Author: Tapiwa Matthew Mutisi

MTN South Africa has officially launched a comprehensive suite of integrated home and mobile connectivity offerings, marking a significant evolution from its previous “Ambition 2025” strategy. This new direction places a strong emphasis on the connected home, aligning with MTN Group’s broader strategic pivot announced by CEO Ralph Mupita during…

PAYDAY, an emerging Tunisian startup operating at the intersection of fintech and insurtech, has successfully closed its inaugural pre-seed financing round. This pivotal funding event secures the company’s early growth and validates its innovative approach to financial wellness. The financing round was led by UGFS North Africa (United Gulf Financial…

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group focused on the private sector, has formally disclosed a proposed equity investment of up to $25 million in the African Transition Acceleration Fund (ATAF). This strategic fund is advised by African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), a major player…

Chari, a Morocco-based fintech and e-commerce platform, has successfully closed a $12 million Series A funding round, marking a significant milestone in its growth journey. The round was co-led by SPE Capital and Orange Ventures, with additional participation from a diverse group of global investors including Verod-Kepple, Global Founders Capital,…

Africa Lighthouse Capital, a Botswana-based private equity firm, has acquired a significant minority equity stake in Bayport Financial Services Botswana, a regulated microfinance institution that provides financial solutions to government employees and other formally employed individuals across the country. Bayport Botswana is recognized for its commitment to responsible lending practices,…

South African private equity firm Agile Capital, together with other existing shareholders, has announced its exit from Aquatico, a leading environmental monitoring and testing company, through a strategic sale to Bidvest. Aquatico has built a strong reputation in the environmental services sector, offering specialized monitoring, testing, and reporting solutions across…

In a major step toward integrating blockchain infrastructure into traditional banking, Absa has announced a strategic partnership with Ripple, under which it will adopt Ripple’s institutional-grade custody platform to offer secure storage solutions for tokenized assets, including cryptocurrencies, to institutional clients in South Africa. This development marks a significant shift…

OpenAI is expanding its footprint across Africa with the launch of ChatGPT Go, a new subscription tier designed to make advanced AI tools more affordable and accessible. For the first time, South African users can pay in rands, removing exchange-rate uncertainty and simplifying access to premium services. Powered by GPT-5,…

Shoprite Group’s on-demand grocery delivery platform, Sixty60, has fulfilled over 100 million orders since its launch in November 2019, marking a major milestone in the retailer’s digital journey. The achievement was highlighted in Shoprite’s annual report, released on Monday, which showcases the group’s strategic investments in technology and customer experience.…

In a landmark move to promote linguistic inclusion and digital empowerment, Google South Africa, in collaboration with the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), has launched an AI glossary that standardizes 100 key artificial intelligence terms in Zulu, Xhosa, and Afrikaans. Speaking at the event, Kabelo Makwane, Country Director for…

Saviu Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in Francophone Africa, has successfully executed another major exit by selling its majority stake in the Ivorian digital logistics platform Kamtar to the pan-African logistics powerhouse, Logidoo. The deal, formally recently announced, marks Saviu’s second significant portfolio exit this year, solidifying a pattern…

Kuunda, a Tanzanian-based B2B fintech company specializing in embedded working-capital solutions, has raised $7.5 million in pre-Series A funding to accelerate its expansion across Africa and into the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, beginning with Egypt. The funding round attracted a mix of returning investors, financial service providers,…

Vertiv, a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, has entered into a multi-year strategic partnership with Nxtra by Airtel Africa. This collaboration supports Nxtra’s ambitious initiative to develop one of the largest, most energy-efficient data centre networks across the African continent, beginning with a major deployment in…

If you’re still using Windows 10 on your PC, it’s important to know that Microsoft has officially moved the operating system to “end of life” status as of today. While your computer will continue to function normally, it will no longer receive automatic security updates, which means it could become…

Gabonese telematics and fleet management startup POZI has secured €650,000 (approximately US$755,000) in funding, marking a historic milestone as the first tech startup from Gabon to attract international venture capital investment. The round was led by Saviu Ventures, with participation from Emsy Capital and advisory support from Chazai Wamba, signaling…

Egyptian fintech unicorn MNT-Halan has raised EGP 3.4 billion (US$71.4 million) through its seventh securitized bond issuance, reinforcing its strategic reliance on debt markets to support its rapidly expanding lending operations. The issuance is part of a broader EGP 8 billion (US$168 million) securitization programme approved by Egypt’s Financial Regulatory…

Nigerian clean energy startup Rana Energy has successfully raised $3 million in pre-seed funding to accelerate the deployment of its AI-driven Clean Energy-as-a-Service platform across Africa. The funding round includes $500,000 in equity from Techstars, EchoVC Eco, and prominent angel investors such as Chinedu Azodoh and Tayo Bamiduro (co-founders of…

The COMESA Competition Commission (CCC), the regional watchdog overseeing fair trade across Eastern and Southern Africa, has initiated a formal inquiry into the merger between Kenya’s Wasoko and Egypt’s MaxAB B.V. This merger, finalized in August 2024 through an all-stock transaction, created one of Africa’s largest digital commerce and fintech…

Bboxx, a data-driven super platform committed to transforming lives and unlocking potential across Africa, has announced a strategic partnership with CreditChek, a leading AI-powered credit infrastructure provider. This collaboration supports Nigeria’s Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) initiative, a $750 million program funded by the World Bank to deliver…

Climate Fund Managers (CFM) has announced the final close of its second blended finance facility, Climate Investor Two (CI2), securing a total of $1.065 billion, surpassing its initial $1 billion target. The milestone was achieved through $190 million in new commitments and a €205 million EFSD+ guarantee from the European…