Author: Staff Writer

Loomzy Suites, a fast-rising boutique hotel chain has today announced its plan to expand its operations to turn around the face of hospitality and hotel management using technology, a post-pandemic necessity. This will see the business expanding some of its hospitality services to cater to its guests and non-guests through…

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya has signed a new law to reign in digital lenders who have been operating in an unregulated regime and violating consumer privacy. These lending companies have been growing at a very fast rate partly due to people’s desperation for cash, healthcare or school fees. Since…

Whenever you are looking to buy a new car, safety is one of the most important things to consider, as it will help make sure that you get home safely every time. This is why as technology gets even more advanced and is moving at the speed of light, automakers…

Kenyan startup, Pariti, announced that it has secured $2.85 million in a seed round led by Harlem Capital. Other investors in the round included Better Ventures, Accelerated Ventures, Diverse Angels, AVG Basecamp and New General Market Partners. Pariti provides a community marketplace building infrastructure for entrepreneurship. It empowers businesses with…

Morocco-based mattress manufacturer, Dolidol, has acquired Nigerian premier mattress and foam maker, Mouka for $60 million to increase its footprint across Africa. The announcement was made by Investment firm, Development Partners International, who currently is backing Dolidol, having invested $30 million in the company in 2018. Established in 1972, Dolidol,…

Octamile, a Nigerian Insurtech startup, has emerged from stealth mode with $500k pre-seed funding to provide infrastructure solutions to the Nigerian Insurance Industry. The pre-seed funding was provided by a network of investors led by EchoVC with participation from Fiat Ventures, Kesho VC, Trade X, Verraki Partners, Dale Mathias, Kyle…

CloudTrucks, a tech-driven trucking company based in the US, announced that it has raised $115 million in a Series B funding round led by Tiger Global. Other participants in the round include Menlo Ventures, Flexport and angel investors Michael Ovitz and Opendoor CEO Eric Wu. With $20.5 million raised in 2020 Series A funding…

Gozem, a Super app available in the Francophone Africa, announced that it has raised $5 million in a new Series A funding round. Participants in this round include AAIC, Thunes (TransferTo), Momentum Ventures (SMRT), Innoport Ventures (Schulte Group), CMC Ventures (National Express) and Liil Ventures (Mobility ADO). With the $7m…

Just as we were trying to get used to Facebook’s name change to Meta, Square announced that it is changing its name to Block. According to the company in a press release, “Block will be the name for the company as a corporate entity. The Square name has become synonymous…

Clubhouse announced the addition of 3 Nigerian languages, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba to the audio platform. According to information received from the company, the language localisation support is aimed at making the platform more accessible to Nigerians who don’t speak English or who simply prefer local-language alternatives. Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba…

Uber has partnered with Meta’s WhatsApp to roll out a ride booking service via the messenger service in India. This is the first of its kind collaboration between these two companies. India has over half a billion subscribers in India, its largest single user base and this provides significant benefits…

Algerian startup, Yassir, announced that it has raised $30 million in a Series A funding round to build an African Super app. Notable investors that participated in this round include VCs such as WndrCo, DN Capital, Kismet Capital, Spike Ventures, Quiet Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, FJ Labs, VentureSouq, Nellore Capital and Moving Capital. Other investors…

Telecoms giant MTN and UduX a leading indigenous streaming platform, have been streaming Wizkid’s “Made In Nigeria” O2 arena concert live. The 3-day concert which started on Sunday 28th November, held the second performance on the 29th of November and will continue on Wednesday 1st of December. The concert is…

Uber says it has introduced rider selfies for new cash riders without a valid credit card on file as a new safety feature for Nigeria. This is another way of showing that the ride-hailing prioritises driver safety. The technology works by prompting riders to share a selfie before requesting their…

The world woke up late last week to the news of a new COVID variant which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has now tagged “Omicron”. It was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on 24 November, and has also been identified in Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel.…

North Korea has sentenced to death, by firing squad, a man who smuggled copies of Netflix’s Squid Game into the country. According to a report from Radio Free Asia (RFA), authorities caught seven high school students watching the Korean-language global hit show. Apparently the smuggler brought a copy of the…

The Chinese government has issued a notice banning celebrities from extravagant pleasure, show off wealth and worship on social media. According to Business Insider, this is coming on the heels of the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on the country’s growing entertainment industry as officials push back against celebrity scandals and online fan…

Nigerian Award winning music superstar David Adedeji Adeleke popularly known as Davido has teamed up with a crypto company, OmeGoat, a subsidiary of fintech provider, Bitsika, to create a social token named “Echoke”. This comes after the popular musician recently raised over N200 million from his friends within two days to…

Crowdyvest Limited, a fast-growing Nigerian fintech company marked as the go-to digital wealth management and savings platform, has today re-launched its mobile app. The refreshed mobile app offers a modern design, easy navigation, and exciting new features to deliver a top-notch and seamless digital banking experience for its existing and…

Uber says you would soon be able to place an order for cannabis on the Uber Eats app in Canada. However the ride hailing giant says it would not deliver the cannabis to you. In its arrangement with cannabis retailer Tokyo Smoke, customers will go to a dedicated section on…