African tech took center stage in 2021

Two years ago, the African tech ecosystem saw newfound attention from global players that translated to the continent’s best year of receiving venture capital. From varying sources, it is estimated up to $2 billion went into African tech startups in 2019. With high-profile visits from the most famous Jacks (Ma and Dorsey), a long-awaited first […]

MainOne CEO Funke Opeke says Equinix is buying her company for the right price

The African tech scene woke up today to exciting news about the landmark acquisition of MainOne, one of the region’s most important and pivotal tech companies in the past decade, by Equinix, a U.S. multinational specializing in internet connection data centers. The story of MainOne starts with founder and CEO Funke Opeke moving back to […]

TradeDepot raises $110M from IFC, Novastar to extend BNPL service to merchants across Africa

Startups digitizing B2B e-commerce and retail in Africa continue to grab the headlines after the pandemic paved the way for widespread offline retail and commerce disruption. TradeDepot, a Nigeria- and U.S.-based company that connects consumer goods brands to thousands of retailers and help out with distribution, has raised $110 million in new equity and debt […]

Norrsken Foundation’s hub opens in Rwanda, to house 1,000 entrepreneurs by next year

In 2019, Swedish coworking space and investment fund Norrsken Foundation announced the launch of its first entrepreneurship hub outside the Scandinavian nation in Rwanda. The center, located in Kigali, has finally opened up to the region, though it is happening in two phases. The first, which took place yesterday, will welcome 250 entrepreneurs. The second phase […]

Stitch gets a $2M seed extension, hires Benjamin Dada to lead Nigerian expansion

Two months into 2021, South African fintech Stitch came out of stealth and raised $4 million in seed funding, allowing it to begin to make inroads into Nigeria some months ago. Today, Stitch formally announced the expansion into Nigeria and a seed extension of $2 million to go with it; the total seed investment now stands […]

Vendease gets $3.2M to help hotels and restaurants buy food supplies in Africa

Vendease, an online marketplace that allows restaurants and other food businesses to buy supplies straight from manufacturers and farms, has raised a seed round of $3.2 million, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The news is coming seven months after TechCrunch announced that the company, founded in January 2020, took part in Y Combinator’s winter batch […]

A leaked bill for Nigerian startups reveals a theme of licenses, fees, fines, and sentences

For a while, there have been talks about revamping the outdated 2007 Act of Nigeria’s information and technology body, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). The bill which established NITDA as the agency to oversee Nigeria’s technological transformation is quite outdated. This past decade, Nigeria has arguably become Africa’s most attractive destination for venture […]