Stigma can stop women seeking help but Hawa Bah, who was cut at eight, reaches those suffering in silence to get them the care they needOne night 14 years ago, Hawa Bah crept out of her house in Guinea and slipped into the darkness. She says she had lo…
MaxAB gets an extra $15M, acquires YC-backed Moroccan startup WaystoCap
Last month, MaxAB, the Egyptian B2B e-commerce platform that serves food and grocery retailers, raised one of the largest Series A on the continent, to the tune of $40 million. Today, it has raised a $15 million extension from existing investors — RMBV, IFC, Flourish Ventures, Crystal Stream Capital, Rise Capital, Endeavour Catalyst, Beco Capital […]
African fintech OPay valued at $2B in SoftBank Vision Fund 2-led $400M funding
Chinese-backed and Africa-focused fintech company OPay raised $400 million in new financing led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Bloomberg reported Monday, valuing the company at $2 billion. The round, which marks the Fund’s first investment in an African startup, drew participation from existing investors like Sequoia Capital China, Redpoint China, Source Code Capital, and Softbank […]
Mobility startup Plentywaka picks up $1.2M seed, acquires Ghana’s Stabus
Lagos and Toronto-based mobility startup Plentywaka has raised a $1.2 million seed round to scale its operations on the back of leaving the Techstars Toronto accelerator program last month. Canadian-based VC firm The Xchange led the round, SOSV and Shock Ventures participated, while Techstars Toronto made a follow-on investment. Nigerian firms Argentil Capital Partners and […]
‘Nothing to eat’: Somalia hit by triple threat of climate crisis, Covid and conflict
Overlapping crises have pushed the fragile east African country to the ‘cusp of humanitarian catastrophe’, with one in four facing food insecuritySuch was the horror that erupted in her village earlier this year that Fadumo Ali Mohamed decided she had …
Y Combinator, 500 Startups, Plug and Play invest in Odiggo’s $2.2M seed round
Servicing one’s car personally is a time-consuming, expensive and painstaking process. It’s a cycle that can lead to more expensive repairs and safety issues down the line, and no car owner likes that. Egypt and Dubai-based auto tech startup Odiggo is a platform addressing this problem. It allows car owners to get the help they […]
From solar power in Africa to UK tomatoes – the eco-schemes to turn your cash green
Savings rates are low but some green investments can pay up to 8% interest a yearEnvironmentally conscious consumers fed up with low savings rates are being targeted by a variety of green investments paying up to 8% interest a year.However, those think…
Alerzo raises $10.5M Series A to bring Nigeria’s informal retail sector online
The process of digitizing the operations of mom and pop stores in Nigeria is serious business right now. In fact, it might be the second-best thing after fintech at the moment. Today’s news is from Alerzo, a little-known B2B e-commerce retail startup based in Ibadan, Nigeria. The company is announcing a $10.5 million Series A […]
Forty people feared dead as woman rescued from dinghy off Canary Islands
The woman, who was trying to make the trip from Africa, was found lying next to two bodies and ‘in a bad state’, officials sayAbout 40 migrants are feared dead after rescuers recovered a lone woman clinging to an overturned dinghy that had been carryin…
Sexting, lies and unveiled selfies: the Egyptian film exploring the hidden lives of teenage girls
Ayten Amin’s Souad is a razor-sharp portrayal of sisterhood and sexual awakening that is rarely represented on screenWhen the Egyptian director Ayten Amin was 10 years old, a classmate’s sister killed herself. The news gripped the school. But, in a soc…