- Mara Wallet, a multicurrency wallet by Mara, the crypto startup that raised $23 million from investors like Coinbase and FTX, has been inaccessible to its 4 million users since November 2023. techcabal.com/2024/02/19/coinbase-backed-crypto-startup-mara/
- Partech Africa, the global VC fund, has closed “Partech II," its second Africa-focused fund, at $300 million to invest in African startups in multiple sectors.
- In today’s edition: Lagos to use tech to tackle kidnappers || Flutterwave’s Disha takes a break || Al Nasr to roll out locally-produced EV cars in Egypt.
- Nigeria is not the greatest market for credit and BNPLs are not the only players suffering from this, as neobanks and other lending platforms are staggering under the weight of non-performing loans.
- The death of Herbert Wigwe opened the flood gates of memories as founders and executives in the tech industries remembered his contributions in the industry.
- Investment in ATMs have dropped in the past two years as investors shift focus to other digital payment channels like PoS, mobile apps, etc. How can the market be revived?
- With 1,218 logistics tech startups reportedly operating in Africa, logistics executives from across the world are considering either increasing or establishing fresh investments in the continent’s logistics sector.
- After Jumia shared its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2023, investors on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) reacted positively, causing its shares to close at a 41.18% high or $4.56 on Thursday.
- In today’s edition: Jumia lays off staff again || Gokada’s lean path to progress || Nigeria’s Inflation soars || Uganda adds iris biometrics to national IDs
- Jumia, one of Africa’s most prominent e-commerce platforms, laid off employees in Kenya and other African markets in January 2024, one month after it exited its food delivery business.
- Jumia, one of Africa’s most prominent e-commerce businesses, cut its operating losses in Q4 2023 to $4.5 million after several important strategic changes, but there are still questions about profitability.
- Open banking, the practice that allows banks to share customer data consensually with fintechs, is believed to be a game-changer for Nigeria’s financial space. Yet the country’s banking regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria, is moving slowly on its adoption.
- "The CBN has not achieved its inflation target of 6-9% since 2014, and it has even abandoned the target," said Adedayo Bakare, an investment analyst at Money Africa.
"It has been devastating to households and businesses.
- In today’s edition: Astrotwig loses $20,000 to investment scam || Sierra Leone’s tech minister is building the “Estonia of Africa” || Firstmonie leads in Nigeria || Moove moves deeper in India || Roam raises $24 million
- Firstmonie processed ₦1.1 trillion in transactions in 2023, according to Interswitch data. The is double the transactions of the agency banking services of Access Bank, Zenith, Stanbic IBTC, Union, Ecobank, FCMB, and Fidelity Bank combined. http://techcabal.com/2024/02/13/firstmonie-is-the-biggest…
- Astrotwig, a Nigerian platform that combines music streaming with social networking, claims that it lost $20,000 to Mr. Simon Tiwari, an angel investor who offered to invest a convertible loan of $1 million in their pre-seed round. techcabal.com/2024/02/14/astrotwig-scammed-of-20000-by-angel-…
- “The vision is to see Sierra Leone play a leading role in tech export,” Salimah Bah, the country’s Minister of Communication, Technology, and Innovation, told TechCabal.
- Only 14 of every hundred students who took Nigeria’s university entrance exam last year passed, highlighting a crisis in the country’s education system. Teesas, an edtech startup launched in 2021, is confident that it can lower these failure rates.
- Africa is heavily reliant on agriculture. Over the past decade, agriculture has constituted 42-48% of total employment on the continent. Subsistence farming is a mainstay of many African countries, especially south of the Sahara, which boasts a quarter of the world’s arable land and has an…
- Mira, a fintech startup founded by Ted Oladele, a former VP of design and innovation at Flutterwave wants to change how you order and pay for food.
Find out more about the startup here:
- In today’s edition: Did Flutterwave invest $3 million in PiggyVest || Nigeria’s corporate watchdog will tax content creators || Expensya’s expensive employee earnings || UN asks Sudan to halt one-week internet shutdown || Injaro secures $17.5 million in funding
- Nigeria's revenue watchdog FIRS has backtracked on an earlier statement which revealed plans to tax the country's content creators. More in #TCDaily.
- Inflation in Ethiopia has hit 28.7% with the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) acknowledging that it has been one of the country’s most challenging macroeconomic issues for many years. Based on its monetary policy statement, the country, home to nearly 120 million people, has struggled to tackle…
- "Venture investing is for everyone" means that investing resources, not just money, into a process, with the potential for big positive returns, even if there's a risk of losing everything, is progress nonetheless.
- In today’s edition: Africa waves goodbye to Herbert Wigwe || Starlink clamps down on South African resellers || Bayobab lands two subsea cables in Ghana and Nigeria ||Funding African civic tech
- Weeks after Amazon Prime beat a hasty retreat from Africa, Showmax, the streaming service majorly owned by MultiChoice, presented a spectacle that shows how much it is betting the house on African streaming.
- What started as a small community of young people wearing hoodies and sitting around with used HP laptops has become one of the biggest tech talent pipelines in northern Nigeria.
- Wasoko, a Kenyan e-commerce platform, did not share its merger plans with Egypt’s MaxAB with employees for over six months, fearing that leaks could derail the transaction
- In today’s edition: Flutterwave moves to recover lost $24 million || Leatherback CEO sues EFCC after “defamation” incident || Kenya has a new AI bill || Ethiopia will ban non-electric cars || Funding tracker
- Flutterwave will contact over 6,000 account holders across 35 banks and financial institutions who erroneously received ₦19 billion (*$24 million) from the fintech due to a “improper transfers"
- Airtel’s plans to significantly boost its telecom infrastructure across Africa to grow its market share see the company investing in Meta’s submarine cable and strengthening old partnerships.
- The Kenya Robotics and AI Society Bill 2023 proposes fines up to KES 1 million ($6,250), two-year prison terms, or both for unregistered robotic and AI businesses.
- Ibrahim Ibitade, the CEO of Leatherback, is suing Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for defamation after the agency declared him wanted three months ago without “conducting due diligence.”
- In today’s edition: Inside Hydrogen’s big plans || Vodacom to appeal $1 billion case || Microsoft announces new cloud centre in South Africa || Telecel secures $20 million investment || Apple is building a foldable iPhone