Arab Bank launches fintech-focused accelerator in Egypt Written By TOM JACKSON Arab Bank has launched its fintech-focused corporate accelerator programme “AB Accelerator” in Egypt, following its successful rollout in Jordan in 2018. The launch of this programme in Egypt comes as part of the bank’s strategic efforts to foster and support innovation in the fintech…
Zoom announces first startups receiving funding from $100M investment fund Written by Ron Miller For more than a year now, Zoom has been on a mission to transform from an application into a platform. To that end it made three announcements last year: Zoom Apps development tools, the Zoom Apps marketplace and a $100 million development fund to invest in some of…
TikTok and Shopify have teamed up to allow users to shop directly from the app Shopify, a Canadian e-commerce company, said that it is collaborating with TikTok on a feature that would allow users to buy directly from the social media app. For the first time ever, Shopify merchants with a TikTok business account will…
Unitel partners with Huawei to launch a mobile money service in Angola Unitel, an Angola-based mobile operator, has launched Unitel Money, a digital money service in the Central African country. The technology will be available in all of the country’s 18 provinces. Users will be able to make deposits, withdrawals, transfers, and payments using their…
Ghana basks in Twitter’s surprise choice as Africa HQ Written by Ijeoma Ndukwe He has worked in two of the continent’s most vibrant tech hubs, in Nigeria’s main city Lagos, he co-founded the Co-Creation Hub which then acquired Kenya’s iHub – another leading innovation centre. He thinks the proactiveness of Ghana’s president clearly played a…
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,…
eSprayMe, revolutionary event management app, goes Live eSprayMe website and mobile application promises to revolutionize the world of event management through virtual conferencing. eSprayMe is a product of eSprayMe Incorporation, headquartered in Texas, USA, and invented by Nigerian-American Information Technology expert, Fisayo Olamigoke. The platform which went Live this weekend, was designed for event hosts and…
Samsung Is the Latest SSD Manufacturer Caught Cheating Its Customers Written by BeauHD Crucial and Western Digital have recently been caught swapping the TLC NAND used for certain products with inferior QLC NAND without updating product SKUs or informing reviewers of this change. Now, Samsung was caught doing something similar. Samsung is “swapping the drive controller +…
$100,000,000 YouTube Shorts fund now available to creators in Nigeria Written by Yinka Okeowo YouTube Shorts launched in July and has now introduced the YouTube Shorts Fund aimed at creators to earn and build their growing businesses especially during this time when the world is focusing on economic recovery. In other words, YouTube Shorts creators can…
Egypt’s EYouth targets international growth after impacting 750k young learners Written By TOM JACKSON Egyptian ed-tech startup EYouth, which provides online interactive educational programmes for individuals aged between 18 and 35, is targeting international growth after seeing more than 750,000 people complete its courses so far. Founded in 2016 and taken online in 2018, EYouth designs and…
Apple will now let App Store developers talk to their customers about buying direct Written by Catherine Shu Apple announced today it has reached a proposed settlement (embedded below) in a lawsuit filed against it by developers in the United States. The agreement, which is still pending court approval, includes a few changes, the biggest one being…
Google sounds the alarm over nasty Chrome vulnerabilities Written by By Anthony Spadafora Seven high-severity vulnerabilities have been discovered in Google Chrome Google is urging users of its browser to update Google Chrome immediately after seven high-severity vulnerabilities have been discovered. The vulnerabilities in question affect all desktop versions of the search giant’s browser regardless of whether a user is…
Here’s why Xiaomi is getting rid of Mi branding for its upcoming products Written by HARISH JONNALAGADDA For the last seven years, Xiaomi has released products in two distinct product lines: Mi and Redmi. The Mi-branded phones were reserved for the mid-tier and high-end categories, while Redmi devices accounted for the budget segment. This strategy…
Egyptian car parts marketplace Odiggo raises $2.2m expansion funding Written By TOM JACKSON Egyptian startup Odiggo, a digital marketplace for automotive spare parts, has closed a US$2.2 million funding round to help it continue to expand into new markets. Founded in 2018 by Ahmed Omar and Ahmed Nasser, Odiggo links customers with vendors in order to purchase…
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…
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…
Zoom is coming to your living room. Why not take your video calls on the biggest screen in your house? Written By Anthony Spadafora After launching Zoom for Home last year, Zoom has been working with its hardware partners to develop solutions to ensure that users have the best video conferencing experience wherever they find themselves working. As organizations are…
Ghanaian fintech Waya sees strong growth propel it into other African markets Written by TOM JACKSON Ghana-based payments startup Waya is seeing month-on-month growth of between 20 per cent in its three existing markets, prompting it to launch expansion activities into three additional African countries. Founded in 2018 after co-founder Delali Anku-Adiamah faced a challenge sending…
The triumphant return of major sporting activities across countries, after several months of lockdown came as a big relief to all anxious sport lovers, who have had to face the unpleasant reality the cancellation caused. Korean baseball was the first to return to action in June, followed by the English Premier League (EPL), Spain’s La…
The Google AI Residency Program is a 12-month research training role designed to jump start or advance your career in machine learning research. The Google AI Residency Program was created in 2015 with the goal of training and supporting the next generation of deep learning researchers. With machine learning fast becoming a critical area for…
Televisions can be found in billions of homes around the world. But 100 years ago, nobody even knew what a television was. Since replacing radio as the most popular mass medium in the 1950s, television has played such an integral role in modern life that, for some, it is difficult to imagine being without it….
Amazon is currently exploring e-commerce customers in Kenya who want to pay for goods in cash. The e-commerce giant recently began a service that will let customers buy goods and then pay for them at a local Western Union retail agent. As you checkout, a QR code is going to be generated that will be…
Flutterwave, a global payments solutions business based in Africa has collaborated with Visa to launch GetBarter. This is an app that lets consumers and merchants to pay and collect payments home and abroad. This GetBarter application is a lifestyle payment solution that functions globally with an existing user base in countries like South Africa, Kenya,…
Picked from more than 150 international entries, 8 early-stage start-ups are set to battle it out for a $250,000 investment from Radical Growth at the World Agri-Tech Pitch Day and Radicle Challenge. The event, running for its second year, will happen on the 18th of March 2019. The winner will emerge on the next day,…
Wearables are having the time of their lives in the clinical world, moving beyond the regular status of being “a consumer tech and wellness product.” Apple changed things in the digital health world last year September when it revealed that the latest Apple Watch would provide direct-to-consumer electrocardiogram app. Months later, Alphabet life sciences arm…
American multinational financial services corporation, VISA Inc is currently undergoing expansion of its Fintech Fast-Track Programme in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) region in an effort to develop the future game changers in digital payment solutions. Already existing in Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, the programme offers innovative Fintechs with…
Agri-tech startup in Kenya, FarmDrive has gotten access to more finance as its operations recently faced expansion to make provision for 3 million shareholders farmers. With funding from Peris Bosire and Rita Kimani, FirmDrive are in charge of supplying fruitful digital loans and layaway savings products to smallholder farmers in Kenya, aiding them in the…
Technology has aided farmers get a more effective market access and a grater selling price, with adequate initiatives, and it can still do better. The troubles farmers in India battle nowadays are unlike the ones battled 20 years ago. Fruitfulness is no longer the problem, but surplus output and its repercussions — boosted supply and…
Going by the recent report by GSMA, 128 tech hubs have kick-started their operations across Africa since 2016. Comparing with the recent reports of 442 active hubs just last year, this is massive progress. This progress is unrivaled and is a great signal as to why we can look forward to further growth. What…
The Mastercard Foundation today announced a new fund that will enable young changemakers to seed and kick-start promising social ventures and community projects, creating economic opportunities for themselves and others. Over the next two years, the Foundation will dedicate US$2M for a pilot project that will expand Mastercard Foundation Scholars’ capacity to exercise transformative leadership by…