Kenyan/Singapore-based fintech startup, Wapi Pay has become the first African fintech to have raised seed funding via Future Hub. Wapi Pay co-founder, Eddie Ndichu, says the start-up will be channeled towards expansion into other regions within Africa. In August of 2019, Wapi Capital partnered with Transsion Holdings to fund African…
Author: Charity Mbaka
Vodacom has partnered with Liquid Telecom to launch 5G services in South Africa in the course of 2020. Liquid Telecom’s 3.5GHz spectrum will be the back bone of the success of the 5G service by Vodacom. Vodacom will be the first mobile operator in South Africa to offer 5G services…
TCL has announced that it will no longer produce or sell more BlackBerry phones by the end of August of 2020. The announcement explained the termination as the result of BlackBerry’s decision to end its agreement with TCL for in-house hardware development. The press statement by BlackBerry noted that, “We…
Kenyan-based agri-tech, Taimba, has raised US$ 277,000 in funding in partnership with Enviu and the DOEN Foundation. The startup’s mobile-based platform connects small-scale farmers in rural areas to urban retailers. Taimba sources produce directly from the farmers and delivers them to schools, hospitals and informal green grocers in Nairobi. Taimba’s…
Real-time verification startup Chekkit, is one of the 12 startups participatin in the 8th edition of Merck Accelerator. Merck Accelerator, launched by German healthcare firm, Merck Group, provides promising startups with three months of training by industry experts and US$ 55, 000 in funding. In addition to this they are…
The Trump administration has announced a ban suspending the issuance of Visa’s that could lead to permanent residency for a number of countries. The ban takes effect as of February 21st, 2020. Countries banned include Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Nigeria.…
Twiga Foods co-founder, Grant Brooke, has stepped back from his active role in managing the firm. Brooke made the announcement on his LinkedIn Page almost a year after handing over the CEO role to Mr. Peter Njonjo. Brooke said, “I’ve decided to step-down from active management in Twiga as of…
Kenyan logistics startup, Sendy, has raised a US$ 20 million series B round from various investors globally. The funding round was led by Atlantica Ventures and Toyota’s investment arm, Toyota Tsusho Corporation. Sendy, which was founded in 2015, will channel the funds towards onboarding new hires to improve its technology.…
Kenyan running shoe startup, Enda, has claimed the top spot in the Body & Mind category of the hotly contested ISPO Brandnew competition in Germany. Enda, which translated to “Go” in Swahili, beat 400 other entrants to become the first African company to win the award. The Body & Mind…
Samasouce founder and CEO, Leila Janah, has passed away after losing her fight with a rare form of cancer, known as Epithelioid Sarcoma. The 37 year old was an inspiring woman, one of the few who thrived in the male-dominated Silicon Valley. She championed social and ethical entrepreneurship, towards the…
French energy company, ENGIE, is holding a challenge at the Africa Tech Summit, that would see credit scoring startups pitch for a chance to test their solutions with the utility company. ENGIE is a primary sponsor for the Africa Tech Summit which is set to take place for the third…
Uber is testing a new feature in California, which will allow drivers to set fares for rides, as opposed to accepting Uber’s pre-set prices. The drivers will be able to increase fares in 10% increments up to 5 times the original Uber preset. However, there is a catch. Drivers will…
Vuba Vuba, an online food ordering and delivery platform has launched in Rwanda. The launch is a timely one as the service aims to pick up where the Jumia Food left off before it exited the country in December 2019. Vuba Vuba will be the sole platform offering food delivery…
Estonian ride-hailing firm, Bolt, formerly Taxify, now allows users to add multiple stops on a journey. The new feature, parallels a similar one Uber has had for close to 2 years now. Bolt users will tap the plus sign on the address box and add any number upto 3 stops…
Motorcycle ride-hailing service SafeBoda, has now signed 3000 riders on its platform in Nairobi since its launch in 2018. In turn, it has slashed prices by 40% in a bid to attract more users. SafeBoda has partnered with Watu Credit and Transsion to offer riders loans to acquire motorcycles and…
South African sales tech company, Skynamo, has raised a 30 million dollar series A round from Five Elms Capital. Skynamo will channel the funds towards accelerating the adoption of its field sales app, and its cloud-based management platform. The firm plans to scale its operations in Southern Africa, and into…
Tesla’s market value is up to 100 billion dollars. The electric vehicle company takes the 2nd most valuable auto firm spot from Volkswagen. This new valuation will see Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, collect a 2.6 billion dollar compensation package contingent on the firm hitting and sustaining that valuation for upto…
Estonian ride-hailing firm Bolt, previously Taxify, has raised a 50 million dollars debt facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The firm will channel the funds towards improving the company’s research and development strategies. Bolt co-founder, Martin Villig, said, “We will invest in improving and expanding our ride-hailing technology as well as…
Liquid Telkom’s Kenyan operation has rolled out 138 IoT base stations in the country. This is in addition to the 20 initial base stations set up in 2018. The Internet of Things (IoT) network covers 78% of the East African country’s population. These stations will connect to Liquid Telecom’s fiber…
Global e-commerce giant, Amazon, has announced that it is planning to invest US $ 1 Billion into digitizing India-based SMEs. In the long run, the firm expects to export north of US$ 10 Billion worth of India-made products by 2025. Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, said, “This initiative will use Amazon’s…