Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has restricted the accounts of 281 Nigerian customers. Changpeng Zhao, the company’s CEO, cited the need to comply with international money laundering regulations in order to ensure the platform’s security for traders. Changpeng Zhao stated in a letter to Nigerian customers on January 29 that the decision to block…
The world’s first hydrogen-powered flying boat, the ‘Jet ZeroEmission,’ is set to be built and launched in Dubai. L’Hydroptère’s futuristic-looking boat will have cutting-edge characteristics and technology and can carry up to 12 passengers at a time. The eco-friendly vessel produces no waves, emits no noise, and appears to ‘fly’ 80cm above the water at…
Lami, an insurance technology company, has announced the acquisition of Bluewave Insurance Agency, a Nairobi-based insurtech firm, for an undisclosed sum, allowing it to reach Africa’s underserved population and fill the existing insurance gap. Lami will continue its goal of democratizing insurance goods and services for low-income Africans by providing users with accessible and affordable…
The Nigerian educational system leaves a lot to be desired. The problems range from a lack of funding and infrastructure to a scarcity of qualified teachers. Despite the fact that primary education is officially free and compulsory in Nigeria, approximately 10.5 million children are not enrolled. In 2021, education received only N742.5 billion, or 5.6…
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, reported a bleak mix of a larger-than-expected drop in profit, a drop in users, and threats to its ad business on Wednesday, sending shares down 22 percent in after-hours trading. Already, jittery markets have punished pandemic-era darlings such as Netflix for disappointing results, and Meta has had a taste of that…
BitPowr, a Nigerian startup, has begun operations, offering blockchain API, wallet, and digital asset infrastructure to businesses. BitPowr, a stealth startup founded in early 2021, provides infrastructure for businesses and organizations looking to create, manage, and secure their crypto wallets on the blockchain network. The startup provides a wallet API – a full-suite wallet management…
Ndovu, a wealth-tech startup that provides customers with instant access to global financial markets, officially launched its product suite in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, on Wednesday, joining Africa’s nascent wealth-tech industry. The company stated that it began operations in Kenya after realizing the market access challenges and high management costs of current investment alternatives in…
Coupin, an online platform that connects deal seekers with merchants and businesses who have great discounts, deals and promotional campaigns, has finally launched its operations. Coupin, AppLeap Limited’s first product, started full operations on the 1st of November in Lagos, Nigeria. This is off the back of an earlier initial pilot launch which was done…
Globally, cryptocurrency industry funding has been increasing rapidly in recent years. Crypto startups raised more than $27 billion in venture capital last year alone, which is slightly more than the previous ten years combined. Moreover, despite a drop in the price of cryptocurrencies, American venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm launched a $2.2 billion…
It is well known that ransomware attacks are on the rise, and businesses must be realistic about what this means for their security. In recent years, the number of entry points into IT systems that attackers can exploit has increased dramatically. According to the FBI, cybercrime has increased by 300 percent during the pandemic as…
According to Bloomberg News, Ford Motor is planning an additional $20 billion investment in the development of electric vehicles. According to the report, which cited people familiar with the plan, the $10 billion to $20 billion investment will be spread out over the next five to ten years and will include converting its current factories…
Even before the pandemic, businesses had begun to put in place elements to manage distributed employees, such as corporate remote desktop or virtual private networking (VPN) capabilities. This, however, was not done on the scale or at the rate required to manage the disruption caused by COVID-19. Companies were suddenly confronted with an influx of…
Moove, Africa’s Mobility Fintech and Uber’s only car supply partner in Africa, has secured a $10 million financing facility backed by NBK Capital Partners and Mezzanine Fund II, just two months after opening its first office in East Africa. Moove is NBK Capital Partners’ first African investment, demonstrating the potential for a mobility platform like…
Instagram Reels are currently a lot of fun for a lot of users, but the 60-second limit can be an issue for some. We do have some good news for those who want more: Instagram is planning to increase video length so that it can finally compete with TikTok. According to Alessandro Paluzzi, an Instagram…
Whatever way you look at it, whatever figures you believe, whatever methodologies you use, one thing is certain: 2021 was the best year ever for tech startup funding in Africa, with more startups raising more money from more investors than in any previous year. According to our data here at Disrupt Africa, not only was…
Following their selection as winners of the Techne Corporate Innovation Programme, four Egyptian startups have been awarded a total of US$40,000 in cash prizes. Techne, a network of initiatives that supports tech and tech-enabled startup ecosystems throughout the Mediterranean region, launched its Corporate Innovation Programme in November, enrolling over 300 startups across four tracks: CleanTech,…
There has never been a more exciting time to be in the African startup scene. According to a recent BCG report, the number of local startups that received funding increased by 46 percent between 2015 and 2020, a growth rate six times faster than the global average. The very nature of the startups in our…
In recent years, the emphasis on tech talent development in Africa has shifted from entry-level to senior talent development. In addition, the local education system’s inability to provide competent engineering talent has created a gap in the market for entry-level talent. AltSchool Africa recognizes this and has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding to that…
BlackBerry announced on Monday that it will sell its legacy patents, primarily related to mobile devices, messaging, and wireless networking, to a special purpose vehicle formed to acquire the company’s patent assets for $600 million. BlackBerry stated that the transaction with Catapult IP Innovations will have no effect on customers’ use of its products or…
Instagram stories and direct messages will now feature 3D avatars, thanks to Meta. It has also updated its Facebook and Messenger avatars. The update includes new facial shapes as well as assistive devices such as wheelchairs for people with disabilities. The update is now available in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as…
Co-Creation Hub (CcHub), a Lagos-based hub, accelerator, and investor that has recently expanded across Africa, has chosen three Namibian startups to participate in the Seedr accelerator it is running in collaboration with local partner Startup Namibia. CcHub has been on an expansion spree in recent years (see here), and now claims to be Africa’s “largest…
Many organizations are seeking ways to offer their products and services to customers in an efficient way in order to save time, ease the processing of the orders and provide the highest quality of delivery as at the expected time. One major opportunity that most start-ups are not taking advantage of is the availability of data in…
Magalix, an Egyptian-American cloud security startup, has been acquired by Weaveworks Limited, a GitOps firm with offices in London and San Francisco. Magalix, founded in 2017 by Egyptian-American entrepreneurs Ahmed F. Mohamed and Ahmed Badran and headquartered in the United States with its R&D engineering team in Egypt, created a platform that allows organizations to…
Stitch, a South African API fintech startup, is hosting a “startup showcase” in collaboration with Paystack and Disrupt Africa to provide an opportunity for early-stage fintechs from across the continent to share their solutions with local and global investors and access support. The Stitch API, which is currently available in South Africa and Nigeria, enables…
This year, the world is a very different place than it was a few years ago. Much has changed, not only in terms of available technologies, but also in terms of how businesses use technology and how they must adapt to a fully remote or hybrid working environment. This has altered how data is used,…
Over the course of a record-breaking 2021, investment into the African tech startup ecosystem nearly tripled, with total funding passing the US$2 billion mark for the first time. This is according to the seventh edition of the annual African Tech Startups Funding Report, which was released by startup news and research portal Disrupt Africa as…
Niklas Adalberth’s Norrsken Foundation has made headlines again, just two months after launching its Norrsken House in Kigali, Rwanda, with plans to house thousands of entrepreneurs by next year. This time, the foundation has joined forces with thirty unicorn founders as well as a couple of seasoned venture capital and private equity investors to launch…
By 2024, the Egyptian social e-commerce market will be worth more than $14.8 billion. The market opportunity can be attributed to the increase in online social sellers in the country, with over 1.25 million of them assisting lesser-known brands in selling and distributing their goods through various networks. Brimore, a market leader in the country…
Six more African startups have been confirmed as participants in the renowned Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator accelerator’s W22 batch, bringing the total to ten. Between now and March, the W22 batch of the Y Combinator program, which has played a role in the early days of companies such as Airbnb, Coinbase, and Dropbox, will take…
The Sandbox, Animoca Brands’ metaverse subsidiary, has committed a $50 million fund to venture capital firm Brinc as part of a new program seeking to invest in and mentor startups building beyond the platform’s Open Metaverse. Mentorship, education, and development support for startups will be a major component of the accelerator, as will access to…