Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, today announces that its subsidiary Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria has been granted approval in principle by the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate as a super agent in Nigeria. The super agent licence is distinct from the Payment…
The emergence of ecommerce in Africa has seen online shoppers take advantage of the convenience it offers, as goods can now be delivered directly to their doorsteps while they also have the flexibility of selecting the payment channel either using their debit cards or payment upon delivery option. However, as ecommerce continues to evolve and shape how business is…
Google Meet has been updated to support up to 500 participants in Premium Workspace video conferencing services. The company has updated the service, which has grown in popularity with the rise of teleworking during the COVID-19 epidemic, so that users using more expensive applications can have conversations with more participants. The new limit is still…
Nigerian money transfer startup Aboki Africa has raised a round of seed capital to help the team grow and expand their product range. Aboki Africa was launched in July this year by Idorenyin Obong and Femi Aghedo after a year of testing, and it enables users to create a free global virtual bank account for…
Tunisian startup iCompass is using artificial intelligence to help companies across Africa and the Middle East communicate with their customers in their own languages. Founded in 2019 by Ahmed Nouisser and Hatem Haddad, iCompass specialises in natural language processing (NLP) products using the latest deep learning and reinforcement learning technologies to develop speech transcription services, automatic voice…
South African security and medical response marketplace AURA has secured a ZAR62 million (US$4 million) Series A funding round to support its global expansion plans. AURA is a marketplace that enables anyone to access the closest vetted private and public security and medical response unit to their location – anywhere, anytime – using a connected device….
Ever wished you had your own personal bank assistant on speed dial? Well look no further. The banking experience has just got that much easier with African Bank’s new Chat Banking service on WhatsApp. Sbusiso Kumalo, chief marketing officer at African Bank The platform has been designed with simplicity in mind and customers can chat…
Zembo, a Ugandan electric mobility startup, has obtained a $3.4 million investment grant to expand its electric motorcycle company in Kampala, Uganda. The startup signed the funding agreement with InfraCo Africa, a private infrastructure development group (PIDG) company, along with a consortium that includes Dutch private equity firm DOB Equity and Toyota Tsusho’s venture capital…
Innovectives, a transaction solutions company focused on making wealth possible through innovation, has launched a five-year mandate to empower 1 Million SMEs across frontier markets. Innovectives is a member of US-based Index Group, with over 8 years operating experience in digital financial services covering key markets in Africa and Europe. According Emmanuel Agha, the group…
It had been three days since the lights went out on the off campus streets of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA). Exams were approaching, and students trooped out of their lodgings to find public places—barbing salons, electronics and grocery stores, eateries—to charge their phones and laptops. In a corner, at one such place,…
Nigerian e-health startup DrugStoc has raised US$4.4 million in Series A funding to expand access to quality medicines while providing sustainable supply chain financing for healthcare providers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Launched in 2017, DrugStoc is a cloud-based platform that provides healthcare providers with the interface for easy access to pharmaceuticals and healthcare products. The startup ensures that…
Nigerian tech start-up TeamApt is in the market raising its third round of funding at a value of more than US$1-billion (R15.2-billion), which will result in the banking software firm joining a spate of Africa-tech companies to become so-called unicorns. The Lagos-based company is targeting to raise about $150-million, said founder and CEO Tosin Eniolorunda in…
Cairo-based mobility assistance startup BlinkApp has raised a six-figure US dollar pre-seed funding round to finance its ambitious expansion plans. Founded in 2017 by Wael Noufal and Ahmed El-Mahdy, BlinkApp aims to achieve better general driving behaviour, faster roadside assistance, and safer roads. The startup’s app captures and analyses thousands of miles of data by using a…
African startups with solutions in the climate sector are invited to apply for the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation, which aims to support digital innovations tackling challenges around climate change. The GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation is the latest such fund run by the GSMA, after other focused offerings in 2018, 2019, 2020 and earlier this…
When it comes to technology and digital life, the pandemic has been the ultimate accelerant of increased online behaviour. When our movements were physically restricted, we turned to our devices to find digital solutions that enable us to continue with our lives. People have excelled by working, attending school, and even socialising online; but the…
Healthcare startup, Africa Health Holdings, has secured $18,000,000 in a Series A round to expand operations across Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. The funds raised will stimulate the growth of Africa Health Holdings beyond Ghana, into new countries such as Nigeria and Kenya. The telemedicine service provider also plans to take more advantage of the current…
Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has disclosed plans to launch N50 million Innovation Development Fund (IDF), TechEconomy.ng can authoritatively report. The NCS will launch the fund – a startup grant – tagged ‘Innovation Development Fund’ at this year’s National Information Technology Merit Awards (NITMA) conference and awards, TechEconomy.ng gathered. Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) as the umbrella…
Paratus Namibia and Ongos Connect have signed a commercial connectivity agreement, confirming that Paratus will be the technology/infrastructure partner to bring fibre connectivity to over 11,000 new residents in Ongos Valley, Namibia’s first smart city development. The agreement is the conclusion of a two-year planning process during which time Paratus has been working on building…
Nigerian Aba-based e-commerce startup Chooya has secured US$100,000 cash and a further US$850,000 in programme support from Entrepreneurship World Cup. Founded in 2019 by Igwe Uguru as a “search engine for African traditional markets” and bootstrapped since inception, Chooya was one of 100 finalists – chosen from 200,000 participants – for the Entrepreneurship World Cup, organised by…
VC4A is launching another round of the Mentor-Driven Capital (MDC) programs for 2022 in January in Egypt and Somaliland, with MDC in Nigeria kicking off Spring 2022. MDC is supported by the Work in Progress program, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Oxfam being the lead program implementer. Mentorship is a critical factor…
Root, a Cape Town-based startup building infrastructure for the digital insurance economy, has closed a US$3 million seed funding round to expand into new markets. Founded in 2016, Root is a cloud-native end-to-end insurance platform that enables organisations of any size to build, sell and manage digital insurance products and unlock modern engagement channels. The startup, which…
There is absolutely no doubt that South Africa is in the midst of a major unemployment crisis. The latest stats show that the official unemployment rate is 34.4%, a record high. The expanded unemployment figure, which includes discouraged job seekers, sits at an even more alarming 44.4%. Such high levels of unemployment are unsustainable and need to…
“How will Africans protect our culture in unexplored places?” This was one of the questions David Alabo, a Ghana-based artist with Moroccan heritage, was thinking about when he created “One Africa Three Futures”. Alabo, an afro-surrealist, used 3D and virtual reality (VR) to help his audience at the recently concluded Art X Lagos to see and interact with…
Global losses from payment fraud have tripled from $9.84 billion in 2011 to $32.39 billion in 2020, according to Deutsche Bank’s 2021 report on the future of payments. And financial professionals are saying COVID-19 hasn’t helped matters, with 65% believing that the global pandemic is to blame for some of the accelerated rate in fraud…
The finalists for the 2021 Ecobank Fintech Challenge have been announced by the Ecobank Group. The fourth edition of the challenge is meant to assist Fintechs with Africa-focused products in partnering with Africa’s biggest pan-African group to bring breakthrough financial services to Africans. Five finalists were chosen from diverse African countries for this year’s final….
Governor Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State delivered a keynote address at the 9th German – Nigerian Business Forum (#9thGNBF). The 3-days hybrid event (onsite and online) held in Lagos last week attracted experts from technology, agriculture, finance, construction and other sectors from both countries. The German-Nigeria Business Forum was organized by the Delegation of German Industry…
South African insurtech startup OneSpark has launched what it claims is the world’s first AI-powered, pay-as-you-need, P2P life insurance product in a bid to make policies more efficient and affordable. Disrupt Africa reported late last year on the launch of OneSpark, powered by a “significant, dollar-based” funding round secured in October. At launch, the startup admitted its…
Facebook announced today that it’s rolling out new shopping features: Shops in Groups, product recommendations and a test of Live Shopping for Creators. Shops in Groups enables admins of Facebook groups to set up an online store on their associated Facebook Page. It’s up to the admins where this money goes — in the case…
Digital media in Africa is growing fast: traditional media organisations are finding their way to the internet while digital-only media organisations are taking firm root. More Africans are online, they are spending more time on the internet and relying more on digital media more than ever. According to the Social Flagship Report April 2021, created…
Satya Siba Nayak, 15, uses a debit card to pay for YouTube Premium and Netflix, to download apps from Google Play, and to pay for things when he’s out with friends. Signing up for an app called FamPay enabled Nayak to have his own card for making offline and online payments. “My dad doesn’t live…