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

Nigerian credit-led fintech FairMoney acquires PayForce in retail-merchant banking play

Nigerian credit-led digital banking platform FairMoney has acquired PayForce (sub-brand of YC-backed CrowdForce), a merchant payment services that serves small businesses, as the digital lender looks

Naspers shuts down Foundry, its $100M fund focused on South African startups

Naspers, Africa’s most valuable tech company by market capitalization, has wound down the operations of its R1.4 billion (≈$100 million) South Africa-focused venture capital fund Naspers Foundry,

Nigerian B2B e-commerce startup Alerzo cuts 15% of full-time staff in second round of layoffs

Alerzo, a Nigerian B2B e-commerce platform that digitizes commerce and payments processes between FMCG suppliers and informal retailers, has laid off 15% of its full-time workforce, the company confir

Alleged security breach leaves millions of dollars missing from Flutterwave accounts

Last month, Flutterwave, Africa’s largest startup by private valuation, was involved in a hack that resulted in more than ₦2.9 billion (~$4.2 million) missing from its accounts, according to local

South African car subscription service Planet42 raises $100M equity, debt

Planet42, a South Africa-based car subscription company that buys used cars from dealerships and rents to customers via a subscription model, has raised $100 million in equity and debt from a wide ran

Chipper Cash executes second round of layoffs less than three months after axing 12.5% of staff

African cross-border payments platform Chipper Cash conducted a second round of layoffs last Friday just 10 weeks after it cut approximately 12.5% of its workforce (affecting its engineering team the

Co-Creation Hub’s edtech accelerator puts $15M towards African startups

Africa’s largest innovation hub Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB) is launching a $15 million accelerator program, dubbed The Edtech Fellowship Program, to back and support 72 startups across Nigeria and Kenya

Jumia laid off 20% of staff in Q4 2022 amid work to reduce losses by half this year

Jumia, as part of its streamlining efforts, reduced headcount among managerial roles by 60% in Dubai and undertook overall headcount reductions that resulted in more than 900 position terminations acr

Dash CEO placed on ‘indefinite administrative leave’ as the Insight-backed startup carries out financial audit

Prince Boakye Boampong, the founder and CEO of Dash, which provides an alternative payment network with connected wallets allowing interaction between mobile money and bank accounts in Africa, has all

IFC leads $17M investment in South African insurtech Naked

Naked Insurance, a South African insurtech company that helps consumers to insure their cars, homes and valuables, has raised $17 million in Series B funding led by the International Finance Corporati

Costanoa Ventures and Norrsken22 back Smile Identity in $20M Series B round

The importance of KYC and identity verification in an increasing fintech landscape like Africa’s cannot be overemphasized. As thousands of financial institutions serve millions of Africans, stringen

Nigeria’s Curacel raises funding to power insurance offerings and expand into North Africa

As many as 2.8% of Africans are insured, which is less than half the global average of 6.3%, making it the least insured continent in the world. Despite the abysmal number, there’s some good news. A

Jendaya raises funding to scale its Africa-focused luxury e-commerce platform

Fashion items are among the most — if not the most — sought after on many e-commerce platforms. In Africa, for instance, fashion has held the top spot in Jumia for the largest category of items so

After a record 2022, 8 investors explain why it’s ‘still just Day 1’ for Africa’s startup ecosystem

What drove Africa's record deal volumes when the rest of the world was reining back the enthusiasm of 2021? We polled a few investors to find out.

Egyptian health tech Yodawy raises $16M, backed by Delivery Hero Ventures

Without proper government-led public health initiatives, healthcare expenditures, including insurance and pharmaceutical drugs, can burden individuals and households. In recent years, private institut

Sendmarc nabs $7M to offer email protection from phishing attacks and email impersonation

Over 90% of cybercrime activities that lead to financial fraud or identity theft start with an email impersonation, commonly known as phishing and spoofing. Several platforms offer individuals and bus

Partech hits first close of largest Africa-focused fund, at €245M

Partech, the global VC firm with several funds, has reached first close of Partech Africa II at €245 million (~$263 million), making it the largest Africa-focused fund yet.  The firm, which focus

SunFi aims to be the fastest way for Nigerians to find, finance and manage solar

SunFi, the Nigerian clean tech startup that connects people and businesses who want solar energy access to payment plans that match their needs, has raised $2.325 million in seed funding. The self-des

South African digital lender Lulalend to launch banking product off the back of $35M Series B

In most African countries, access to credit remains limited for many small businesses, with the reasons ranging from the inability to pay collateral and lack of credit history to unfavorable lending c

Egyptian financial services provider MNT-Halan valued at $1B in $400M funding

Egyptian fintech and e-commerce ecosystem MNT-Halan has raised up to $400 million in equity and debt financing from local and global investors as it continues to serve underbanked and unbanked custome
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