Author: Staff Writer

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…

Currently, it’s a great time to be a marketing agency. Every year, millions of businesses seek marketing help from agencies. For example, businesses often want an agency to handle their social media marketing campaigns and optimize their websites with SEO content. But this is barely scratching the surface. Naturally, many…

Twiga, a Kenyan agri-tech startup announced that it has raised $50 million to scale its food solutions across Africa. This Series C fund raise was led by an existing French investor, Creadev, with other participants including existing investors such as TLcom Capital, IFC Ventures, DOB Equity and Goldman Sachs’ spinoff Juven.…

It was celebratory atmosphere at Spanx when CEO and founder Sara Blakely surprised all the employees with two first class plane tickets for each employee and $10,000 to spend. Blakely did this to celebrate the sale of majority stake in Spanx to Blackstone, a leading global investment firm. Blackstone agreed…

Co-Creation Hub Introduces the CcHUB Seedr in Namibia. The CcHUB Seedr is a programme aimed at supporting impact-driven founders of early-stage tech startups in emerging ecosystems to develop their startups into sustainable entities and raise funding through the CcHUB syndicate network. The programme will be rolled out with Namibia being the…

Union54, a Zambian fintech announced that it has raised $3 million in a seed round led by Tiger Global. Other participants in the round include VC firm Runa Capital, Ace & Company, Todd $ Rahul Angel Fund and Vibe Capital. Some angel investors such as Babs Ogundeyi, CEO of Kuda;…

mPharma, a Ghanaian healthcare startup has entered into Uganda with the acquisition of Vine Pharmacy, thereby increasing its footprint across Africa. mPharma acquired a 55% stake previously held by the Abraaj Group. mPharma entered the East African region two years ago with the acquisition of Haltons Pharmacy for $5 million.…

Nigerian agritech, Vendease, announced that it has raised $3.2 million to grow its operations across the country. The seed funding raise was led by Global Founders Capital, a US-based venture capital firm, with participation from other entities like Y Combinator, Hustle Fund, Liquid 2 Ventures, Hack VC and Soma Capital.…

Pan African digital financial Services startup, Asante Financial Services, has announced a $7.5 million Series A investment led by Goodwell Investments with participation by other investors including Sorenson Impact Foundation and Forsage Holdings.  Led by Nigerian Chidi Okpala, Asante Financial Services is a high impact digital financial services company primarily focused on Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSMEs)…

Pan African Telecoms Services company, IHS Towers, listed 18,000,000 shares at $21.00 per share at its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. Founded in Nigeria in 2001 by Chairman and CEO, Sam Darwish, IHS Towers is one of the largest independent owners, operators and…

Streaming giant Netflix has announced that South Korean TV show, Squid Game, is its ‘biggest ever series at launch’ with 111 million fans watching the show since its debut on September 17. Written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, Squid Game is a South Korean fictional survival drama television series where contestants play a…

Tech guru and Swifta Founder, Victor Asemota, has been appointed the Chairman of Edo Innovates. Located in Benin-city, Edo state, Edo Innovates is an innovation centre creating the supply of highly skilled ICT talent in Edo State and improving greater access to jobs in the ICT sector. It is an…

Mono, an African fintech startup, announced that it has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Tiger Global. Other investors in this round include new investors like Target Global, General catalyst, SBI Investments and already existing investors like Entrée, Acuity, Ingressive, Lateral Capital, and GPIC. Taking into consideration…

Ride sharing giant, Uber, has now expanded its footprint in Nigeria, making its service now available in the ancient city of Ibadan in Oyo state and the oil-rich city of Port-Harcourt in Rivers state. With these two new cities, Uber is now available in five cities including Lagos, Abuja and…