Author: Staff Writer

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…

Twitter is reportedly working on an in-app currency feature “coins” to help creators earn money from the platform. This new feature was spotted by two app researchers, Jane Manchun Wong and Nima Owji, who often publish images of unreleased features. Their posts indicate that coins appear to be an extension of Twitter’s existing…

Ten African startups have received a total of $2 million from Catalyst Fund to build solutions to improve the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities in Africa. Each of the 10 startups will be offered $100K of equity investments as well as $100K of hands-on venture-building support. These startups will form the first cohort…

African payments giant, Flutterwave, is vying to buy British fintech Railsr, according to a Sky News report. The British fintech formerly known as Railsbank was founded in 2016 by Nigel Verdon and Clive Mitchell. Railsr, a provider of banking-as-a-service and embedded finance software, is currently facing being sold amid new…

Tech giant Samsung has announced the date for its annual Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event. The first 2023 edition will take place on the 1st of February. The company is expected to launch the Samsung Galaxy S23 series at the first in-person Unpacked event in the last three years. Previous editions…

OpenAI, the company behind the viral chatbot ChatGPT is considering introducing a paid version, called “ChatGPT Professional”. This is possibly one of the ways the company is looking to keep the operations running as it seems to be burning cash to keep the chatbot free. Innovation Village reported some days…

Instadeep, a Tunisian-born Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup is to be acquired by Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (BioNTech) a next generation immunotherapy company for £562 million. The transaction includes a total upfront consideration of approximately £362 million in cash and BioNTech shares to acquire 100% of the remaining InstaDeep shares, excluding the…

Airtel Nigeria, a subsidiary of Airtel Africa, announced that it has acquired 5G spectrum and additional 4G spectrum for the sum of $316.7 million to roll out 5G network and expand its 4G services respectively. Specifically, it acquired 100 MHz of spectrum in the 3500MHz band and 2x5MHz of 2600MHz…