Kenyan logistics startup Sendy raises $20M round backed by Toyota
Africa’s logistics startup space has gained another multi-million dollar round with global backing. Kenyan company Sendy — with an on-demand platform that connects clients to...
Category : kenya
Kenya’s New Digital IDs May Exclude Millions of Minorities
NAIROBI, Kenya — For all his 73 years, Ahmed Khalil Kafe lived as a citizen of Kenya. Born in the capital, Nairobi, Mr. Kafe worked...
Opera and the firm short-selling its stock (alleging Africa fintech abuses) weigh in
Internet services company Opera has come under a short-sell assault based on allegations of predatory lending practices by its fintech products in Africa. Hindenburg Research...
Nigeria’s Paga acquires Apposit, confirms Mexico and Ethiopia expansion
Nigerian digital payments startup Paga has acquired Apposit, a software development company based in Ethiopia, for an undisclosed amount. That’s just part of Paga’s news. The...
African fintech firm Flutterwave raises $35M, partners with Worldpay
San Francisco and Lagos-based fintech startup Flutterwave has raised a $35 million Series B round and announced a partnership with Worldpay FIS for payments in Africa. With...
Catalyst Fund gets $15M from JP Morgan, UK Aid to back 30 EM fintech startups
The Catalyst Fund has gained $15 million in new support from JP Morgan and UK Aid and will back 30 fintech startups in Africa, Asia,...
2019 Africa Roundup: Jumia IPOs, China goes digital, Nigeria becomes fintech capital
2019 brought more global attention to Africa’s tech scene than perhaps any previous year. A high profile IPO, visits by both Jacks (Ma and Dorsey),...
Fraud fighters and bamboo bikes: the African innovators driving change | Global development
The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa prize, now in its sixth year, is the continent’s biggest award for engineering innovation. Sixteen African inventors from six...
Africa Roundup: Nigerian fintech gets $360M, mints unicorn, draws Chinese VC
November 2019 could mark when Nigeria (arguably) became Africa’s unofficial capital for fintech investment and digital finance startups. The month saw $360 million invested in...
The Masakhane project wants machine translation and AI to transform Africa
English, Arabic, and French dialects can be found on parts of the African continent and are used across tribes, ethnic groups, and national borders, but...
Red Cross Deploys Blockchain to Boost Communities’ Economic Resilience
Three national units of the Red Cross — the largest humanitarian donor after the United Nations — are backing a blockchain-based currency scheme to enhance...
Kenya landslides kill 29 as homes swept away after torrential rain | World news
At least 29 people were killed in Kenya when their homes were swept away in landslides during overnight rainstorms, the government said. Their homes were...
Africa Roundup: Goldman leads $30M Twiga raise, China grows tech influence, Jumia weathers lockup-expiry
Kenya’s Twiga Foods raised a total of $30 million in October from lenders and investors led by Goldman Sachs. This adds to the list of...
How Britain dishonoured its African first world war dead | World news
Next week marks the centenary of the first Remembrance Sunday. But over the decades, hundreds of thousands of war dead who served Britain in the...
Naspers Foundry is open for South African startup pitches, CEO says
Naspers’ 1.4 billion rand (≈$100 million) VC fund to support South African startups — Naspers Foundry — is accepting pitches, after making its first investment...