startups in africa Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

SA Startup – Omnisient – Wins Global Award

29Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Startups

SA Startup – Omnisient – Wins Global Award

Omnisient is a leading technology provider of a secure data collaboration platform that empowers organisations to derive deep insights from their data. The company helps organisations unlock growth opportunities and new audience segments without compromising the privacy of their customers. Omnisient’s recent recognition by the World Marketing Congress proves yet again that the African continent is producing some astonishing scale-ups and entrepreneurs, along with innovative solutions to complex challenges. On 15 July, Omnisient was awarded the prestigious South African Best Brands citation at the CMO Asia Brand Leadership Awards 2021. Launched in 2010, the initiative’s intention is to identify and celebrate outstanding brand building and marketing by organisations and recognise prof...

9Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Startups

Seven South African legal startups to pitch for EUR 10,000 grant

Virtual pitching event to occur on 13 July, register to attend The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) kicked off its annual global Innovating Justice Challenge in search of the region’s best justice-related social entrepreneurs in March this year. With more than 200 applications from startups with high impact justice innovations, HiiL has selected the top seven in Southern Africa to pitch to an esteemed panel and are inviting interested community members to join the presentation. Adam Oxford, Head of the HiiL Innovation Hub Southern Africa, says that an estimated 70 percent of justice problems remain unresolved due to lack of access, trust, and high costs. These issues often result in poor outcomes for health, equality, and economic stability. “By addressing justice over the past...

Startups. After a new record number of applications for EMERGING Mediterranean, it’s time for the next program highlight: the Bootcamp of the 2 Shores, July 9-11

7Jul

By EMERGING MediterraneanNo Comments

Algeria News, Libya News, Mauritania, Morocco News, Startups, Tunisia News

Startups. After a new record number of applications for EMERGING Mediterranean, it’s time for the next program highlight: the Bootcamp of the 2 Shores, July 9-11

The 30 shortlisted startups will attend 3 inspiring days Once again, the EMERGING Mediterranean call for applications was an undeniable success with 305 applications, 31% of which were from women, giving an overall increase of 34% compared to 2020. A success revealing a dynamic region, a go-getting youth community and the programme’s strong interest entrepreneurial ecosystems. The next big highlight - the Bootcamp of the 2 Shores - will train 30 startups with coaching sessions and exceptional mentors. At the end of its recent call for applications for high-impact entrepreneurs from the South Shore of the Mediterranean who work in social economy and financial inclusion, mobility, agritech, e-health and climate, EMERGING Mediterranean is pleased to announce the next edition of the Bootcamp ...

29Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech, Startups

Telecel Group ASIP Accelerator powered by Startupbootcamp AfriTech selects Top 10 startups for 2021 Cohort

Telecel Group Africa Startup Initiative Program (ASIP), with Africa's top early-stage tech Accelerator, Startupbootcamp Afritech, has selected the 10 tech startups that will participate in the inaugural ASIP Accelerator. The program received a record 2229 applications and managed to narrow it down to the Top 10, with the help of investors, corporate stakeholders, and industry experts who took part in an intensive 2-day selection process of 20 semi-finalists. Founded by telecoms giant, Telecel Group, and backed by key tech partners including AWS and Google Cloud Platform, ASIP aims to support the next generation of early-stage African tech startups disrupting key industry verticals that include FinTech, InsureTech, AgriTech, eCommerce, Digital Health, and CleanTech. Telecel will provide the...

14Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Startups

Digital advertising for African start-ups

Source: Unsplash Almost 40% of Africa’s population has access to the internet, which is slightly lower than the global average of almost 60%. While this demonstrates that Africa is slightly behind the rest of the world in terms of technological advancement, their percentage of online users still equates to millions of people. Plus, with continual improvements in modern technology in Africa, the figure of internet users is rising. This means that online advertising is becoming a more desirable opportunity for start-up businesses as it’s a great way to target large and desired audiences. It’s for that reason, that while businesses still opt for traditional forms of advertising and television adverts, newer digital forms of advertising are seeing a rise in Africa. How online digital advertis...

14May

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News, Startups

Why a wave of technology giants will come from Africa

Ian Lessem, Managing Partner at HAVAÍC, investors in early-stage, high-growth technology businesses, notes a significant increase in investment demand for African technology startups. He says startups on the continent are at a distinct advantage because they compete out of necessity. As a result, they can, and very often do stand toe to toe with startups in more the established tech hubs of Palo Alto, Singapore, London and Tel Aviv. “African innovators face local challenges so pervasive; they simply have no choice but to tackle them head on and become subject matter experts in finding solutions for real world problems like food security, health, education, safety, financial services and logistics.” Lessem adds that African technology driven solutions borne out of necessity create efficien...

30Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Medicine, South Africa News, Startups

SA startup, AURA, on what it takes to go global

AURA, South Africa’s leading security and medical response platform, recently announced its expansion into Kenya, followed closely by a move into the UK where it aims to have over 10,000 users receiving the company’s service within seven months. Later this year, the startup will look at possible expansions in Mexico and Nigeria. Warren Myers, AURA’s CEO believes that South African startups can compete with the best in the world thanks to a focus on smart innovations that answer real-world issues. “The biggest problems in the world are starting to feel fixable for the first time in history. Many people are still unaware of just what will be achievable with hyperscale technology tools like AI, IoT, blockchain, and nanotechnology, among others,” notes Myers. He adds that startups have a uniq...

23Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Rwanda News, South Africa News, Startups

Africa as a Driver of Technovation

Sustainable digital transformation, applied in the context of startups, tech hubs and big business is what will define Africa as the “new frontier,” enabling actionable inspiration far beyond the continent. Founded in Africa, by Africans, for Africans, the most important tech event of the year, Africa Tech Week 2021, is set to be a platform and springboard for like-minded individuals and thought leaders can catapult themselves into a successful space. A space where digital change and evolution is quite possible. In the words of Elon Musk, the great industry disrupter, “Some people don't like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.” The poll data from Africa Tech Week 2020 showed that out of the 904 registrants that attended the event, only 42.6 were confident...

Shaping tomorrow’s innovation: Collaborating with the right VC partner

20Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Startups

Shaping tomorrow’s innovation: Collaborating with the right VC partner

Early-stage African tech investor HAVAÍC says aligning to startup founders’ interests, allowing management to maintain their independence, leveraging off smart capital and working together towards a mutually favourable exit is the foundation for successful collaboration between Venture Capital (VC) investors and startups. Ian Lessem, Managing Partner at HAVAÍC, notes that for African startups with international ambitions, partnering with professional investment managers with proven expertise, well established networks, and experience in scaling businesses both locally and abroad are non-negotiable. “We focus on bringing about strategic value in the companies we invest. Our approach is very much about solving backwards from the end goals and carefully considering what foundations need to be...

12Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News, Startups

Kenyan retail-tech startup Tanda secures funding for regional expansion from HAVAÍC

Kenyan agency banking startup Tanda is expanding its operations regionally after securing funding from early-stage African tech investor HAVAÍC, Zedcrest Capital, DFS Lab, Victor Asemota and three other investors. Tanda has also secured key strategic partnerships with Mastercard and Interswitch which will further accelerate its growth. The company’s expansion comes on the back of successfully pioneering and proving the viability of the interoperable agent and merchant model in Kenya, a model that has only been validated in West Africa prior to Tanda. Commenting on HAVAÍC’s decision to invest in Tanda, Rob Heath, Partner at HAVAÍC says, “Tanda is solving one part of the very deep and complex problem of financial inclusion that is not only Kenyan, but a problem across all emerging and undev...