Africa: African Fintech Dominates Catalyst Fund's 2019 Startup Cohort

African fintech has taken center stage for the Catalyst Fund, a JP Morgan Chase and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-backed accelerator that provides mentorship and non-equity… Read more »

Ethiopia: Ethiopia's Bid to Become an African Startup Hub Hinges On Connectivity

Ethiopia is flexing its ambitions to become Africa's next startup hub. Read more »

Ethiopia: Days After Pledging to Expand Internet, Ethiopia's Government Shuts It Off

Days after Ethiopian ICT officials made public pledges to improve net access, the government began playing on-again, off-again with the internet -- shutting it down (almost… Read more »

Africa: IBM Brings Its Quantum Computer Program to 16 African Universities

IBM launched its Quantum computer program in Africa today, announcing a partnership with South Africa's Wits University that will extend to 15 universities across nine countries. Read more »

East Africa: Norrsken Opens East Africa Startup Fund and Hub in Kigali

Startups in East Africa have a new source for investment and mentorship. Read more »

Africa: Uber Rival Bolt Returns to London 21 Months After a TFL Investigation Shut It Down

Bolt, the Uber rival formerly known as Taxify, is taking a significant step this week in its effort to build out its transportation-on-demand business across the biggest cities in… Read more »

Africa: Fintech Platform Synapse Raises U.S.$33 Million to Build 'The AWS of Banking'

Synapse, a San Francisco-based startup that operates a platform enabling banks and fintech companies to easily develop financial services, has closed a $33 million Series B to… Read more »

Africa: Google Offers New Treasure Trove of Air Quality Data to Researchers

Google has employed its network of street-view vehicles to also measure street-level air quality in recent years, through an initiative it calls "Project Air View." Today, it's… Read more »

Africa: Jumia's Post-IPO Earnings, Gokada's U.S.$5.3 Million Raise, Facebook's Fake-News Purge, Joe Montana's Fintech Investment

Jumia held its first post-IPO earnings call and weathered a short-sell assault in May, with Wall Street showing confidence in the Pan-African e-commerce company. Read more »

Africa: Facebook's Latest Account Purge Exposes Africa's Misinformation Problem

Facebook last week purged a network of hundreds of pages, groups and Instagram accounts it labeled as producing "coordinated inauthentic behavior" toward Africa. Read more »

Africa: Africa e-Tailer Jumia Issues Post-IPO Results Amid Short-Sell Assault

For Pan-African e-commerce startup Jumia, going public has been an up and down affair. Read more »

Africa: Chipper Cash Convinces Joe Montana to Invest in African Fintech

The African no-fee, cross-border payment startup Chipper Cash has raised a $2.4 million seed round led by Deciens Capital. Read more »

Africa: WorldCover Raises $6m Round for Emerging Markets' Climate Insurance

WorldCover, a New York and Africa-based climate insurance provider to smallholder farmers, has raised a $6 million Series A round led by MS&AD Ventures. Read more »

Africa: Africa Roundup - Jumia's IPO, Dhl Launches Africa E-Shop, Cathay's $168m VC Fund, Connectmed Acquired

The biggest news in a month of weighty African headlines was Jumia listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Read more »

Nigeria: Nigerian Startup Tizeti Launches WifiCall.ng IP Voice Call Service

Nigeria based startup Tizeti, an internet service provider, today launched WifiCall.ng--an internet voice-calling platform for individuals and businesses. Read more »

Africa: Startups Weekly - Lessons From a Failed Founder

I sat down with Menlo Ventures partner Shawn Carolan this week to talk about his early investment in Uber. Menlo, if you remember, led Uber's Series B and has made a hefty sum over… Read more »

Africa: African E-Commerce Startup Jumia's Shares Open at U.S.$14.50 in NYSE IPO

Pan-African e-commerce company Jumia listed on the New York Stock Exchange today, with shares beginning trading at $14.50 under ticker symbol JMIA. This comes four weeks after CEO… Read more »

Africa: Boomplay, a Streaming Service for African Music Raises $20 Million

While Spotify dukes it out with Apple and other big tech names to target high-end users in mostly developed markets, a startup out of China has raised some money to expand its… Read more »

Africa: Africa Roundup - Jumia Files for IPO, Onefi Acquires Amplify, Flexclub Expands in Mexico

Less than a decade ago IPOs, acquisitions and global expansion by African startups were more possibility than reality. March saw all three from the continent's tech scene. Read more »

Africa: Dakar Network Angels Begins Startup Investments in Francophone Africa

The Dakar Network Angels network launched this month, making its first investment in francophone Africa to cleantech venture Coliba. The Ivorian startup--that uses a mobile app to… Read more »

Nigeria: Nigerian Fintech Startup Onefi Acquires Payment Company Amplify

Lagos based online lending startup OneFi is buying Nigerian payment solutions company Amplify for an undisclosed amount. Read more »

Africa: Seven Africa-Focused Startups Present At Y Combinator's Demo Day

The seven Africa-focused companies that presented as part of Y Combinator's Winter 2019 class of 200 startups may seem like a small percentage for such a large class, but it… Read more »

South Africa: South Africa's FlexClub Raises U.S.$1.2 Million, Partners With Uber Mexico

FlexClub, a South African startup that matches investors and drivers to cars for ride-hailing services, closed a $1.2 million seed round led by CRE Venture Capital. Read more »

Africa: African E-Commerce Startup Jumia Files for IPO On NYSE

Pan-African e-commerce company Jumia filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange today, per SEC documents and confirmation from CEO Sacha Poignonnec to TechCrunch. Read more »

Nigeria: Nigeria's Gloo.ng Drops Consumer E-Commerce, Pivots to E-Procurement

Nigerian startup Gloo.ng is dropping consumer online retail and pivoting to B2B e-procurement with Gloopro as its new name. Read more »