Author: Staff Writer

In a bold step toward environmental responsibility, CHI Limited—one of Nigeria’s foremost beverage and dairy producers—has announced the rollout of paper straws across its popular products, including Chivita juice, Capri Sun, and Hollandia yoghurt. This initiative places the company among the first major Nigerian manufacturers to align with the Lagos…

Chinese automaker Chery has made an announcement about its new premium sub-brands, the Omoda C9 and Jaecoo J7 hybrid SUV models, putting them in direct competition with South Africa’s electric car industry. The launch, which is set to take place in Johannesburg in early June 2025, represents another major turning…

The Energizing Education Programme (EEP), a flagship initiative by the Federal Government of Nigeria, has made substantial strides in transforming energy access in tertiary institutions. Managed by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), the programme aims to provide reliable, sustainable, and clean energy to 37 federal universities and 7 teaching hospitals…

The unlikely alliance between former U.S. President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk has come to a dramatic and public end. Once bound by mutual admiration and headline-making ventures, the two powerful figures have now turned on each other, highlighting deep ideological rifts and diverging ambitions. The collapse of…

Microsoft has unveiled Bing Video Creator, a new feature within its Bing mobile app that empowers users to generate short videos from text prompts using OpenAI’s Sora model. This tool aims to democratize video creation by making it accessible to a broader audience, including content creators, marketers, educators, and casual…

Just 18 months ago, Karim Jouini and Jihed Othmani had crossed the finish line of the startup marathon. Their fintech company, Expensya—an expense management platform born in Tunisia—had been acquired by Swedish software giant Medius in a deal reportedly worth over $120 million. With the sale widely regarded as one…

Kumulus Water, a Franco-Tunisian climate tech startup turning air into drinking water, has raised $3.5 million in seed funding to accelerate its mission of providing sustainable, decentralized water access to underserved regions. The round was led by Bpifrance (via France 2030 SGPI and the Île-de-France Region), with participation from PlusVC,…

Artificial Intelligence has become the hottest buzzword in the tech industry. From pitch decks to product demos, adding “AI-powered” to a solution often guarantees attention, funding, and inflated valuations. But what happens when the intelligence is artificial in name only? That’s the cautionary tale of Builder.ai, once a celebrated startup…

Artificial Intelligence is set to play a bigger role in Nigeria’s development journey as the Federal Government of Nigeria has signed a strategic agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to establish the Nigerian AI Scaling Hub, backed by $7.5 million in funding and technical expertise. The initiative is…

dLocal, the Latin American fintech powerhouse, has announced its intent to acquire AZA Finance, a pioneer in cross-border payments and FX solutions across Africa. While the deal is still subject to regulatory approval, it signals a major strategic move to expand dLocal’s footprint across the continent’s fast-growing financial landscape. In…

TikTok announced that it has officially launched TikTok for Artists, a comprehensive music insights platform designed to give musicians, their teams, and labels powerful tools to understand and grow their presence on the short-form video platform. This move reinforces TikTok’s ambition to be the leading driver of music discovery and…

Kenya’s Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) has introduced sweeping new regulations targeting how gambling is advertised across the country. Among the most notable changes is the ban on celebrities, influencers, and content creators from endorsing or promoting gambling services—a move that significantly alters the marketing landscape for betting operators.…

Deposit money banks (DMBs) are about to start the implementation of a new billing model for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) transactions. According to notifications sent to customers by banks like UBA and FCMB, charges for USSD services will no longer be deducted from customer bank accounts. Instead, they will…

Nigerian-born fintech Moniepoint Inc. has received clearance from the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) to acquire a 78% stake in Sumac Microfinance Bank, marking a significant move into East Africa’s highly regulated financial services space. The acquisition, however, remains subject to final approval by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).…

Neuralink Corp., the brain-computer interface startup co-founded by Elon Musk, has raised a staggering $650 million in Series E funding, marking a pivotal moment in its mission to revolutionize how the brain connects with machines. The raise, which reportedly gives the company a pre-money valuation of $9 billion, more than…

Pan-African telecoms operator AXIAN Telecom has acquired an 8% minority stake in Jumia Technologies AG, signaling a new chapter in the embattled e-commerce company’s turnaround journey. The acquisition, disclosed in a beneficial ownership filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), underscores AXIAN’s growing commitment to supporting Africa’s digital…

In his ongoing quest to reinvent the digital experience, Elon Musk has launched a new feature called XChat — an ambitious, security-focused messaging service designed to rival global giants like WhatsApp and Telegram. Introduced as part of the broader transformation of Twitter into the X platform, XChat is being positioned…

Equity Group has dismissed more than 1,200 employees as part of a sweeping effort to clamp down on internal fraud, CEO James Mwangi confirmed this week. The move, one of the most extensive in Kenya’s banking history, follows an internal investigation that uncovered widespread staff collusion with fraudsters, resulting in…

After an extraordinary $343 million surge in April, the African tech startup ecosystem continued to show strength in May 2025, raising over $225 million across sectors and geographies. While no nine-figure mega-rounds were announced, May was rich in mid-sized deals that signaled investor confidence in core markets like Egypt, Nigeria,…

At this year’s VivaTech conference in Paris, Nigeria’s Zeeh Africa has been named to the prestigious VivaTech 2025 Innovation of the Year shortlist, emerging as the only African startup among 30 global finalists. This recognition places Zeeh Africa on one of the world’s biggest stages for technology and innovation —…