africa
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African trading platform WaystoCap raises $3M right after graduating Y Combinator
Cross-border commerce platform WaystoCap has raised new funding to expand its reach in Africa, the startup confirmed to TechCrunch today. A recent graduate from the Y Combinator accelerator program in the U.S., WaystoCap is an online destination for buyers and sellers of business-to-business goods in Africa. Founded in Casablanca, Morocco, it aims to digitize the centuries old… Read More
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Microsoft will soon open its first two data centers in Africa
Microsoft today announced that it will soon open two data center regions for its cloud-based services in Johannesburg and Cape Town South Africa. This marks Microsoft’s first data center expansion into Africa, and the plan is to get these new regions online in 2018. Read More
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Africa Roundup: Cameroon’s #BringBackOurInternet succeeds, Nigeria’s Cars45.com raises $5M
Cameroon’s #BringBackOurInternet movement achieved its demand. After 94 days of a state imposed web blackout, on April 20 the country’s government turned the net back on. The three month outage forced the hand of Africa’s largest telecom (MTN), halted operations of its leading e-commerce startup (Jumia), and created digital refugees. The disruption also prompted the… Read More
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Opera doubles down on Africa with $100M plan to make its browser a media platform
Opera, the Norwegian browser-maker that was sold to a Chinese consortium last year, is doubling down on the African market after it announced plans to invest $100 million to grow its business in the emerging region. The company is well known for its reach in emerging markets, and Africa in particular where it recently reached 100 million users. This $100 million budget is principally for… Read More
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Nigeria’s Cars45 closes $5M round to digitize Africa’s used autos markets
Africa’s startup boom is moving into the used-vehicle space. Nigeria based Cars45.com raised a $5 million Series A round from the Frontier Cars Group, a holding company whose backers include Balderton Capital, EchoVC, TPG Growth, and NEA. Cars45 will deploy the capital to improve its platform that buys, sells, prices, and rates the condition of pre-owned autos. “The used-car… Read More
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Crunch Network
Tech and politics clash in Cameroon as government restores internet
The government of Cameroon ended its internet blackout of parts of the country last week, according to news reports and confirmation from the country’s Ambassador to the U.S. The three month outage forced the hand of Africa’s largest telecom, halted operations of its leading e-commerce startup, and created digital refugees. Read More
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Crunch Network
Africa Roundup: Google expands, 500 Startups tours, BRCK launches SupaBRCK
March was a busy month across Africa’s tech space. 500 Startups’ frontier and emerging markets travel series ― Geeks on a Plane ― kicked off its first Africa tour. The 12-day trek packed in events, a startup pitch battle, and visits to tech hubs in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa. Talking to TechCrunch about the trip, 500 Startups CEO Dave McClure confirmed “we’re… Read More
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Geeks on a Plane Africa kicks off as 500 Startups eyes tech for the continent and beyond
500 Startups’ frontier and emerging markets travel series ― Geeks on a Plane ― kicks off its first Africa tour this week. The 12-day trip will make stops in Nigeria (Lagos), Ghana (Accra) and South Africa (Johannesburg and Cape Town). Read More
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Kangpe is a mobile service connecting Africa to healthcare
Healthcare in Africa might conjure up an image of some physician working in a remote village via Doctors without Borders but mobile technology is rapidly changing the entire continent and Y Combinator startup Kangpe Health aims to cash in by providing Africans with a platform to contact doctors remotely through their mobile devices. People access Kangpe’s platform by firing up the mobile… Read More
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Google expands its African initiatives
Alphabet is committing to training another 1 million students under its Digital Skills for Africa program in the next 12 months. Read More
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Kenyan startup BRCK launches SupaBRCK device to solve Africa’s internet equation
Kenyan communications hardware company BRCK unveiled its SupaBRCK this week — a waterproof, solar-powered Wi-Fi box that operates as a 3G hotspot and off-grid server. Read More
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Safaricom and mSurvey launch Consumer Wallet to map Africa’s cash economy
Kenya’s leading mobile provider, Safaricom, is teaming up with data collection startup mSurvey to launch Consumer Wallet ― an online platform using mobile and SMS to map Africa’s cash-based economy. Read More
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Facebook digs into mobile infrastructure in Uganda, TIP aims $170M to startups
While Google is using MWC to show off some of its advances in native apps on mobile devices — specifically in chat apps — the world’s biggest chat app company is doing something completely different. Today, Facebook announced that it is building a 770-kilometer (500-mile) fiber backhaul network in Uganda, in partnership with India’s Airtel and wholesale provider… Read More
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WaystoCap is bringing Africa’s cross-border trade into the digital era
WaystoCap is an e-commerce firm taking part in the current Y Combinator program. Wait… “E-commerce, meh, done to death…” I hear you say…. True in part. Yes, in the U.S., Europe, Asia and elsewhere the consumer platforms are already in place. But there remains much more to be done across the world, particularly in markets were internet access is nascent and… Read More
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Crunch Network
No cobalt, no Tesla?
The battery industry uses 42 percent of global cobalt production, critical for Lithium-ion cells. Much of the world’s supply of cobalt comes out of Africa. Chinese players recently bought controlling stakes in one of Africa’s largest known cobalt sources. Tesla has stated that the cobalt it needs will be sourced in North America, but the math doesn’t add up. Is Tesla doomed? Read More
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2016 Africa roundup: drone delivery, VC, unicorns, exits and Zuck
Twenty-sixteen was a pivotal year for African tech. The continent’s IT scene attracted major investment, produced its first $1 billion startup, launched a national drone delivery program, and drew one of Silicon Valley’s biggest icons to tour its innovation hubs. Read More
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Crunch Network
Expanding fitness wearables in Africa, Garmin launches a watch line in Ghana with MTN
Garmin has partnered with mobile telecom giant MTN to launch a line of fitness watches in Ghana. The GPS navigation and sports tech company will offer its vivoFit3, vivoMove, vivoActive, Fenix3, and vivoSmart activity trackers through select MTN Ghana distribution outlets. Read More
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Crunch Network
Africa’s tech hubs
Innovation hubs have become a mainstay of Africa’s emerging technology ecosystem. Scratch the surface of the continent’s information and communication building blocks and you’ll likely find connections to a tech space. Read More
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Flutterwave aims to unify Africa’s fragmented payment systems and empower small businesses
There’s no shortage of entrepreneurs in Africa, but their ambitions are often hampered by the lack in many countries of reliable and affordable digital payment systems. Moneywave wants to empower individuals and small merchants to take part in the thriving digital economy by letting them accept payment however it’s offered, and receive it instantly in whatever form they choose. Read More
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Foodstantly is transforming how people shop for food in Nigeria
Operating a service delivering food to both consumers and hotel chains and restaurants, Foodstantly is hoping to make the process of shopping for food more transparent and safer for all Nigerians (and ultimately across Africa). Read More
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