Author: Tapiwa Matthew Mutisi

Planet42, a car subscription service based in South Africa, has raised $16 million, the equivalent of R300 million, in debt and equity funding from Standard Bank. The funding, which is in local currency, will be used to repay the company’s expensive loans previously made in Euros. This follows on from…

Four seasoned ex-managers from Nigerian fintech company, Paystack, are stepping down to establish a new tech-backed grocery delivery start-up, GoLemon. The entrepreneurial quartet, namely Yinka Adewuyi, Gbadegbo Gbade-Oyelakin, Abdulrahman Jogbojogbo, and Abiola Showemimo were early employees at Paystack, providing a minimum of six years of service. Their new venture, GoLemon,…

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has granted licenses to 19 new digital credit providers (DCPs), raising the total number of registered firms to 51. As of March 2023, the CBK revealed it had received 480 applications for licensing to comply with Section 59(2) of the CBK Act. The recently…

Editor’s correction note: The headline of this article has been revised to mirror the IFC’s denial of suing Africa’s Talking. The International Financial Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group and a primary investor in Africa’s Talking (AT)’s 2018 series A round of $8.4 million, has refuted accusations that…

The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), South Africa’s body responsible for business registrations and rights protection, recently revealed that it narrowly avoided a cyber security breach last week. According to the regulator, the attempted hack could have exposed the personal information of clients and staff. Following the attempted breach,…

MTN Nigeria, one of the largest telecom providers in the country, has managed to reclaim over half of the ₦22 billion ($55 million) it lost due to a glitch with its Mobile Money (MoMo) service in May 2022. The technical issue occurred just a week after the service’s launch and…

According to a report by Salient Advisory, funding for women-led healthtech firms in Africa surged notably in 2023. Companies such as Kasha based in Rwanda, Maisha Meds from Kenya, as well as Dawi Clinics and Chefaa from Egypt collectively amassed $52 million through 33 deals. This led to a huge…

Africa’s largest startup, Flutterwave, has announced plans to close down its virtual card service, Barter which was first introduced in 2017. The company is making the move to concentrate more on its core business and remittance sectors. Flutterwave notified its customers to take out their money from the app during…

TowerCo of Africa has announced a plan to construct over 500 new telecommunication towers in rural Uganda to enhance service accessibility. The rural telecom expansion programme, which will be executed over the next two years, is projected to create 2,000 jobs for both skilled and unskilled workers during its implementation.…

Strategic collaboration between the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – a division of the World Bank Group – and Solcon Capital, a South African investor, has been announced. The partnership aims to identify and foster investment opportunities within the deep tech sector in both South Africa and India. Solcon Capital, initially…

Innovate UK, the innovation agency of the UK government, has launched the UK-South Africa Smart Energy Global Innovation Network this week. The announcement was made at the Africa Energy Indaba held in Cape Town and is spearheaded by Innovate UK’s Global Alliance Africa project based in South Africa. The network…

Endeavor Kenya, the East African chapter of the global Endeavor organization, has introduced the first batch of nine startups for its ScaleUp programme. This programme is intended to assist rapidly expanding startup companies by providing the resources and network required for their scaling journey. Endeavor is known for fostering prosperous…

For the first time in history, the price of Bitcoin surpassed $70,000 on Friday, setting a new record. According to Coin Metrics, the digital currency last increased by around 2% to $69,304.84 but it once escalated to as high as $70,170.00, beating the previous high from Tuesday. Bitcoin is projected…

OpenAI has declared the constitution of its new board and the conclusion of an internal probe by U.S. based law firm WilmerHale, examining the circumstances that led to the dismissal of OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman. Additionally, Sam Altman is set to reenter the OpenAI board. The new board members are:…

A software engineer from China, employed by Alphabet Inc.’s Google, has been charged by the US Justice Department for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to the development of artificial intelligence (AI) from Google’s data centers. Linwei Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese national residing in Newark, California, was hired by Google in…

The Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group) of Eastern and Southern Africa, via its Trade and Development Fund (TDF), has granted climate and fintech startup MPower Ventures Zambia Limited a three-year loan of USD 2 million. The funding is designated to enhance the availability of affordable and contemporary energy…

In a move set to boost African businesses’ digital activities, Cassava Technologies’ Liquid C2 has embarked on collaborations with two global tech juggernauts – Google Cloud and Anthropic, a company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI). This strategic partnership leverages Google Cloud’s and Anthropic’s tech sophistications, promising to take cloud and…

RecoMed, a South African health technology firm, has successfully procured an undisclosed amount of funding from Eisai, a Japanese pharmaceutical company. According to an official statement issued, this round of financing is the largest RecoMed has received thus far. RecoMed functions as an online healthcare marketplace and booking platform. It…

Egyptian startups are being encouraged to apply for the third installment of the DMZ Cairo incubation program. This initiative aims to accelerate startups’ growth via mentorship, useful resources, and networking opportunities. DMZ Cairo is a collaborative venture between the Universities of Canada in Egypt and the DMZ at Toronto Metropolitan…

AfriLabs, an organization dedicated to supporting innovation hubs, has announced that its 2024 Annual Gathering will take place on November 5-8 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in South Africa. AfriLabs is a network organization with over 430 members that is focused on fostering innovation and entrepreneurship across Africa…