The Latest from Tage Kene-Okafor
Rensource-spinoff Sabi closes $6M bridge round, expands B2B retail platform outside Nigeria
Nigeria’s informal trade sector, worth over $244 billion, has more than 40 million micro, small and medium businesses. Most of these businesses operated offline until a few years ago when startups b
Nigeria’s OnePipe raises $3.5M to double down on its embedded finance offering
Last year, fintech API infrastructure players came into the African tech scene, ushering in Plaid-like services to businesses and developers. And the attention on these companies, particularly from ve
South Africa’s Mobiz nabs $4M to expand personalized SMS marketing into the US
Mobiz, a South African startup integrating hyper-personalization into mobile marketing, has raised a pre-Series A round of $ 4 million from HAVAÍC, Futuregrowth, Launch Africa, Allan Gray E-Squared V
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao talks regulation and platform’s activities in Africa
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao launched Binance in 2017 and, according to some sources, the company grew into the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world in 180 days. The Wall Street Journal r
Nigerian fintech Abeg faces its biggest test yet after blitzscaling to millions of users
On October 3, “Big Brother Naija,” a reality show sponsored by Nigerian social payments company Abeg, came to a rapturous close after 72 days on air. The show, which commenced on July 24, is the m
Nigeria’s Kippa gets $3.2M pre-seed for its small business finance management app
Millions of small businesses globally, especially in emerging markets, have stayed offline for the better part of the past decade. Due to that, most of them still rely on scribbles using pen and paper
South African payments gateway Ozow raises $48M Series B led by Tencent
According to a 2019 report by Deloitte, about 80% of South Africans have a bank account but only 24% of them make more than three transactions monthly. Unlike other African countries, South Africa als
Jumia posts revenue and order gains, but compounding losses drag its stock lower
Pan-African e-commerce company Jumia released its third-quarter financial performance today, detailing a mix of expected and surprising results. When TechCrunch discussed the company’s Q2 2020 finan
South Africa’s NFTfi raises $5M so people can use their NFTs as collateral for loans
Once regarded as a fad (for some, it still is), NFTs, digital assets that depict real-world objects, are becoming increasingly popular within and outside the crypto world. But with large amounts of ca
Nigerian shared mobility startup Shuttlers raises $1.6M, plans pan-African expansion
Shared transportation in Nigeria, Africa’s largest country by population, is a thriving business, at least when done the conventional way: offline. With millions of Nigerians using danfo minibuses a
Nomod raises $3.4M seed to allow merchants accept payments without hardware
Micro and small businesses in emerging markets still struggle to access digital payments for several reasons. One, most of them are excluded from various payment ecosystems globally due to their size,
South Africa’s Root gets $3M, plans to expand low-code insurance platform to Europe
Insurance lags behind other financial services in the adoption of digital technologies. Granted, a few unicorns have popped up from the modern digital insurance space such as Tractable and Lemonade; h
TLcom Capital managing partner Maurizio Caio on African unicorns, valuations and exits
Global tech talent platform Andela attained a $1.5 billion valuation this September and is currently the only non-fintech unicorn from Africa. Foreign capital propelled Andela to this status, however,
Flutterwave acquires Disha, a creator platform that planned to shutter in February
In February, Disha, a Nigeria-based platform that allows digital creators to curate, sell digital content, create portfolios and receive payments from their audience globally, announced that it was cl
MFS Africa collects $100M to expand its digital payments gateway across the region
Investor interest in African fintech continues to grab headlines with large fundraises. Today, Africa’s largest digital payments network MFS Africa joins the fray. The company confirmed to TechCrunc
Rabbit, a 20-minute convenience delivery startup in Egypt, comes out of stealth with $11M pre-seed
The rapid on-demand grocery and convenience delivery craze that has taken over Europe and the U.S. this past year is gradually making its way into Africa and the Middle East. Today, the spotlight is o
Fidelity, Visa and Kingsway back South African fintech JUMO in $120M round
JUMO, a South Africa- and London-based company that offers financial services to entrepreneurs and businesses in emerging markets, has raised $120 million in a new round of funding led by Fidelity Man
Egypt’s Breadfast wants to build ‘Gopuff for Africa and Middle East’, gets $26M backing
The market for food and grocery delivery across Africa and the Middle East is worth nearly $1 trillion. And Egypt, buoyed by a young and growing population, is a big market across both regions. Invest
Bypa-ss raises $1M pre-seed to expand health tech product across Egypt
Digital healthcare continues to thrive globally following the effects of the pandemic last year, but venture capital inflows differ regionally with Africa lagging behind the rest of the world. However