Author: Tapiwa Matthew Mutisi

According to an SEC filing, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has informed Microsoft that the company owes back taxes of $28.9 billion “plus penalties and interest” for the tax years 2004 through 2013. Microsoft’s corporate VP for worldwide tax and customs Daniel Goff responded to the audit in a blog post, and says…

Egyptian delivery management startup Roboost has partnered with McDonald’s Egypt to help the fast food company automate its last-mile delivery cycle, optimizing operations before delivery starts and reducing manual actions.  Roboost’s cutting-edge technology has already helped many businesses in the market, doubling their delivery speeds, increasing productivity by 60%, and…

Johannesburg-based logistics software platform, Tripplo, has announced successfully securing a US$1.8 million equity investment, concluding its seed funding extension round. The round was led by Futuregrowth Asset Management, representing Old Mutual Life Assurance Company South Africa, and was followed by Galloprovincialis. These two entities are now alongside Standard Bank of…

TikTok is making major changes to its Effect Creator Rewards program — its creator fund for the people who make the app’s viral filters and effects. In a recent blog post, TikTok outlined the upcoming changes, which will include a lower threshold to join, and a new payment structure. The Effect Creator Rewards program…

Back in the olden days of last December, we had to go to specialized websites to have our natural language prompts transformed into generated AI art, but no longer! Google announced Thursday that users who have opted in for its Search Generative Experience (SGE) will be able to create AI images…

Meta’s Twitter competitor, Threads, is now rolling out one of its most-requested features – an edit button. Announced by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg this afternoon, Threads will start rolling out an edit button today for all users. The option will allow users to edit a post for a brief time after…

Fintech firm Block sprang a surprise when it acquired music service Tidal in 2021. This week it has made its second acquisition in the space — Hifi. Jack Dorsey, the founder of Block, which used to be Square, has now acquired Hifi, a music-focused fintech startup. HiFi was launched in the…

Barcode scanners and mobile computers play a significant role in the retail industry by enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and customer experience. The retail industry has undergone significant changes in recent years, witnessing intense digital transformation events that have resulted in an e-commerce renaissance in South Africa. Look at Zara for example.…

In a strategic move aimed at advancing the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry, Dar Ventures officially unveiled the DarE Incubator. This visionary 6-month program, operated by Acasia Group, empowers AEC tech founders with up to $50,000 in equity-free funding and a comprehensive toolkit to jumpstart…

Cue has announced raising $500,000 in pre-seed funding to accelerate its mission to help businesses deliver faster customer service using the next generation of LLM-powered AI models on the Cue platform. Founded in 2018, Cue enables businesses to help customers quickly and efficiently with chatbots and live chat on WhatsApp and social…

US-headquartered Egyptian fintech startup MoneyHash has raised funding from GitHub co-founder, Tom Preston-Werner, as part of an undisclosed seed financing round soon-to-be-announced. The investment marks Preston-Werner’s first investment in the Middle East and his second in the African market. Founded in late 2020 by Nader Abdelrazik, Mustafa Eid, and Anisha Sekar, MoneyHash’s…

Google has declared the “beginning of the end” for passwords as it continues its move toward creating a future in which people will not need a password to sign in to accounts securely. The company announced Tuesday in a blog post that it is making passkeys a default option for personal Google…

In its race to catch rival chipmaker Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced Tuesday it will acquire Nod.AI, an open-source artificial intelligence software startup, to expand the chipmaker’s AI software operations. Nod.AI, or Nod Labs, builds open-source technologies “for future AI systems,” according to the startup, and it mainly specializes in…

The Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA) welcomed five distinguished professionals to its board at an annual general meeting held earlier this week. Darshan Daya, Edmund Higenbottam, Liz Kolobe, Ria Papier, and Nicola Gubb have officially assumed their roles as board members, marking a significant milestone in…

X, formerly Twitter, has made changes to its policy on newsworthy posts to allow more content that would ordinarily violate its rules to remain on the platform. The company made the modifications amid the conflict in and around the West Bank. Until now, the company would only grant a newsworthiness exception…

Elon Musk has introduced new controls to X, formerly Twitter, that allow users to limit who can comment on posts to just paying users. The reply paywall will prevent unverified accounts that do not pay for X Premium from engaging in discussions on certain posts. It is the latest change to the platform that…

Former Altron and MTN South Africa CEO Mteto Nyati has been appointed as chairperson of the Eskom board. Nyati’s appointment comes after he resigned from Nedbank’s board of directors on Friday, and had also recently stepped down from the Telkom and Massmart boards. The Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan yesterday announced Mpho Makwana had…

Katapult, an investment firm dedicated to nurturing early-stage, impact-driven technology start-ups, has announced its investment in 23 companies chosen from a competitive pool of 2,500 applicants worldwide. These start-ups, representing the top 1% of applications, are leading the way in the crucial ocean- and climate tech sectors, showcasing unparalleled potential…

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) and Speak Up Africa have announced the winners of the second edition of the Africa Young Innovators for Health Award. Teniola Aderonke Adedeji from Nigeria and Dr. Ochora Moses from Uganda have been honored as the first prize winners, while Izath…

TLcom Capital has unveiled plans for its fifth annual Africa Tech Female Founder Summit, set to take place on 14 November in Lagos, Nigeria. Billed as the largest gathering of women in tech across the continent, this event aims to empower and support female entrepreneurs amidst challenging global economic conditions.…