Tage Kene-Okafor

Tage Kene-Okafor covers startups and investment activities in Nigeria and Africa for TechCrunch. Before this, Tage reported on the same beat for Techpoint Africa.

You can hit him up at tage.techcrunch@gmail.com

The Latest from Tage Kene-Okafor

YC-backed fintech Bujeti raises $2M for its corporate cards and spend management platform

African corporate cards and spend management platform Bujeti has raised $2 million in seed funding. The startup, involved with how African businesses, including SMBs, startups and enterprises, manage

Egypt’s Mtor nabs $2.8M pre-seed for its online auto parts marketplace

Egyptian online auto parts marketplace Mtor has raised $2.8 million in pre-seed investment led by Egypt-focused venture capital firm Algebra Ventures. Other investors that participated in the round in

Immensa, a MENA-based additive manufacturing and digital inventory platform, raises $20 million 

The global energy spare parts market is valued at over $90 billion, with the Middle East representing about 35% of this sector. This sector remains largely untapped by existing additive manufacturing

South African startup GoMetro gets £9M for its fleet management optimization software

GoMetro, a South African tech company that operates in the fleet management space, has raised £9 million (~$11.4 million) in a Series A funding round led by Zenobē Energy, a strategic investor renow

FrontEdge raises $10M in debt, equity from TLG, Flexport to facilitate trade for African exporters

In the dynamic landscape of African international trade, a prevalent challenge looms large: A mere 30% of trade volumes find financial intermediaries in banks. This glaring gap in financing disproport

Paystack reduces operations outside of Africa, affecting 33 employees in Europe and Dubai

African payments company Paystack has reduced its operations outside of Africa, trimming its workforce in Europe and Dubai. This decision comes as part of a streamlining effort, particularly in market

InDrive launches ventures and M&A arm to invest $100M in startups across emerging markets

InDrive, the “bid-based” ride-hail platform popular in Latin America and Asia, has launched a new venture and merger and acquisition division named New Ventures to invest up to $100 millio

Jumia reports GMV growth in physical goods across five countries and lowest losses since IPO

In Q3 2023, Jumia reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $15 million, marking the lowest since its IPO in 2019 (outperforming the $27 million recorded in Q1 and $19.3 million in Q2) and a substantial dec

Why Norrsken founder Niklas Adalberth is betting on Africa

In 2016, Niklas Adalberth, co-founder of Klarna, exited the buy now, pay later giant to establish the Norrsken Foundation, a nonprofit organization grounded in the principles of effective altruism. Wh

Shekel Mobility, a B2B marketplace for auto dealers in Africa, raises $7M led by Ventures Platform and MaC VC

The World Economic Forum states that Africa has an average annual demand for 2.4 million cars and 300,000 commercial vehicles. This demand is increasing because of a continent-wide increase in disposa

Norrsken22’s debut fund closes at $205M to back growth-stage startups in Africa

It’s exciting times for growth-stage investment in Africa as Norrsken22, a Pan-African venture capital firm, achieves the final close of its debut fund, raising a total of $205 million, surpassing i

Buy now, pay later platform Tabby nabs $200M in Series D funding at $1.5B valuation

The past year and a half have witnessed multiple startups facing valuation cuts as funding from VCs waned in an environment of rising interest rates. In this context, fintechs, especially buy now, pay

Egyptian health tech Almouneer raises $3.6M to scale its platform for treating diabetes and obesity

Obesity and prediabetes are major health concerns in Africa and the Middle East, affecting more than 40% of the population. In Egypt, 20% of adults have diabetes; the figure in Saudi Arabia is 30%. In

French soccer players back African mobile video network StarNews Mobile in $3M round

African mobile video network StarNews Mobile has secured $3 million in pre-Series A funding. StarNews offers African content creators a platform for monetizing their work through a subscription model.

African VCs and startups are eyeing the Middle East for new capital, but there’s a catch

African startup funding has seen a significant decline of more than 50% over the past three quarters compared to the previous year, as reported by The Big Deal. To date, startups on the continent have

In the wake of Dash’s closure due to fraud, 5 investors talk due diligence in Africa

It’s been a tough year for tech startups globally. These struggles have manifested in layoffs, down rounds and complete shutdowns caused by current market conditions, utter mismanagement or fraud.

New solar mini-grids in Africa to be powered by Husk Power Systems’ $103M Series D

Husk Power Systems, a clean energy company at the forefront of fueling rural electrification since 2008 and that announced plans to launch 500 solar mini-grids in Nigeria over the next five years, has

Sony Ventures earmarks $10M to invest in African entertainment startups

Sony Group announced today that it has established Sony Innovation Fund: Africa (SIF: AF), a program that will support the growth of entertainment businesses in Africa. Appropriately, the Tokyo multin

Stitch raises $25M Series A extension led by Ribbit Capital, increasing the round’s total to $46M

Open banking, in which traditional banks release their data via application programming interfaces (APIs) to enable the development of new financial services for their consumers, has been one of the m

African VC firm Enza Capital launches founder partner program as it closes $58M across funds

Enza Capital, a venture capital firm that backs startups “organizing the offline online” and “digitizing key African industries,” has closed $58 million across two funds. In 2019, the company
Load More