July 13, 2022
Africa: Wave, a Stripe-Backed African Fintech Valued At U.S.$1.7 Billion, Cut 15% of Its Staff in June
Wave, an African fintech that offers mobile money services in Senegal and Ivory Coast, laid off about 15% of its workforce last month. TechCrunch first got a whiff of the layoff… Read more »
Africa: African Leadership Group Acquires Coding School Holberton
Coding school Holberton today announced that it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by African Leadership Group (ALG). The seven-year-old company, with physical schools… Read more »
Africa: Africa-Focused Fintech Zazuu Raises U.S.$2 Million to Scale Its Cross-Border Payment Marketplace
The remittance inflows to sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade have been on an upward trajectory since 2020; last year, it increased by more than 6% to $45 billion. However, the… Read more »
July 07, 2022
Kenya: Flutterwave Denies Money Laundering, Fraud Allegations Following Accounts Freeze By Court
Flutterwave has come out to deny the fraud and money laundering claims leveled against it by Kenya's Asset Recovery Agency, which investigates and recovers proceeds of crime. Read more »
July 06, 2022
Africa: Autochek Acquires CoinAfrique to Grow Its Footprint in Francophone Africa
Automotive e-commerce company Autochek has expanded to new markets in Africa after acquiring CoinAfrique, a classified ad marketplace, nearly two months after the Nigerian startup… Read more »
June 30, 2022
Africa: A Look Into the British DFI's Plan to Invest in African Economies, Venture Funds and Tech Startups
British International Investment wants to invest $6 billion in Africa over five years Read more »
Africa: Sava, a Spend Management Platform for African Businesses, Gets U.S.$2 Million Pre-Seed Backing
When Yoeal Haile started Aspira, a lending service, in 2017, he wanted to give Kenyans more choice about buying stuff on credit. The business eventually grew to a point where it… Read more »
June 29, 2022
Africa: Venture Studio Adanian Labs Fuels Startup Growth in Africa
Founded during tumultuous COVID period, Adanian Labs is out to accelerate growth of 300 African startups over the next five years Read more »
Kenya: Kukua, Creators of 'Super Sema', Raise U.S.$6 Million, Led By Alchimia and Tencent
Kukua, a Nairobi- and London-based educational entertainment company and the creators of "Super Sema," the first African animated superhero franchise, has raised $6 million in its… Read more »
June 28, 2022
Egypt: Healthtech Startup Vezeeta Cuts 10% of 500-Person Staff
Vezeeta, a healthtech startup operating in the Middle East and Africa, reportedly laid off about 10% of its staff last week. The number of affected employees isn't known; however,… Read more »
June 27, 2022
Africa: Tlcom Capital Appoints Eloho Omame As Partner to Back More Pre-Seed and Women-Led Startups
Africa-focused venture capital firm TLcom Capital has appointed Eloho Omame as a partner six months after announcing the first close of TIDE Africa Fund II, its $150 million second… Read more »
June 22, 2022
Kenya: Kune Food Shuts Down Barely a Year After Starting Kenya Operations
Kune, a Kenya-based startup that started out as an on-demand food delivery service before changing tact over the last few months to become an online restaurant, has closed down… Read more »
Africa: Zenysis Raises U.S.$13.3 Million to Scale Its Big Data Platform for Emergencies
Zenysis Technologies, a big data startup headquartered in San Francisco and Cape Town, announced today that it has closed $13.3 million in a Series B round. The financing was led… Read more »
June 21, 2022
Africa: Kibo School Gets U.S.$2 Million to Offer Online STEM Degrees to Students in Africa
When she was 10 years old, Ope Bukola's family relocated from Nigeria to the U.S., where she advanced her studies to later pursue a degree in economics. Exposed to the… Read more »
Nigeria: Nigerian At-Home Lab Testing Platform Healthtracka Gets U.S.$1.5 Million, Backed By Woman VCs
According to this World Health Organization (WHO) article on treating cancer, detecting symptomatic patients as early as possible gives them the best chance for successful… Read more »
Ghana: Fintech Fido Raises U.S.$30 Million to Roll Out New Products and Expand Across Africa
After extending credit to thousands of customers over mobile phones since 2015, Ghana-based fintech Fido is now in search of additional growth avenues for its expansion across… Read more »
June 20, 2022
Africa: Ransomware Ring Claims Attack On Continent's Largest Retail Chain Shoprite
RansomHouse, a ransomware gang, has claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on Shoprite, Africa's largest retailer. Read more »
Africa: Afropolitan Raises Millions From Balaji Srinivasan and Others to Build a Digital Nation
What would a digital country for Africans and the diaspora look like? Afropolitan has some answers Read more »
June 16, 2022
Africa: Crossboundary Gets U.S.$25 Million for Solar Mini-Grids in Africa
Kenya-based Crossboundary Energy Access (CBEA), a mini-grid infrastructure fund, has raised $25 million from ARCH Emerging Markets Partners Limited, Bank of America, and Microsoft… Read more »
June 15, 2022
Egypt: Khazenly, an Egyptian On-Demand Warehousing and Fulfillment Platform, Raises $2.5m Seed Funding
The e-commerce market in Egypt is expected to grow 30% to $7.5 billion this year, spurred by a growing number of younger shoppers and rising incomes. Read more »
June 14, 2022
Africa: MFS Africa Raises Additional Equity and Debt Capital to Take Its Series C to U.S.$200 Million
Pan-African digital payments network, MFS Africa, has raised $100 million in equity and debt, additional funding that takes its Series C round to $200 million. African investment… Read more »
Africa: Launch Africa, the VC Firm That Has Backed Over 100 Startups, Closes First Fund At U.S.$36.3 Million
Pan-African venture capital fund Launch Africa Ventures today is announcing the close of its $36.3 million fund, which it has primarily used to invest in B2B and B2B2C startups… Read more »
June 13, 2022
Nigeria: Nigeria's Internet Regulator Releases Draft to Regulate Google, Facebook, TikTok and Others
Nigeria has announced plans to regulate internet companies like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram (all owned by Meta), Google and TikTok in a draft shared by the country's… Read more »
June 09, 2022
Kenya: Meta Says Kenyan Court Has No Jurisdiction to Determine Case Against It, Wants It Thrown Out
American social media giant Meta is seeking to have a case filed against it in Kenya dropped saying that the East African country has no jurisdiction to determine it. The… Read more »
Tunisia: Edtech Startup GOMYCODE Raises U.S.$8 Million to Expand Across Africa, Middle East
Yahya Bouhlel started coding in his early teens. Within this timeline, he interned at several companies in Palo Alto, California. Most of his work revolved around building apps and… Read more »