Author: Staff Writer

Tech giant Google has announced it is is reducing its workforce by approximately 12,000. According to Sundai Pichai in an email to staff, “I have some difficult news to share. We’ve decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles. We’ve already sent a separate email to employees in the…

Netflix announced that its founder, Reed Hastings, has stepped down as co-CEO. Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters are now co-CEOs of the streaming giant, while Reed Hastings is now the executive chairman. Hastings, who founded Netflix in 1997, has been instrumental in building the company from a small DVD-by-mail service…

Kuda, a Nigerian-founded digital bank, has obtained a digital banking license in Pakistan. It applied as KT Bank in conjunction two Pakistani companies — Fatima Fertilizer and City School to emerge as one of the winners of the five available digital banking licenses. Twenty parties submitted their bids for the…

Gebeya, an SaaS-enabled, Pan-African marketplace, announced that it has secured an undisclosed Pre-Series A equity from a Tokyo-based VC firm, Inclusion Japan (ICJ) According to the company, the new investment aims to drive growth and innovation for Gebeya’s continuous expansion. It will be used to expand Gebeya from a single two-sided tech…

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has announced the company’s plan to lay off 10,000 employees as it looks to manage the economic downturn and refocus on key priorities such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). He talked about customers now cutting back on this spend, companies exercising caution as to the slowdown…

Apple on Tuesday, introduced new devices – the MacBook Pro 14″ and 16″ with either the M2 Pro or M2 Max SoCs (systems on a chip) and the Mac mini with the M2 and M2 Pro. These MacBook Pro complete the switch from Intel chips to Apple Silicon. MacBook Pro featuring…

Microsoft announced its Azure OpenAI Service is now generally available to all as part of Microsoft’s continued commitment to democratizing Artificial Intelligence. This means that more people now have access to large, advanced AI models in the world—including GPT-3.5, Codex, and DALL•E 2—backed by the trusted enterprise-grade capabilities and AI-optimized…

Carry1st, a South African games publishing startup, has raised $27 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Bitkraft Ventures with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, TTV Capital, Alumni Ventures, Lateral Capital, Kepple Ventures and Konvoy. This funding raise comes about a year after it secured $20 million in…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) announced that it will be spending $8.3 billion this year to fight poverty, disease, and inequity. This is biggest budget in the foundation’s history since it was founded in 2000. In his annual letter made available today, BMGF CEO Mark Suzman shared examples…

2022 was a interesting year for most people especially in the technology scene. A lot of billionaires lost fortunes in the uncertain times of 2022. Though the world’s billionaires lost nearly $2 trillion, combined, in 2022, we want to focus on the tech world where the top five losers lost an…

Google announced that it has extended the Google Translate offline language functionality to 33 new languages including three Nigerian languages – Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. Other African languages include Sesotho, Zulu and Shona The functionality allows users to download the languages of interest and translate text when internet connection is…

TikTok has announced the first eight Top Creators and Top Creator Runner-Ups to win TikTok Top Creator 2022 #TopCreator2022 Awards across Sub-Saharan Africa. The #TopCreator2022 Awards recognises and awards content creators across Sub-Saharan Africa for the immense talent and creativity they brought to the platform in the past year. The…

The National Communications Authority (NCA) in Ghana has given Telecel approval to buy Vodafone Group Plc’s operations in the country. Vodafone Group currently owns 70% stake in Vodafone Ghana while the government has 30%. The NCA approved the sale after Telecel submitted a revised financial and technical proposal in December 2022.…

Access Bank announced that it is no longer going ahead with its plan to acquire Centum Investment’s 83.4% stake in Kenya’s Sidian Bank. Last year, the Nigerian announced its plan to buy the majority stake in Kenya’s Sidian Bank for $37 million. The completion of the proposed transaction was subject…

Kenyan fintech startup, Kwara, announced that it has acquired IRNET Coop, a subsidiary of Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (KUSCCO LTD) as part of an exclusive digital solutions partnership agreement. Under the acquisition agreement, Kwara will provide its software solutions and mobile banking channels to help increase growth and profitability of more than 4,000 SACCOs in Kenya. Founded in 2018 by…

MTN Group says it strongly disputes a $773 million tax bill from Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). The largest wireless carrier in Africa says it plans to fight the $773 million back-tax bill, including penalties and interest charges. The bill is said to be for the period between 2014 and 2018…

Sony has just launched a new Walkman named the Sony NW-A306 Walkman. It is the latest addition to Sony’s A300 Walkman series. and it comes after the launch of NW-WM1ZM2 and NW-WM1AM2 premium Walkman models last year, and the Sony NW-A105 launched in India back in 2020. Weighing just 113…

Jetstream, a Ghana’s e-logistics startup, announced that it has raised $13 million in equity and debt pre-Series A financing to expand its market and continue to develop its technology platform. The debt was secured from fintech lender and private equity firm Cauris and French development institution Proparco, through its bridge…

Nigerian fintech startup, Teamapt, announced that it has changed its name to Moniepoint, the name of its flagship product. Moniepoint is the brand name of one of its mobile money platform. According to Tosin Eniolorunda in a recent video, the reason for the name change was informed by the evolution…

What was once an abomination in the Apple house, is now being considered by the tech giant. According to a report from Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, Apple is working on adding touch screens to its Mac computers. This was something that co-founder Steve Jobs once called “ergonomically terrible” even though…