- Ghanaian startup SecondSTAX has built a tech-driven smart order management and execution routing system for investment firms, aiming to facilitate intra-continental African capital markets transactions. Founded by Eugene Tawiah and Duke Lartey in 2020, SecondSTAX is building solutions to enhance…
- Three Nigerian startups have been confirmed as participants in the W23 batch of the renowned Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator accelerator, banking US$500,000 in funding among other benefits. The W23 batch of the Y Combinator programme, which played a role in the early days of companies like Airbnb…
- South African fintech company Stitch has opened applications for its second startup showcase, which invites early-stage ventures from across the continent to share their solutions with investors and other stakeholders. The Stitch API, live in South Africa and Nigeria, allows developers to connect…
- The Ethiopia-based Gebeya, a SaaS-enabled, pan-African talent marketplace, has announced an undisclosed pre-Series A investment from a Japanese VC firm to drive its ongoing expansion. Headquartered in Addis Ababa with offices in Kenya and Senegal, Gebeya connects startups, SMEs, and multinational…
- Egypt-based solar power developer and electricity distributor KarmSolar has secured EGP83 million (US$3 million) in debt funding to support the further development and rollout of Farafra Solar Grid, the company’s second micro-grid-solution, covering 100 per cent of clients’ load. KarmSolar aims to…
- Applications are open for cohort three of the AUDA-NEPAD Home Grown Solutions Accelerator, aimed at providing growing and mature-stage African companies in the healthcare space with hands-on, highly tailored support in order to help them improve and grow. The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-…
- Nigerian fintech startup Arteri helps African healthcare SMEs access multiple credit options to finance their assets, inventory and running costs at low interest rates. Formed in 2021, Arteri is focused solely on chemists, small pharmacies, labs, and clinics, which serve the bulk of the population…
- Tunisia-founded enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) startup InstaDeep has been acquired by Nasdaq-listed German biotech company BioNTech SE in a deal that could eventually be worth GBP562 million (US$684m) to its shareholders. Founded in Tunisia in 2014 but now headquartered in London having…
- Pan-African crypto exchange Yellow Card has launched a new payment feature called Yellow Pay, allowing customers to send and receive money through the Yellow Card crypto exchange platform, without any extra charges, instantly with just a few taps on their phone. Since launching in Nigeria in 2019,…
- Pre-seed venture capital (VC) fund and accelerator Catalyst Fund has announced a US$2 million investment into 10 startups building solutions to improve the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities in Africa. Catalyst Fund is a pre-seed VC fund and accelerator backing high-impact tech startups…
- Founder and CEO of The Owlet Ltd, Elijah Kolawole Olusehinde, sat with Disrupt Africa in an exclusive interview to reveal the ins and outs of his African startup and their big dream to expand to foreign territories by 2028. The brand founded in June 2020, expanded from two to 108 employees, with…
- Nigerian agri-tech startup Releaf, which makes it easier for consumer goods manufacturers in Africa to access high-quality ingredients for their factories, has raised US$3.3 million in an oversubscribed pre-Series A funding round, and also announced some new technologies. Founded in 2021, Releaf…
- Tanzanian fintech startup NALA has officially launched in the European Union (EU), adding 19 new countries to its list of send countries and aiding its mission of connecting Africans globally. NALA is an African payments company and money transfer app that enables users to make secure and reliable…
- The Ghana-based Jetstream Africa, an e-logistics platform for Africa’s exporters and importers, has raised US$13 million in a combination of debt and equity financing to help it expand. Jetstream Africa is an e-logistics company founded in Tema, Ghana and operating across 14 African countries. Its…
- Africa Tech Summit, a leading tech conference focused on connecting businesses and driving investments within Africa’s tech ecosystem, will host its fifth edition on February 15-16 at the Sarit Expo Centre in Nairobi. Africa Tech Summit Nairobi provides insight and networking with the African tech…
- South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt have established themselves over the last few years, by various criteria, as the “big four” African tech startup ecosystems. Slowly but surely, especially when it comes to funding, other countries are catching up, but the vast majority of activity and…
- Egypt’s Mahaseel Masr, a regional B2B fresh produce digital platform, has secured funding from the Emirates International Investment Company (EIIC) to accelerate the deployment of its agri-focused e-commerce platform. Mahaseel Masr is a smart digital platform that provides a wide range of digital…
- Kenyan energy company Solarise Africa has secured an additional US$3 million from EDFI ElectriFI to provide tailored financing solutions for decentralised energy solutions to selected commercial and industrial (C&I) customers across the continent. Founded by Patrik Huber, Jan Albert Valk and…
- Kazana Fund has announced the launch of its angel syndicate, which it describes as a major move on its mission to democratise access to capital and networks for exceptional African founders and accelerate the growth of Africa’s digital economy. Kazana Fund is an early-stage investor that aims to…
- Nigerian startup Raenest is helping remote workers and freelancers automate invoicing and get paid faster by clients globally while saving on fees via its Raenest Global accounts and cards. With Raenest, businesses can also use the platform to onboard African talents, pay them in their preferred…
- Egyptian e-health company CheckMe has acquired counterpart DoctorOnline in a deal that brings the former’s market value to US$20 million. Powered by the T3G investment group and founded in 2020, CheckMe is a customer-centric marketplace mobile application that provides on-demand medical lab…
- Kenyan fintech startup Lipana is a cloud-based accounting and bookkeeping application for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Founded by Shadrack Apollo, Hassan Kombo and Wyclif Okwiri in January 2021, but only launched a year later, Lipana enables businesses to send and receive payments through…
- Kenyan startups are second only to their Nigerian counterparts when it comes to funding raised in the last eight years, yet the country lags behind other “tier one” ecosystems when it comes to acquisitions or exits. That is according to the Kenyan Startup Ecosystem Report 2022, released by startup-…
- Senegal-based startup Kwely has launched the minimum viable product (MVP) version of its B2B online store for “Made in Africa” products, targeting small and large businesses globally. Founded by Birame Sock, a tech entrepreneur who successfully exited two startups in the US, Kwely was launched…
- Zimbabwean fintech startup Panamax is helping SMEs obtain access to working capital by crowdfunding it utilising a transparent, tradeable blockchain token. Formed in October 2021, Panamax provides end-to-end business support for SMEs by bringing together the technology, expertise, support and…
- Nigeria’s Daystar Power, a West Africa-focused provider of hybrid solar power solutions to commercial and industrial (C&I) businesses, has announced the completion of its acquisition by Shell following the approval of regulatory authorities. Founded in 2017, Daystar Power is one of the leading…
- Egyptian startup Muqbis, an online marketplace for handicrafts, has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed funding round from Nama Ventures. Launched in 2021 by Iman El Wasifi, Mohamed Nasser and Kareem Hussein, Muqbis is an e-commerce platform for the Egyptian handicrafts market. A multi-…
- Startups are building out the infrastructure necessary to support a thriving e-commerce ecosystem in Africa, with adoption expected to surge in line with the continent’s high population growth, according to Tesh Mbaabu, co-founder and CEO of Kenyan retail-tech venture MarketForce. Founded in 2018,…
- Africa is Game: African Gamers are aiming for global inclusion and everyone’s paying attention. The growth trajectory of an average African child is usually linear. Take Zuga, an ambitious young man who grew up in the interiors of East Africa with an adventurous mind and a love for gaming. His…
- Suplyd, an Egypt-based startup that digitises supply chain operations for the MENA region’s hotels, restaurants, and catering (HORECA) industries, has raised a US$1.6 million pre-seed funding round to help it scale faster. Founded by Gohar Said, Karim Selima, and Ahmed ElMahdy, Suplyd is a solution…
- Leading global wireless technology firm Qualcomm has launched its African Innovation Platform, a suite of mentorship, education, and training programmes created to support the development of Africa’s emerging technology ecosystem. The platform will provide resources and support for local…
- Lagos-based, pan-African VC firm Ventures Platform has announced the final close of its early-stage and intercontinental fund, at US$46 million. Ventures Platform Fund is a discovery fund that invests early in mission-driven founders building capital-efficient platforms that democratise prosperity…
- Egyptian grocery deliveries startup Appetito has merged with Saudi-based counterpart Jumlaty to create NOMU, which aims to become MENA’s leading food-tech supply chain platform. Founded in March 2020 by Shehab Mokhtar, Appetito is a grocery delivery platform that sources products from manufacturers…
- Applications are open for the 2024 cohort of the MEST Training Programme, a 12-month programme hosted physically in Accra and designed to give young people around the continent commercial skills in technology and entrepreneurship. Launched in Ghana in 2008 by the Meltwater Foundation, MEST is a…
- Fintech startups account for almost one-third of Kenya’s tech startup ecosystem, but e-commerce and retail-tech companies attract by far the most funding, at least of late. That is according to the Kenyan Startup Ecosystem Report 2022, released by startup-focused news and research company Disrupt…
- Edves, a leading education technology company, has won the prestigious Lagos AOT Awards for its innovative approach to digitising learning and administration in K-12 schools. The ceremony, held in Lagos on the 9th of December at Landmark Event Centre, was a night to remember for the Edves team as…
- Nairobi-based e-health startup MyHealth Africa has raised a US$1 million round of seed funding to fuel its expansion across Africa and beyond. Founded in 2017, MyHealth Africa is a full-service integrated healthcare platform, connecting patients with local and international health specialists and…
- African startups are invited to apply for the Making More Health Business Accelerator, a structured business growth programme targeted at social entrepreneurs with innovative solutions in the health sector. Since 2011, Ashoka – one of the world’s largest networks of social entrepreneurs – and…
- South African startup Wisi-Oi is a resale fashion marketplace where sellers and buyers can trade new and pre-loved fashion. Launched in 2020, Wisi-Oi – which stands for “WEAR IT. SELL IT. OWN IT” – is a digital-only platform where anyone can open up their online boutique and start selling clothes…
- TLG Capital and Future Africa have launched a US$25 million venture debt fund from TLG’s existing funds, earmarked for companies from the Future Africa portfolio who meet specified criteria. TLG Capital is an investment holding company which focuses on private investment opportunities in SMEs…
- Seedstars has opened applications for its Enhancing Women Entrepreneurship in Africa (EWEA) programme, calling for women-led small to medium enterprises as well as community enablers and entrepreneurship support programmes in Africa to apply for its mentorship, skills capacity-building workshop…
- Investors in Africa’s e-commerce and retail-tech space should take an ecosystem-growth approach to success rather than expecting quick returns, and as such local investors may be better placed to build out the space, according to retail-tech entrepreneurs interviewed in the latest Disrupt Podcast…
- South African company Finclusion Group, which is building Africa’s first credit-led neobank as it bids to accelerate financial inclusion throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, has announced an additional US$2 million in funding as it rebrands as part of a brand integration. Launched in mid-2018 by co-…
- Small Foundation and Village Capital have selected 20 African entrepreneur support organisations (ESOs) that work with rural-impacting enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa to take part in the Rural Impacting Entrepreneurship research project aimed at identifying gaps and solutions to deepen impact…
- Nigerian startup Duplo makes it easier for African businesses to pay each other by providing digital tools that enable a more efficient, cost-effective and transparent process of making and receiving payments. Founded by Yele Oyekola and Tunde Akinnuwa in September 2021, Duplo allows B2B companies…
- Nigerian fintech startup Owoafara, which provides digital banking to assist the unbanked population of the world in accessing financial products and services, has raised funding from gender lens investment firm ShEquity. Founded by Tale Alimi, Owoafara helps people access financial solutions such…
- Egypt-based angel investment group Cairo Angels has rebranded as the acasia group so as to better reflect its new strategy, which also incorporates later-stage and pan-African investments. At launch, Cairo Angels was Egypt’s first formal network of angel investors, and since its formation it has…
- Kenyan tech ventures have higher rates of acceleration or incubation than their peers in other leading African startup ecosystems, a fact that stems from the country’s extremely well-established startup support scene. That is according to the Kenyan Startup Ecosystem Report 2022, released by…
- Kenya’s Gridless, a bitcoin mining company helping to bring new energy generation to rural communities in East Africa, has secured US$2 million in seed funding to support expansion of bitcoin mines across Africa. Founded earlier this year by veterans of the connectivity, infrastructure and software…
- South African fintech enabler Ukheshe has attracted investment to fuel its international expansion. Founded in 2018, Ukheshe is enabling companies in the African fintech ecosystem to deliver embedded finance that aims to close the financial inclusion gap. It serves over 100 customers across…
