Anchor, a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform making it possible to seamlessly build financial products in Africa has launched its public beta API infrastructure to make it easier for African businesses to build, embed and launch financial products, starting in its first market, Nigeria. The startup which was accepted into Y Combinator…
Author: Oluwasegun Olukotun
Fintech startup, Grey has raised $ 2 million in a seed funding round with participation from Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Heirloom Fund, True Culture Fund, angel investors Alan Rutledge, Samvit Ramadurgam, Karthik Ramakrishnan, and other high-profile investors. Launched in 2021 by Idorenyin Obong and Femi Aghedo, Grey enables its customers…
The government of Japan in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) have announced a $5 billion financial cooperation under the fifth phase of the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa initiative (EPSA) from 2023 to 2025. The funds consist of $4 billion under the existing window, and an additional…
Tana Africa Capital and Sango Capital have made a minority investment in Sundry Markets, one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing modern grocery retailers. Founded in 2015 by Ebele Enunwa, Sundry Markets operates the Marketsquare brand of supermarkets and convenience stores, providing a superior shopping experience to customers and a one-stop destination for…
Truecaller’s enterprise offering, Truecaller for Business (TFB) has launched several new services including Video Caller ID, Call Me back-function, Call Ratings and Surveys. The Caller ID and Call Blocking App has also made improvements to its platform to enable new clients to onboard faster. Launched in 2020, Truecaller for Business…
Egypt-based e-commerce SaaS startup Zeew has raised a $630,000 Seed round from Plug and Play, Poland Prize and a group of angel investors, bringing the total funds it has raised in the past couple of years to $1 million. The startup plans to use the newly acquired funding to grow…
The Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) has partnered with leading pan-African tech accelerator, Startupbootcamp (SBC) AfriTech, for the third installment of the Africa Startup Initiative Accelerator Program which is designed to scout skill and scale early-stage tech startups in Africa. FMO is the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank driven by its mission…
The United bank for Africa (UBA) and MFS Africa, a leading digital payments gateway have both entered into a collaboration that will enhance their operations in the area of remittances, electronic money services, SME payments, as well as integration to businesses for cross-border payments. The services will be rolled out…
Egypt’s BNPL startup, valU has completed the acquisition of Paynas, a full-fledged employee management and benefits company that provides financial services to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME). The acquisition accedes with valU’s drive to offer the wider society access to seamless financial solutions that facilitate their day-to-day activities and…
Egypt-based edtech OBM has raised a six-digit sum from EdVentures in the second round of investment. Founded in 2020 by Omar El-Barbary and Ezz El-Din Farag, OBM helps pre-university students choose their college majors and provide them with career advising and training programs. The startup provides such services through its…
Swedish-Kenyan technology company, ROAM has launched a new electric Mass Transit Bus, the Roam Rapid designed to alleviate the challenges of public transport in Nairobi and Africa as a whole. It offers a solution for the growing number of cities implementing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems across the continent and…
The Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) Prize Competition in August announced 50 finalists for its 2022 edition. The entrepreneurial philanthropic programme has now announced the top 20 finalists for this year’s edition. A Pan-African competition, the ABH recognizes and celebrates entrepreneurial talent across the continent. It offers entrants a chance to…
Binance in partnership with Inoni Tech, a non-profit tech hub providing resources and training for young people across Francophone Africa has launched a crypto education hub in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Binance in July partnered with Jokkolabs, one of Africa’s first social impact hubs to launch a blockchain awareness and education programme…
Amsterdam Internet Exchange operator, AMS-IX and Equinix-owned MainData Nigeria Limited (MDXi) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to operate and grow Internet Exchange services in Africa. As part of the agreement, AMS-IX will be setting up an internet exchange at MDXi, the carrier-neutral Data Center of MainOne in Lagos Nigeria.…
Global commerce leader eBay has entered into an agreement to acquire TCGplayer, a trusted marketplace for collectible card game enthusiasts for $295 million. In June, eBay acquired NFT marketplace, KnownOrigin. TCGplayer is a leading technology platform for the collectibles industry and will continue to operate autonomously as one of the…
ANKA, the “all-in-one solution for selling anywhere, shipping globally and receiving payments quickly”, has announced the appointment of Morin Oluwole as its first Strategic Advisor. Morin is currently the Global Luxury Director at Meta, where she leads a global business team and is also an avid leader within the Women@…
South Africa-based Ukheshe has partnered with leading global payments provider, Paycorp on cardless ATMs. The partnership will see ATM Solutions, a division of Paycorp, which owns and operates over 4000 Cash Express branded ATMs, add rich embedded functionality to its fleet of ATMs enabling customers to make cardless cash withdrawals.…
Kwik Delivery has launched a new just-in-time solution to merchants, entrepreneurs, businesses, government agencies and social vendors in Ibadan that enables delivery in under 60 minutes. Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State in the south Western part of Nigeria is one of the fastest-growing urban areas in Nigeria and a…
Telegram in June announced it has passed 700 million active users and introduced Telegram Premium which lets anyone support the development of Telegram and get access to exclusive additional features. The company has now introduced the Telegram Emoji Platform, animated emoji in messages and captions, custom emoji packs, the ability…
South African company, Igugu Global has launched an Angel Investment platform, The Green Finance Marketplace (GFM) to enable investors to discover and compare green financial instruments. The initiative will look to accelerate climate finance in Africa. Igugu offers consistently comparable climate data for financial actors growing cross-sector, multi-geography portfolios in…