A common refrain about social media is that a major part of it toxic. It is often said to be a result of people following in the footsteps of social media influencers. A new study claims that banning or removing ‘extremists’ from social media can reduce the spread of anti-social ideas and conspiracy theories. In…
Kepple Africa Ventures participated in Wapi Pay’s $2.2 million pre-seed fundraising round in August. On Tuesday, the Japanese venture capital firm announced it was cutting all ties with the Kenyan fintech startup co-founded by Paul Ndichu and his twin brother, Edward. That decision followed the circulation of a video on social media, which showed two men engaged…
PayPal and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel has stated that he regrets not investing enough in Bitcoin. During an event in Miami, Thiel praised cryptocurrencies and admitted that he may have underinvested in Bitcoin. “You’re supposed to just buy Bitcoin,” he said, adding: “I feel like I’ve been underinvested in it.” Thiel, who’s also a billionaire…
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has alerted millions of Nigerian telecom consumers of the existence of new, high-risk and extremely-damaging, Malware called Flubot. A malware is a generic word used to describe a virus or software, designed specially to “disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorised access to a computer system.” Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, director, Public Affairs…
Nigerian tech talent developing and outsourcing company, TalentQL has launched a digital tech training institution, AltSchool. Touted to be Africa’s first certificate-awarding institution for developers and other tech talents, the institution went live today and is currently open to applicants. According to TalentQL Co-founder and CEO, Adewale Yusuf, Nigeria has a population of more than 200…
Instagram is testing new tools for creators to earn commissions and form partnerships with brands on its platform. The Facebook-owned company is expanding its existing native affiliate tool, which launched in June and allows creators to discover products, share them with followers and earn commissions for sales driven by their posts. With this latest launch, creators can now…
Google Meet is getting new audio and video locks to let hosts turn off the microphones and cameras of other participants. The new feature essentially lets you mute a user and prevent them from unmuting themselves until you unlock them. Earlier this year, Google rolled out the ability for hosts to mute everyone all at once in…
If any country could be absolved of responsibility for the climate change crisis, it’s The Gambia. The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa, wedged within the borders of Senegal along the mouth of the Gambia river with a population of 2.4 million. Its carbon footprint is among the world’s smallest, and comes mostly from agriculture and…
Only three per cent of African tech startup funding since 2013 has gone to companies with all-female founding teams. That is according to the “In Search Of Equity: Exploring Africa’s Gender Gap in Startup Finance” report released by research firm Briter Bridges and the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) based on years of…
Delphine Traoré, member of the Board of Management of Allianz Africa and regional chief operations officer (COO), will succeed Coenraad Vrolijk and assume the role of Allianz Africa Regional Chief Executive Officer (CEO), in addition to her current responsibilities. Coenraad will leave Allianz Africa to pursue new opportunities outside of the Allianz group. These changes will become…
In March 2020, as the coronavirus swept through cities and triggered lockdowns in many countries, Toyin Akintayo asked himself, “What can give small businesses an edge against bigger ones?” Why small businesses? For Akintayo, the idea to work with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) stems from his two decades of running small businesses. Although most of them…
Google has announced the launch of TaskMate in Kenya – a crowdsourcing app that allows people to use smartphones to do tasks and get paid. The app taps the growing gig economy and is finally ready to be launched in beta in the East African country after being tested in Kenya for over a year….
Autochek, the automotive technology company that aims to facilitate auto finance across Africa, has officially widened its operations to Kenya as part of its pan-African expansion. To lead its Kenya operations, Autochek has appointed Bilhah Muriithi as the Country Manager. Having recently acquired automotive marketplaces Cheki Kenya and Cheki Uganda from ROAM Africa (Ringier One Africa Media),…
Google has held discussions to invest over $50 million in Indian social commerce startup Meesho, which recently secured $570 million in a financing round, according to a source familiar with the matter. The Android-maker, which has backed over half a dozen startups in India, has yet to make the investment in Meesho, according to another person…
South African startup BotsZA is helping companies and organisations improve their talent acquisition processes and better liaise with customers using artificial intelligence (AI). Launched in November 2016, BotsZA is helping businesses both locally and internationally to integrate its two main products – Hazie and MASON – into their business processes to help them improve productivity and efficiency,…
Seven Africa-based startups have been selected to take part in the latest edition of the Techstars Toronto accelerator, securing access to mentorship, US$120,000 in funding and the opportunity to secure further investment at demo day. The 13-week Techstars Toronto accelerator programme is designed to provide mentorship, funding and access to the Techstars network. It culminates…
The UAE-based Fintech Galaxy has partnered with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to launch a new cross-border accelerator programme to help startups from Egypt and Jordan expand into both markets. The two-month Yalla Xtech programme is aimed at helping startups to expand beyond their borders. It hopes to promote cross-border inclusion and knowledge…
South African payment solutions provider Pay@ and local startup FinChatBot, which specialises in conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions, have partnered to launch what they say will be a unique payments solution they hope to export across the continent in future. Established in 2007, Pay@ is one of Southern Africa’s leading payment solutions providers, while FinChatBot, launched in 2016, specialises in…
Commercial Fifth Generation (5G) network deployment is now in 176 countries around the globe, serving more than 500 million subscribers. This was disclosed at the12th yearly Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF) held in Dubai recently. Huawei’s Rotating Chairman Ken Hu, who disclosed this at the forum, stressed the need for the global ICT industry to…
Brass, a Nigerian digital bank delivering easy access to affordable premium banking services for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), has today secured $1.7mn in funding to address the heavily underserved banking needs of local entrepreneurs, traders and fast-growing businesses. The financing round sees participation from Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola (Co-Founder of Flutterwave), Ezra Olubi (Co-Founder of Paystack, acquired…
Vodacom South Africa is launching Eco-SIM cards made from recycled plastic as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to reduce its impact on the environment by halving its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. Vodacom will soon provide customers with new Eco-SIMs in the half-sized format made from recycled plastic, progressively replacing SIM cards currently made from new…
Chrome 95 has rolled out to the stable channel for Android, Windows, Mac and Linux users. The exact desktop firmware version is Chrome 95.0.4638.54, while on Android, its Chrome 95.04638.50, and they contain a number of fixes and improvements. It brings along improved payment authentication, and the ability for web apps to register themselves as…
Africa is being hit hard by climate change but has huge potential to minimise the impact and in some instances even triple a return on investment by embracing climate change adaptation, according to a report by the World Bank. Three African countries could more than triple returns on investments in climate-smart infrastructure and create thousands of…
Since its release in 2017, over 40,000 organizations have chosen Zoho One as their operating system. In 2021, Zoho One witnessed a 60% y-y customer growth with average number of apps used by businesses rising to 21 Zoho Corporation, a leading global technology company, today introduced five new apps, three new services and seven major…
Public fascination with innovation, entrepreneurship and startups in Africa seems to have reached an all-time high, thanks to leading Pan African network organizations like AfriLabs that support the ecosystem. AfriLabs is a Network Organisation of over 300 technology innovation hubs spread across 49 African countries. As the organization marks its 10th anniversary, TechEconomy.ng looks at the CV of Anna…
During a company livestream, Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, with MTN SA CEO, Godfrey Motsa today announced the launch of the MTN Online School, a free online portal that provides a comprehensive digital curriculum for grades R-12 and additional features like video lessons, assessments and extra-tuition lessons for Grade 10 to 12 learners. The solution…
MTN Eswatini and other mobile network operators have reportedly been ordered by the country’s government to suspend access to Facebook and its messenger app “until further notice.” This comes as Africa’s last absolute monarchy has been rocked by another week long surge of pro-democracy protests. Earlier this year in July, protest action began in the Southern African…
GE Healthcare and medical group AFRIPHARMA has announced the opening of the Afri-Egypt Health Services Center, a first of its kind medical and diagnostic centre in Uganda. The Center is located in Jinja and is expected to serve over 60,000 people from the region, allowing for improved accessibility in the surrounding communities. The facility is…
Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he will launch his own social media platform, TRUTH Social, according to a press release by Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG). Trump’s new social network is set to launch a beta version in November, which will be available to invited guests only. Its national rollout is expected in the…
Following moves by major tech platforms to better protect minors using their platforms, Snapchat is preparing to introduce its own set of “family engagement” tools in the coming months. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel teased the planned offering during an interview at the WSJ Tech Live conference this week, where he explained that the new product will essentially…