- “We are going to do everything to achieve this ambitious objective of making our ecosystem the place for African startups [to build],” said Yacine El-Mahdi Oualid, Algeria's minister of knowledge economy, startups, and micro-enterprises.
- Chipper Cash has laid off 15 people across various departments. techcabal.com/2023/12/11/chippercash-lays-off-employees-again/
Since December 2022, the company has laid off over 400 employees, including its COO.
- Cet article est aussi disponible en français First published 10 December, 2023 It is already lobbying for a digital ID contract with the Kenyan government. Its startups will also be more visible in Africa over this decade. The Estonian tech ecosystem was not built in one day. According to the East…
- Kenya is set to host Airbus's communication hub for its high-altitude satellites, a move that is likely to lead to more jobs, a boost for space internet adoption in the region - and the fastest internet speeds yet.
- In November, Surayyah Ahmad, alongside Sanusi Ismail, announced the launch of a $20 million fund targeted at early-stage tech founders, with a focus on regions like northern Nigeria. Her focus on the northern tech ecosystem is simply strategic.
- After shelving the agency banking product in October, Kippa has transferred KippaPay to another fintech startup, Bloc. However, the co-founder says it is not an acquisition.
- One list circulating on social media caused a stir after it wrongly claimed that several approved mobile money services and payment fintecwould be affected by the NIBSS order.
- Exclusive: Nigerian fintech Kippa has transferred the operation of its agency banking product, KippaPay, to Bloc.
techcabal.com/2023/12/07/kippapay-transferred-to-bloc/
But Kippa’s co-founder maintains that the deal is not an acquisition.
- TechCabal is in Algeria!
techcabal.com/2023/12/07/dispatch-from-algeria/
We are attending the African Startup Conference. Here is all you need to know about the event.
- The conflict emerged as Kenyan e-commerce giant Twiga transitioned from high growth to profitability, leading to payment delays on a three-year $3 million cloud services contract.
- NIBSS has warned that companies holding switching, payments processing, and superagent licenses are non-deposit-taking institutions and should not be listed as beneficiary institutions when customers attempt to make bank transfers.
- How the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions, such as interest rate adjustments and quantitative easing measures, can affect VC funding for startups.
- Techies today often equate working long hours to productivity. However, there might be better ways to get more work done without losing sleep. Find out in the latest edition of #EnteringTech🚀.
- This startup allows small business owners to place ads using airtime; it has raised $1.5 million pre-seed to pursue its next growth phase in Nigeria and Kenya.
- Pivo, a Nigerian supply chain fintech, has shut down. The Y Combinator-backed startup has ceased operations a year after securing a $2 million seed round.
- Kenya’s most funded e-commerce platform has 4 months to settle a liquidation case over unpaid invoices in a $3 million cloud services contract dispute.
- The $5 million is borrowed money, and unlike equity funding, where companies give away ownership in exchange for capital, debt funding involves borrowing money that needs to be repaid.
- Pivo, the Nigerian fintech startup that offered banking services to small supply chain businesses, is shutting down one year after raising a $2 million seed round.
- Pivo, the Nigerian fintech startup that offered banking services to small supply chain businesses, is shutting down one year after raising a $2 million seed round.
- Maisha Namba was proposed by the state through the ICT minister Eliud Owalo, who argued that the previous digital ID programme, Huduma Namba, was flawed and failed to communicate its intent to Kenyans.
- Jumia Nigeria has appointed former Jumia Ghana CEO, Sunil Natraj, to head the e-commerce business. Natraj, will focus on expanding its reach across Nigerian cities in 2024
- Lipa Later has confirmed to TechCabal that a section of former Sky.Garden's 50 employees will continue working for the platform, although others have since left the company.
- Kenyan e-commerce startup Sky.Garden, has relaunched following a $1.6 million buyout by BNLP company Lipa Later Group.
techcabal.com/2023/12/05/a-1-63-million-bounce-back/
Learn more in today's TC Daily.
- Payday, fintech backed by Moniepoint, is in talks to be acquired by BitMama, a Nigerian crypto exchange startup, three months after TechCabal exclusively reported that Payday was speaking to potential buyers.
techcabal.com/2023/12/04/bitmama-to-acquire-payday-fintech/
- One thing I noticed is that there's a mismatch between priorities when it comes to a lot of founders. A lot of founders feel like the goal is for them to raise, as opposed to actually delivering on the project or whatever they're building.
- The rule change, made by Nigeria’s Central Bank, comes after several high-profile fraud incidents raised concerns about existing Know Your Customer (KYC) processes, but industry experts believe that it will not solve what is now described as a “fraud pandemic”.
- Experts believe that Nigeria’s telecommunications and tech sector are working at cross purposes. A romance between the sectors could result in a win-win for both sides.
- Getting ready for its South African debut, Amazon has slashed seller fees from R400 to R100. techcabal.com/2023/12/04/naspers-thinks-amazon-will-lose-in-south-africa/
Despite this, Naspers, the owner of Takealot, Amazon's potential competitor in the country, remains unfazed about losing its market…
- uLesson, a leading edtech in Nigeria recently launched Nigeria's first online open university, Miva. This is how uLesson did it over a four year period.
https://techcabal.com/2023/12/01/how-ulesson-became-an-online-university-from-an-extra-lesson-company/
By @theprincelyx
- Recent surges in home solar energy installations across Africa indicate that more people on the continent may have access to electricity than previously thought.
- Delegates from 36 African countries have been invited to Moscow next month to pitch digital services to Russian investors as part of a project affiliated with Russia's NIDF where Putin’s daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, is the general director.
More in #TCDaily.
- Black Friday is said to be the busiest shopping day of the year in the US, but not in Lagos. All that fever seems gone due to paltry discounts and inflation.
- At first glance, Africa’s B2B payments sector looks like a saturated market. Many high-profile companies have emerged over the years to process payments on behalf of global merchants. Yet, despite its rapid growth in recent years, Africa’s payments sector is barely scratching the surface. Africa’s…
- It’s the fintechisation of a trend that started last year as venture debt took the world of venture capital by storm.
It’s the fintechisation of a trend that started last year as venture debt took the world of venture capital by storm.
- Convergence Partners wants to drive infrastructure development in Africa with $296 million fund
By Ephraim Modise
Link: techcabal.com/2023/11/30/andile-ngcaba-ask-an-investor/
- The first episode, which featured a conversation with Kola Aina covered a variety of topics, including his background before becoming a tech investor, and what he looks out for when backing founders.
- Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled that old naira notes would remain legal tender in the country until "further notice", effectively removing the December 2023 deadline.
More in #TCDaily.
- Statista reports that Africa's GDP per capita reached $2,150.6 in 2022 and is projected to hit $2,700 by 2026. This comes as no surprise, as the continent is rapidly evolving into a technology hub
- In June 2021, Lagos traffic drove Jackleen Nnely to move to the UK. At the time, Nnely had a 13-year career leading projects across companies like Apple and MTV Base Africa. Now, she's a senior associate at a top software company. Here's how she did it.
- Bolt discontinued the accounts of the affected driver partners over the last six months, seemingly to adhere to tough safety regulations by the transport authority.
- Remittance startup LemFi has halted its operations in Ghana one week after the Bank of Ghana identified it as one of eight fintechs operating without the necessary regulatory approvals.
More in #TCDaily.
- Climate-tech, and energy startups have displaced fintech companies in venture funding made into Africa. EchoVC's fund wants to be the first institutional cheque for this companies.
- The Startup Bill will offer some incentives such as tax breaks and access to credit for startups. William Ruto, Kenya’s President, has confirmed that the Startup Bill 2022, which seeks to provide employment opportunities for Kenyan youth and tax breaks for startups, will be signed into law by…
- Lemfi, the remittance startup that raised $33 million in a Series A round in August, has suspended its operations in Ghana one week after the country's Central Bank said it was operating without regulatory approval.