Energy startup becomes Africa’s first solar company to launch renewables payment scheme for Nigerians abroad Arnergy, Nigeria’s leading distributed utility company delivering solar energy solutions, has today announced the launch of the Diaspora Initiative – a groundbreaking scheme enabling the global Nigerian diaspora to invest in solar energy solutions on behalf of local individuals and […]
Category Archives: Startups
startups
Lessons from the insurtech start-up that caught the eye of industry giants While November has always been synonymous with National Entrepreneurship Month, you’d be forgiven for wondering if it’s really necessary to dedicate 30 days to encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit, when it seems that just about everyone aspires to be coffee-guzzling, always-hustling, meme-inspiring business owner nowadays. Yet, as any […]
AfricArena, which provides open innovation challenges, research and dealflow services to help accelerate the work of founders, investors and corporates, hosted its fifth annual Summit from 16 – 17 November in Cape Town. It was preceded by its Founders’ Bootcamp and VC Unconference Weekends, attended by 60 high level international investors and 40 startups from […]
The Annual Investment Meeting 2022 has announced prizes for Startups attending the pitching competition. The Annual Investment Meeting will serve as the premiere platform for Startups planning to scale up & expand to Dubai. The world’s renowned and leading investment platform, The Annual Investment Meeting, will be providing prizes for startups at the startup pitch […]
Healthtech startup, DrugStoc has raised USD 4.4 million in Series A funding to expand access to quality medicines while providing sustainable supply chain financing for healthcare providers in Sub-Saharan Africa. The funding round is led by Africa HealthCare Master Fund (AAIC), and other investors include Chicago-based venture firm Vested World and the German Development Bank […]
In 2020 and 2021, the African continent spawned more unicorns than ever before with at least eight companies now being valued at more than one billion dollars by investors. To keep the momentum going in 2022, Pranary (formerly Startup Circles), will be kicking off its Business Growth Week from Monday, the 15th of November 2021. This is a free […]
A new book from Burnet Media, Cape Town will inspire and guide the next generation of African entrepreneurs. Failing To Win by Mike Quinn is the authentic story of a uniquely African startup at the forefront of the continent’s fintech revolution. Inspired to become the “M-Pesa of southern Africa” after Kenya’s pioneering mobile money innovation, […]
Startup testimony Charles Bwanika, a new generation social entrepreneur Charles Bwanika is a new generation social entrepreneur, passionate about undertaking positive challenges to bring about positive impact people’s lives he’s a seasoned child rights activist, experienced and qualified Community development expert with aBA in Development Studies (BDS) and a Diploma in Community Psychology from Ndejje […]
This week, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) got underway in Glasgow, turning the world’s attention to the global climate crisis and the solutions needed to address this. But many solutions already exist… in Africa. “Whilst we are delighted that nearly 500 global financial firms have agreed to align $130 trillion – 40% of the […]
Casablanca, Morocco, 1st November 2021. — Draper Startup House has opened its first location in Morocco, partnering with KOWORK Anfa Place in Casablanca. With the launch, Draper Startup House expands its presence into Africa in a year when tech startups in the continent raised a record-breaking $1.1 billion through the first eight months of the […]
This week, the Presidential Office held a special meeting with individuals from various organisations that are invested in the growth and support of local entrepreneurs and businesses to discuss what is needed to eliminate the red tape obstructing the growth of small and medium enterprises. Among them were representatives from the South African Startup Act […]
“Africa’s new bank for startups and SMEs” to expand to South Africa & Kenya following funding Brass, a Nigerian digital bank delivering easy access to affordable premium banking services for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), has today secured $1.7mn in funding to address the heavily underserved banking needs of local entrepreneurs, traders and fast-growing businesses. […]
Zama Zaca, Head of New Business at Tetris South Africa, shares some design tips on how to make workspaces more inclusive and improve employee mental wellness of employees. Mental health has been in the spotlight recently, with people under strain from the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and top athletes opening up about their mental health struggles […]
African unicorns have made big news in recent months, with four startups having recently reached a $1 billion valuation or more this year alone, taking the total up to seven. Two of the new entrants are in fintech, one in edtech, and one in general technology. These and other technology-enabled sectors are where emerging market […]
FSD Africa, the UK Government’s flagship financial sector programme in Africa, is making an initial investment (£650,000) in a highly innovative digital solution connecting carbon credits from small-scale green projects across the global south to international buyers. The investment will deliver funding through the test phase of the solution being developed by Nick Hughes, who […]
Peach Payments is pleased to announce that it has set up an office in Mauritius recently in pursuit of its pan-African expansion strategy. As a FinTech start-up that was set up in South Africa in 2012 and expanded into Kenya in 2018, the company is set to make a significant contribution to the pan-African FinTech landscape […]
By Jana Botha, Tax Consultant, and Prenisha Govender, Associate, Tax Practice, Baker McKenzie Johannesburg The pandemic-fuelled growth of the digital economy and unabated demand for online retail products across Africa have led to extensive disruption in the Consumer Goods and Retail Sector (CG&R) sector. Due to a growth in demand for online retail, CG&R companies […]
Julia Gillard, Former Prime Minister of Australia & Chair of Andela, announced as keynote speaker TLcom Capital, the Africa-focussed venture capital firm, has officially announced the launch of the 2021 Africa Tech Female Founder Summit, which will be held virtually on Wednesday 13th October 2021. The keynote session is headlined by Julia Gillard, former Prime […]
The EMERGING Valley international summit, an unmissable annual meeting for African and European Tech stakeholders, is aimed at entrepreneurial ecosystems and organic innovation in Africa, the Mediterranean and Europe. Startups, public decision-makers, large groups, investors, tech hubs, and public and private international institutions from over 70 countries, will come together in Marseille to present the disruptive […]
It was all systems go at the inaugural Demo Day for the Telecel Group Africa Startup Initiative Program (ASIP), powered by leading tech accelerator, Startupbootcamp (SBC) AfriTech. For the top ten startups selected from a pool of over 2,200 applications, it represented the culmination of three months of hard work, great effort, and the promise of a bigger future. […]
While 2020 was a record year for investment into the African tech startup ecosystem, with more startups raising more money from more investors than ever before[i]- critics and commentators alike have often claimed that Silicon Valley-style investment frameworks are ill-suited to the continent’s diversity and nuanced need for funding. With investment into African startups considered […]
Cape Town is featured in the world’s preeminent report on advancing startup ecosystems – ranking as the #1 African Ecosystem in Knowledge The 2021 Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) by Startup Genome and the Global Entrepreneurship Network was launched today at London Tech Week. The GSER is the world’s most comprehensive and widely read research on startups […]