Author: Staff Writer

Meta (formerly known as Facebook) has unveiled a pair of haptic gloves that lets people feel objects in the virtual world. The Mark Zuckerberg company is gradually drawing us into the metaverse with the ability to experience it with the sense of touch . The haptic gloves are comfortable and…

Jumia’s Q3 (for the period ended September 30 2021) results show that the eCommerce giant continue to incur losses despite increased revenues. In its financials released yesterday, it highlighted the business accelerating usage growth across its key KPIs – Orders increased by 28% to 8.5 million year-over-year; Annual Active Consumers…

Aura, a South African security and medical marketplace, announced that it has raised $4 million (R62 million) in a Series A funding round led by MultiChoice Group (MCG), KLT Holdings and Buffet Investments. AURA is a marketplace that enables anyone to access the closest vetted private and public security and medical…

Drugstoc, a health tech-enabled procurement startup, announced that it has secured $4.4 million in a Series A funding round to expand across Nigeria. The funding round was led by Africa HealthCare Master Fund (AAIC), with Chicago-based venture firm Vested World, the German Development Bank (DEG) and high-net worth individuals participating.…

Chinese-backed and Africa-focused fintech company, OPay has reportedly appointed ex-FCMB Director, Olu Akanmu as the new president/Co-CEO for its Nigerian division. It was first reported by Nairametrics but has been confirmed from other trustworthy sources, even though the appointment has not been officially announced by the OPay. Before taking up…

365 days ago, the PS5 was launched. To celebrate the anniversary, President & CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Jim Ryan shared a post of the journey in the last year. Two weeks after launch, Sony declared this to be the largest launch in PlayStation history, surpassing PS4’s 2.1 million units in its first two…

MFS Africa announced that it has raised $100 million in a new Series-C funding round co-led by a private equity fund AfricInvest FIVE and existing investors, Goodwell Investments and LUN Partners Group. Other investors that participated in the round include new investors such as CommerzVentures, Allan Gray Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst and Endeavor Harvest and…

Pan African fintech giant, Flutterwave, announced that it has acquired Disha, a Nigerian based company that empowers makers and creators with tools and templates to showcase their work and grow their business without writing code. The acquisition of Disha by Flutterwave will ensure that creators can curate, showcase and receive…

Kenyan edtech startup, Craydel, announced that it has secured $1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Enza Capital, a Kenyan based Venture Capital firm. Other investors include Future of Learning Fund, a Kenya-based edtech backer; BriteGaze, South Africa’s artificial intelligence fund; and Bisk Ventures and Tekton Ventures, both…

South African fintech, Jumo, announced that it has raised $120 million in a new funding round led by by Fidelity Management & Research Company, with participation from fintech giant Visa and London-based investment management firm Kingsway Capital. With this new funding and past fund raises including $55 million in 2020,…

Uber has launched its delivery service, Uber Connect, in Lagos, Nigeria. It first launched the service globally in April 2020 and in Cairo, Egypt, its first market in Africa, in August 2020. It has successfully rolled out this service in other markets in Sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and…

Semicolon, an edtech focused on producing skilled tech people, announced that it has closed $1.2 million in a seed round of funding. The seed funding said to be oversubscribed, had participation from angels and VCs like Launch Africa Ventures and Consonance Investment Managers. Founded in 2019 by Sam Immanuel, a…

While Uber and Lyft dominate the United States, the African ride-sharing market is very different. Uber competes with global competitors like Bolt, inDriver, and most recently, Didi. Africa is home to a unique market, forcing innovations like Uber’s Pool Chance, an in-app ridesharing service that lets riders traveling in the same…

The Central Bank of Nigeria has given an “Approval In Principle” to Airtel and MTN to operate Payment Service Banks (PSBs) in the country in its bid to increase the country’s drive for financial inclusion in Nigeria. This is coming about two years after the Apex bank issued Approval-In-Principle to…

Payments giant, Mastercard, have introduced payment card with unique notches – Touch Card – to assist visually impaired people distinguish between a credit, debit or prepaid card. Matercard states that there are over 2.2 billion people around the world that have visual impairments and this new accessible card is a…

What is LTE? Devised to implement the fastest internet speeds for smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, the long-term evolution (LTE) is principally a 4G wireless communication standard that authorizes better area coverage and diffusion through surfaces. When 3G uses microwaves, 4G employs radio waves that make the difference. Most…

Fresh from raising $1million in pre-seed funding in June 2021, Nigerian lending Fintech startup, Payhippo announced that it has raised $3million in seed funding. This seed round was led by some investors including Chipper Cash co-founders – Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled; Flutterwave CEO – Olugbenga Agboola; Chapel Hill Denham…

Social Media giant, Facebook, now known as Meta, announced yesterday that it was shutting down its facial recognition system. According to Jerome Pesenti, VP of Artificial Intelligence in an official statement, he said that this was being done as part of a company-wide move to limit the use of facial…

Nigerian eCommerce platform, MallforAfrica is apparently shutting down its operations globally. Though it has not officially released a statement to substantiate this yet, its app is no longer on the Google Playstore and Apple Store. It also a Site Closure Notice on its website, stating that it is currently processing…

Chipper Cash, an African cross-border payments company, announced that it has secured $150 million in a Series C extension round after raising $100 million in May 2021. The new funding extension was led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX and joined by other existing investors such as SVB Capital, Deciens…