Government says it will ‘deploy entire defensive capability’ and Amhara region threatens attack against Tigray forcesEthiopia’s spreading conflict has escalated after the government warned that it could deploy its “entire defensive capability” against …
Raise, a startup building Africa’s Carta, gets backing from 500 Startups
As startups in Africa continue to grow and raise money at a ridiculous pace, so too will their cap tables expand. Most African startups’ bulk of VC money is from foreign investors, making it imperative for African startups to incorporate abroad, especially in the U.S. The processes for incorporation are quite complicated, and even though […]
Nigeria’s Decagon raises millions to finance and train software engineers
This past decade, Nigeria has seen several companies cater to the development and growth of software engineers and tech talent in general. It’s a space many in the Nigerian ecosystem like to think is budding yet overcrowded. So when Chika Nwobi started Decagon in 2018, the perception was generally “here comes another tech talent accelerator.” […]
The first Zambian startup to get into YC is developing Africa’s first card-issuing API
More than 40 African startups from a handful of countries have gone through YC over the past decade. Zambia joins that list today, and its entrant, Union54, is a worthy first entry. Union54 (54 is a nod to the number of African countries) is a fintech company founded by Perseus Mlambo and Alessandra Martini. The […]
Nigerian digital freight provider MVX lands $1.3M to help shippers move cargoes faster
In Africa, chartering vessels and processing ocean freight can be challenging. The sector is largely inefficient and fragmented. Merchants also struggle to access finance to perform cross-border trade in the continent. A couple of digital freight companies are tackling this problem, like Nigerian-based MVX. The company today is announcing its $1.3 million seed round to […]
Why are low-risk countries on the Covid travel ‘red list’? | Letters
Dr Peninah Murage says the unjust traffic light system penalises poor countries even though some have relatively low numbers of cases. Plus Dot Mornington-West on being under house arrest after returning from FranceCan the Guardian please investigate t…
‘It has our energy, our story’: asakaa, Ghana’s vibrant drill rap scene
From the US and UK, drill has spread to Ghana, where it provides a voice for the excluded. On the streets of Kumasi, the scene’s MCs tell their storyAhead of a music video shoot on a leafy street in Kumasi, Ghana’s second city, Yaw Tog and his friends …
Naspers leads $11M investment in South African insurtech Naked
South African insurtech platform Naked has raised $11 million in a Naspers-led round. Existing investors, Yellowwoods and Hollard, also participated in the funding round. This comes barely two weeks after Naspers, via its early-stage tech investment vehicle Naspers Foundry, invested in another South African insurtech platform Ctrl in its $2.3 million Series B round. Naked’s […]
Kenya’s Wapi Pay raises $2.2M pre-seed for cross-border payments between Africa and Asia
According to the World Bank, it is more expensive to send money to sub-Saharan African than to any region in the world. It is also the most expensive region to send money from. In Q1 2020, people spent an average of 8.9% to send money to the region, much higher than the global average of […]
South Africa’s Khula closes $1.3M seed to scale its software-for-agriculture platform
The myriad challenges faced by smallholder farmers in Africa — inadequate financing, education and input distribution — persist and greatly affect the agricultural output on the continent.