovering around $47,235 on international exchanges such as CoinMarketCap. This is the fourth week in a row that…
Medicise, a South African startup, has opened a cutting-edge medical facility in Somerset West, Western Cape, that can measure and monitor a wide range of heart and lung functions and then present a complete clinical picture using complex diagnostic algorithms. Medicise, which claims to be Africa’s only such facility, uses highly specialized equipment to measure…
The fourth quarter is drawing to a close, the holiday season has arrived, and Kenyan businesses are closing their books for the year. Transport and logistics, which support many sectors of the Kenyan economy, appear to be on the rise in many ways. The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) reported a 4.4 percent increase in container…
Pepsi has chosen to commemorate its birth year, 1893, with a series of one-of-a-kind non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The company’s NFT series, titled “Pepsi Mic Drop,” will include 1,893 pieces of a microphone visual inspired by Pepsi flavors such as Classic Blue Pepsi, Silver Diet Pepsi, and Red Pepsi Wild Cherry, among others. An algorithm will…
WaffarX, an Egyptian cashback marketplace, has raised an undisclosed but multi-million US dollar funding round to help it grow its user base and geographical presence. WaffarX, which was founded in 2018 by Ezz Fayek, Mahmoud Montasser, and Ahmed Kamal, uses cutting-edge technology to distribute cashback rewards, allowing shoppers to save money on every dollar spent….
Horizon Worlds is now available to the general public, a year after it was first tested privately. Horizon Worlds, on the other hand, is available for free to anyone with an Oculus Quest 2 headset, which Meta sells. People over the age of 18 in the United States and Canada will be able to download…
WhatsApp is reportedly implementing new privacy safeguards to make it more difficult for people to learn about your last seen status and online presence on the platform. The update is not yet available to all users, but it is said to be available to some on Android and iOS. It would allow you to remain…
East African neighbors Kenya and Tanzania, as well as Namibia and Egypt, are also strong performers. According to the African Development Bank’s 2021 Electricity Regulatory Index, Uganda’s electricity sector is the best regulated in Africa for the fourth year in a row. East African neighbors Kenya and Tanzania, as well as Namibia and Egypt, are…
Volvo, the Swedish automaker, announced on Friday that hackers had stolen research and development data from its systems in a cyberattack. The company, which is owned by China’s Geely, stated that it “has become aware that one of its file repositories has been illegally accessed by a third party.” “So far, investigations confirm that a…
Cairo Angels, an Egypt-focused angel investor network, has announced the first close of the Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund (CASF), a Delaware-based angel fund that will invest between $100,000 and $250,000 in Middle Eastern and African startups. Cairo Angels was Egypt’s first formal network of angel investors when it launched, and it has since become one…
Katapult, based in Norway, has opened an impact accelerator in Mauritius, focusing on regenerative food and agri-tech for regional and international startups looking to enter African markets. The Katapult Accelerator, based in Norway, has invested in a number of African startups and launched spin-offs such as Katapult Ocean and a climate-focused program. Katapult has developed…
Until recently, organizing a wedding or a sightseeing trip with family and friends in many African cities required the organizer to juggle multiple mobile apps. An app like WhatsApp would be required for announcements and logistics, while fundraising activities could take place on a money platform like M-pesa and rides to different venues could be…
As the internet makes it easier to become our own boss, society is witnessing a seismic shift: entrepreneurship is becoming more viable for more people in more forms. People want a stake in their work, whether they are freelancers or small-business owners, now more than ever. As a result, the self-starter qualities that we see…
Prince Clem Akanade Agba, Nigeria’s minister of state for budget and national planning, has called for the establishment of a new regulatory body to oversee the regulation of crypto activities in the country. The minister stated this at the recently held Crypto Coinference, which was organized by the tech media organization Technext. According to him,…
A critical vulnerability in a widely used software tool — one that was quickly exploited in the online game Minecraft — is quickly emerging as a major threat to organizations worldwide. “Right now, the internet is on fire, “Crowdstrike’s senior vice president of intelligence, Adam Meyers, concurred. “People are scrambling to patch, and all kinds…
While some people believe that gold, jewelry, art, wine, or antiques are good long-term investments, a new study challenges that notion and presents a unique and more profitable alternative: Lego sets. Economists from Russia’s Higher School of Economics discovered that the market prices of retired Lego sets sold on the secondary market increase by at…