- Visa has announced the launch of a new initiative called the Africa Fintech Accelerator, which will provide assistance to African companies by providing knowledge, contacts, technology, and investment capital. Up to forty startups per year will benefit from the accelerator’s intense three-month…
- Elon Musk, founder of Twitter and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, announced the launch of xAI, a new artificial intelligence startup with the mission to “understand the true nature of the universe.” According to Musk, xAI will compete with the likes of OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, the creators of other…
- The Anglo American Foundation (AAF) and Grindstone, an accelerator known for developing high-growth businesses, have joined forces to develop a South African accelerator dedicated to helping eco-friendly business owners get off the ground. The collaboration’s ultimate goal is to find and support…
- Twenty Ghanaian startups have completed the UNICEF StartUp Lab Accelerator and received a total of $445,000. Following a six-month intense accelerator program focused on business and product development, 20 of Ghana’s innovative entrepreneurs have graduated from the program. “We continue to be…
- Moove, a Nigerian mobility fintech startup, has received an additional $8 million in funding from Absa Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB), bringing its total funding to date from the bank to $28 million. This comes after Moove received USD 20 million in funding from Absa for its South African…
- Parisian fintech startup finres has raised €4.1 million to help drive investors to make better decisions when it comes to ploughing into agriculture. The funding will be used to help finres launch its investor platform, push ahead with R&D activities, and significantly ramp up its presence in…
- Eindhoven-based deep-tech startup FononTech announced on Tuesday that it has secured €2.3M in a seed round of funding. The investment came as a convertible loan from TTT Smart Industries Fund, SHIFT Invest, Brabantse Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij (BOM), the Brabant Startup Fonds (BSF), and renowned…
- London-based Outverse, a ‘full-stack’ community platform for modern SaaS companies, announced that it has secured $6M in a Seed round of funding led by Wing VC. Notion Capital, Seedcamp, Connect Ventures, and Tiny VC also participated in the round. Founded in 2021 by Kyran Schmidt, Ollie Steadman,…
- Apple’s recent market valuation of $3 trillion made it the first publicly traded corporation in history to do so. This is largely a significant achievement, but it does suggest that investors are still confident in Apple’s future prospects. Apple’s market worth tripled in less than four years to…
- Executive Chair Elon Musk announced that Twitter is instituting a daily limit on the number of tweets that individual accounts can read in an effort to reduce “extreme levels” of data scraping and system manipulation. After browsing through several hundred tweets, users can be locked off of Twitter…
- The Seedstars Youth Wellbeing Ventures Mandat, launched by Seedstars Capital and Fondation Botnar, will invest $20 million in early-stage, purpose-driven firms across Africa with the goal of enhancing the wellbeing and happiness of young people living in low- and middle-income regions. Together,…
- Eze, a wholesale marketplace for used and new electronics in Nigeria, has raised US$3.7 million in seed funding. Right Side Capital Management led the investment round, which also included angel investors C2 Ventures, Boro Capital, EVPI Investments, and others. Eze is a business-to-business (B2B)…
- Yellow has raised $14 million in a series B funding round. Yellow is an asset financier for solar energy and digital products in Africa. Convergence Partners led the funding round, which also included participation from Triple Jump’s Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund and Platform Investment…
- The Ecobank Fintech Challenge, which aims to support the expansion of Pan African Fintech success stories, has announced the launch of its 2023 edition. Ecobank operates in 35 different countries across Africa; the Challenge seeks to find and work with fintech that is ready to scale and give them…
- Peach Cars, a Kenyan online marketplace for automobiles, has raised $5 million in seed funding, the company announced. The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners, based in Japan, led the funding round alongside other angel investors like Shintaro Yamada, Peter Kenevan, and Hiroaki Ohta. Kaoru…
- According to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF is developing a framework for central bank digital currencies (CDBCs) to facilitate transactions between nations. Unlike cryptocurrencies, which are almost always decentralized, CBDCs are digital currencies that are managed by the…
- French sustainable adtech start-up Greenbids is cleaning up the digital advertising space. A Scope3 report found that digital advertising generates more than 2.6 million metric tons of carbon per year, across five leading economies. It might be a somewhat surprising figure to some, so Greenbids is…
- Amsterdam-based TAPP, a digital platform that provides insights into the hospitality market based on cash register data to improve turnover, announced that it has secured €3M in a fresh round of funding. CNBB led a €2M funding and was supported by ROM InWest. An additional loan of €1M came from …
- London-based Synthesia, an AI video creation platform, announced that it has secured $90M in a Series C round of funding at a valuation of $1B. The round was led by Accel Ventures and NVIDIA’s venture capital arm NVentures. Existing investors Kleiner Perkins, GV, Firstmark Capital, Alex Wang,…
- Germany-based SPARETECH, a data platform for industrial spare parts, announced that it has raised €10M in a Series A round of funding. The round was led by New York-based software investor Insight Partners with participation from Headline and existing investors. The company says it will use the…
- Paris-based Mistral AI, a platform specializing in generative artificial intelligence, announced that it has secured over €105M in a seed-stage round of funding. According to Tech Crunch, the startup is currently valued at €240M. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Founded by key…
- Reykjavík-based DTE, an innovator in decision support for the metals production and manufacturing industry, announced that it has secured $10M in a Series A2 round of funding. The investment came from aluminium industry leader Novelis, VC firm Metaplanet, and the European Innovation Council (EIC)…
- Colombian fintech, FinMaq, closed a successful investment round, securing $3.5M in equity and $20M in funding. The company plans to use the capital to grow its presence in Colombia and expand operations to Chile, Peru, and Mexico. FinMaq aims to generate positive social impact through inclusion,…
- Blockchain and cryptocurrency have the potential to bring significant benefits and opportunities to Africa. Here are some areas where their potential impact is noteworthy: Financial Inclusion: Blockchain technology can enable financial services for the unbanked and underbanked populations in Africa…
- Fanki secured a $6M seed round led by Broom Ventures and Tenacity Ventures. The startup will use the funds to further develop its online platform to close the gap between sports clubs and fans in Latin America. The Colombian Fintech, Fanki, seeks to provide new alternatives for sports teams,…
- Nocnoc, which facilitates cross-border e-commerce between Latin American merchants and global sellers, raised $14 million in Series A funding. PayPal Ventures led the round and was joined by Mouro Capital, Quona Capital, Caravela Capital, Broadhaven and Ignia. This gives the company $22 million in…
- Dublin-based customer experience solution, EdgeTier is using AI to improve customer experience in call centers. Its SaaS solution gives real-time insights into customer conversational data using natural language processing to monitor customer conversations across all channels, 24/7, in…
- Berlin-based Spectrm, a conversational marketing platform that helps businesses automate one-to-one conversations with consumers on social messaging channels, announced that it has secured approximately €6M in a fresh round of funding. The investment was led by 3TS Capital Partners. Existing…
- US and Ukrainian-based Haiqu, a startup building software to enhance the performance of quantum processors, announced that it has raised $4M in a pre-seed round of funding. The round was led by MaC Venture Capital with participation from Toyota Ventures, SOMA Capital, and a group of Ukrainian firms…
- Amsterdam-based Smiler, a startup that connects photographers with visitors at popular tourist locations and hotspots, announced that it has secured an additional $8.5M in fresh funding. Smiler’s investment coincides with the launch of Smiler.co website. This consumer website draws on Smiler’s…
- Cambridge-based Uncommon (formerly Higher Steaks), a cultivated meat startup, announced that it has secured $30M in a Series A round of funding led by Balderton Capital and Lowercarbon. Other investors include Red Alpine, East Alpha, and previous investors Max and Sam Altman, Miray Zaki, and…
- France-based BeFC, a company that invented ecological biofuel cells that are paper-based, ultra-thin, and flexible, announced that it has raised €16M in a Series A round of funding. The round was supported by Avolta Partners as the sole financial advisor. Otium Capital was the new lead investor in…
- Luxembourg-based Salonkee, a salon management solution and booking platform for the hair- and beauty industry, announced that it has raised €28M in a growth round of funding. The company says it will use the funds to help increase its market penetration across Europe, continue to invest in…
- Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, has been told to cease operations in Nigeria after the country’s markets regulator declared that a local arm of the company that solicited Nigerian investors online was operating illegally. According to the Nigerian authority, Binance…
- Termii, a platform-as-a-service startup in Nigeria for communications, has secured $3.65 million in new funding. The funding round was led by pan-African early-stage investor Ventures Platform with support from New York-based fund FinTech Collective and Launch Africa Ventures. Other investors in…
- Haul247, a Nigerian end-to-end logistics digital platform that links businesses with haulage and warehousing assets in a single platform, has raised $3 million in seed funding. Alitheia Capital, through its uMunthu Fund, participated as the lead investor in this round, with loan financing from…
- Rology, the market leader in teleradiology in the MENA region, has acquired Arkan United, a teleradiology provider based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In order to address the global scarcity of radiologists, Amr AboDraiaa, Moaaz Hossam, Mahmoud Eldefrawy, and Bassam Khallaf founded Rology in October…
- Applications are now open for Venture for Africa’s second bootcamp program. This talent community is a top source for hiring top tech startup talent on the continent. The goal of Venture for Africa’s flagship three-month fellowship is to help the world’s most vibrant Young professionals make the…
- Apple’s biggest and most anticipated Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) ever commenced with a revolutionary keynote at Apple Park, which was attended by developers, students, and media and viewed by millions of people around the world via live stream and on-demand. Every year, Apple commences…
- Helium Health, a Nigerian e-health startup, has secured US$30 million in Series B funding in order to expand its fintech product, HeliumCredit. AXA IM Alts was the lead investor in this round of funding, which also included Capria Ventures, Angaza Capital, Anne Wojcicki, and Flatworld Partners.…
- Microsoft has agreed to pay $20 million to US federal regulators to settle allegations that the company unlawfully collected data on children who had created Xbox accounts. Microsoft and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settled on terms that include additional protections for children who play…
- Amazon has reached an agreement to pay over $30 million in order to settle two federal lawsuits alleging that the e-commerce giant breached the privacy of users, particularly the privacy of children, through the usage of its Alexa voice assistant and its Ring doorbell cameras. The FTC agreements…
- Paris-based start-up elba, a cybersecurity platform for teams, has raised €2.5 million in its first funding round. elba will use the funding to expand internationally and invest in research and development. The brainchild of co-founder and CEO Théo Rouer, he came up with the idea for elba with…
- London-based Qflow (Qualis Flow), a digital platform enabling construction teams to collect real-time materials and waste data at source announced that it has secured £7.2M in a Series A round of funding. Qflow says it will use the funds to scale its operations in the UK and grow its presence in…
- Berlin-based GetYourGuide, a platform for discovering and booking travel experiences, announced on Thursday that it has raised $194M in a Series F equity and credit round of funding. GetYourGuide says it will use the funds to expand in important regions such as North America and to speed up product…
- Galway-based Ex Ordo, an online events platform built for scholarly and professional societies, announced that it has secured more than $3M in a fresh round of funding. Paul Killoran, founder and CEO of Ex Ordo, says, “This is a major milestone for us on our journey towards scaling our vision.” The…
- Huli, a healthtech founded in Costa Rica with a presence in Latin America, has closed a $5.5 million Pre-Series A funding round led by Intoku Health, a group of successful US healthcare technology founders and executives, and Carao Ventures, the leading Venture Capital firm in Central America. This…
- Nearpays Technology Limited has won the Supernova Challenge’s Fintech and Blockchain category at GITEX Africa in Morocco. Nearpays received a cash reward of USD 10,000 and free travel to GITEX Global, which will be held in October 2023 at the Dubai World Trade Center in the United Arab Emirates.…
- Kenya’s Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy has signed an MoU with the Korea Trade Center Nairobi (KOTRA), marking a significant step forward in the country’s digital transformation. In accordance with this MoU, Korea will assist Kenya in bringing many landmark projects to fruition, including the…
- PrestaFreedom, a Moroccan startup that specializes in household subscriptions and other services for individuals, received $1 million in funding. Azur Innovation Fund, a seed public-private investment fund that invests in innovative startups, provided the funding. PrestaFreedom, a services…
