All about Business.
Written by TOM JACKSON The Financial Times has partnered with Seedstars to host the first FTxSDG Challenge, aimed at empowering promising, impact-driven startups and entrepreneurs with learning and funding opportunities. The event will bring together early-stage startups from emerging markets and individual entrepreneurs to take part in the FTxSDG Challenge competition, with a focus on…
Written by Kate Park PayPal Holdings, the U.S. fintech company, announced an acquisition of Paidy, a Japanese buy now, pay later (BNPL) service platform, for approximately $2.7 billion (300 billion yen), mostly in cash, to enhance its business in Japan. The transaction completion, including the regulatory approval, is expected in the fourth quarter of 2021. After the acquisition,…
Written By Luis Monzon Zip Australia has announced its intention to fully acquire South African buy now pay later (BNPL) fintech Payflex as part of its global expansion plans. With a presence in twelve markets across five continents, Zip plans to grow its South African business and expand into other African markets with sizable underbanked, digitally savvy…
By Luis Monzon The mobile money service of Kenya’s largest telco has officially reached 50-million active users across Africa, according to an announcement by Safaricom. M-PESA is now, by the sheer size of its active user base, the most popular mobile money platform on the continent and the largest financial technology in Africa, according to TechWeez. The…
Sequoia Heritage, Stripe and others invest $200M in African fintech Wave at $1.7B valuation Written by Tage Kene-Okafor The largest Series A in Africa by a long shot is geared towards taking on telecom-led mobile money Francophone Africa has its first unicorn, and if you’ve been following tech on the continent, you will be very unsurprised…
eTranzact secures ISO 9001:2015 renewal Written By Yinka Okeowo eTranzact International Plc, Nigeria’s leading payment service provider, has received the ISO 9001:2015 validation. This makes it one of the few Nigeria’s companies that have received the certification. ISO 9001:2015 standard is the world’s most recognised quality management systems, which outline a set of standards that help…
Nigeria’s Ustacky is getting Africans career market-ready with tech-focused digital micro-degrees Written by TOM JACKSON Nigerian ed-tech startup Ustacky is teaching Africans industry-relevant IT skills and providing them with micro-degrees at an affordable price to make them job-ready. Launched in 2019, Ustacky delivers training in programming through its website and mobile app using high-quality instructor-led video courses…
Egyptian beauty startup Glamera launches B2B product Written by TOM JACKSON Egyptian beauty service booking platform Glamera has launched a new B2B product that helps customers with beauty salon management. Launched in September 2019, Glamera allows users to book appointments with hundreds of contracted providers covering all beauty sections, including salons, clinics, spa, gym, and dental. The…
Make accessibility part of your startup’s products and culture from day one Written by Joe Devon The world of accessibility has experienced a tipping point thanks to the pandemic, which drove people of all abilities to do more tasks and shopping online. For the last year, the digital world was the only place brands could…
Nigerian VC firm LoftyInc announces first close of $10m fund Written by TOM JACKSON Nigerian VC firm LoftyInc Capital Management has announced the first close of its US$10 million LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund 3 (LAF3) as it seriously scales up its activity in the startup space across the continent. LoftyInc Capital Management is a venture capital firm…
4 Fastest Mobile Internet Operators in Nigeria Ranked Written by Luis Monzon Internet and connectivity speed tester Ookla last month released its market analysis for Nigeria, ranking the country’s fastest mobile internet operators. The analysis only takes into account top mobile operators in the country, ones which account for 3% or more of total test…
Jumia Partners with SolarTaxi to Provide Eco-Friendly Deliveries to Ghanaians Written By Luis Monzon One of Africa’s largest and most ubiquitous e-Commerce platforms, Jumia has partnered with Accra-based eco-friendly mobility facilities company SolarTaxi to provide affordable and eco-friendly delivery of online orders to consumers. Jumia says that the new partnership further speaks of the company’s…
Facebook Marketplace Rolls Out Across Sub-Saharan Africa Facebook has announced the launch of Marketplace to 37 countries and territories in Sub-Saharan Africa, including: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius,…
You Can Now Give Amazon More of Your Money in Monthly Installments Amazon is joining forces with buy-now-pay-later company Affirm, which will allow customers to split the total cost of purchases above $50 into monthly payments. Written By Jody Serrano Amazon wants you to buy, buy, buy, so it’s making it easier for you to do that. The company…
Disrupting the supply chain with better data analysis Written By Yinka Okeowo According to the SAS Experience 2030 research, 65% of South African consumers have indicated that they will not be returning to traditional shopping practices following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 37% of those stating they will use even more online and digital apps than…
Ethiopia hints on launching social networking platforms, rules out Facebook, others from country Writen by Joan Aimuengheuwa Ethiopia has embarked on the development of its own social networking platform in opposition to Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Zoom. Shumete Gizaw, director-general of the Information Network Security Agency (INSA), Ethiopia, accused Facebook of widely spreading a wrong…
SA virtual accelerator Sw7 builds on offering with formal AWS partnership Written by TOM JACKSON South Africa’s Sw7, which claims to be Africa’s largest virtual business accelerator, is looking to up the ante of its content and support for thousands of African enterprises by tapping into a formula partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the…
African fintech OPay valued at $2B in SoftBank Vision Fund 2-led $400M funding Written by Tage Kene-Okafor Chinese-backed and Africa-focused fintech company OPay raised $400 million in new financing led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Bloomberg reported Monday, valuing the company at $2 billion. The round, which marks the fund’s first investment in an African startup, drew…
Mobility startup Plentywaka picks up $1.2M seed, acquires Ghana’s Stabus Written by Tage Kene-Okafor Lagos and Toronto-based mobility startup Plentywaka has raised a $1.2 million seed round to scale its operations on the back of leaving the Techstars Toronto accelerator program last month. Canadian-based VC firm The Xchange led the round, SOSV and Shock Ventures participated, while…
New business registration forms will be available by end of August – CAC. Written by David Oladele The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has disclosed that the two new forms of business registration provided by the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA 2020) will be available for Nigerians by the end of August 2021. The registrar…
Is public shaming by online lending platforms that gives loan a legal or criminal?- A legal perspective Written by Ejike Kanife Nigeria is a country with millions of people existing in abject lack. With an unemployment rate of 33.3%, the country has the second-highest rate on the global ranking. According to a Bloomberg report, about 23.5…
Is Uber raising your fare based on your battery percentage? Written By Aleksandar Anastasov The topic of privacy has been a heated one for some time now, and if you are wary of large companies taking a peek into your life without you knowing, you would not be the only one. Recently, a Twitter user reported…
Here’s How to Know When It’s Time to Pivot Your Online Business Written by Christine Hansen Even if you have an absolutely perfect business idea, there will inevitably come a time in which you have to pivot. Pivoting is a normal, natural part of the business development process — particularly for service-based entrepreneurs. With that…
South African e-health VitruvianMD raises 8-figure ZAR funding round Written By TOM JACKSON South African e-health startup VitruvianMD has raised an eight-figure ZAR – so at least ZAR10 million (US$659,000) – funding round in order to scale its tech and launch more pilots. Founded last year, VitruvianMD combines biomedical engineering and state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver…
Meet Wale Abba, who designed Interswitch’s Quickteller and several Nigerian banking apps Written By Oluwanifemi Kolawole Nigerian fintech unicorn, Interswitch, has, for the past 19 years, led the way when it comes to digitising payments in Nigeria — where it provides most of the country’s digital banking infrastructure — and other African countries. Interestingly, an…
SA fintech startup Revio set for continental expansion as it powers SaaS businesses Written By TOM JACKSON South African fintech startup Revio, a subscription billing and payments platform that powers software-as-a-service (SaaS) businesses, is planning an expansion into other African markets soon. Co-founded in 2019 by venture builder The Delta and a private investor, Revio is a SaaS company…
Wiiqare App disrupts health care services in eastern DR Congo’s Goma Written By Africanews In the Democratic Republic of Congo, access to quality healthcare is expensive and tedious. But Bienvenue Zigabe has managed to create an application to facilitate quick access to medical services. “Wiiqare” helps patients pay for treatment and drugs using their savings…
Eight African fintech startups have been selected to participate in the latest edition of the GreenHouse Lab accelerator, securing access to funding and mentorship. Written by TOM JACKSON GreenHouse Lab is the flagship accelerator programme run by GreenHouse Capital, a Lagos-based fintech investment fund and platform focused on supporting early-stage companies and world-class emerging market entrepreneurs…
Founders of tech startups based in Egypt and Nigeria have been accepted into the global Endeavor network, gaining access to various support services to help their companies scale. Written by TOM JACKSON The Endeavor initiative works to catalyze long-term economic growth by selecting, mentoring, and accelerating the best high-impact entrepreneurs worldwide, and has accepted a host…
How Nigeria’s Nguvu Health provides on-demand therapy sessions to Africans Written by TOM JACKSON Nigerian startup Nguvu Health is providing on-demand online therapy sessions to Africans anywhere in the world via their smartphones. Founded in March 2020, Nguvu Health utilises Android and iOS apps to connect users with licensed therapists via in-app messaging or video call, in…