Thursday, April 18

Technology

Venture applications open for the Africa Tech Summit Nairobi 2024 Investment Showcase
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Technology

Venture applications open for the Africa Tech Summit Nairobi 2024 Investment Showcase

African tech ventures can now apply to pitch at the Africa Tech Summit (ATS) Investment Showcase taking place at the sixth edition in Nairobi on February 14th and 15th, 2024.   The annual Investment Showcase is a cornerstone of Africa Tech Summit, which aims to bring together investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and industry leaders from across the continent, driving business and investment forward in the ecosystem.   Selected ventures will showcase their ground-breaking ideas to a diverse audience of local and international investors and tech leaders, opening doors to potential funding and strategic partnerships. Additionally, they will have full access to the two-day summit including workshops and networking sessions.   Previous ATS Investment Showcase editions ha...
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Delta Scan wins Africa leg of Start-Up World Cup
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Delta Scan wins Africa leg of Start-Up World Cup

Delta Scan, which develops engineering drone-based inspection technology and digital analysis, has won the African leg of the Start-Up World Cup Pitch Competition at Africa Tech Festival. Delta Scan was one of eight start-up owners vying for the top prize at Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town last week. The prize, ,globally sponsored by Pegasus Tech Ventures, will see company MD Darryl Epstein join 49 other entrepreneurs from around the world at the finale in San Francisco, USA. The grand prize winner at that event will walk away with $1-million to plough back into their business. “We’re on a good trajectory and it helps fuel the fire. We’re looking forward to taking this to the global stage,” said MD Darryl Epstein. Sawyer Tadano, Pegasus’s South-East regional manager, said: “This was ...
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Africa Startup Festival 2023: A Resounding Success in Fostering Innovation and Collaboration
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Africa Startup Festival 2023: A Resounding Success in Fostering Innovation and Collaboration

The highly anticipated Africa Startup Festival, held on November 11, 2023, emerged as a groundbreaking event, uniting over 3,658 individuals from six different countries, including 1,953 startups and 65 investors. Hosted by Spark Africa, the festival stood as Africa’s premier sold-out tech gathering, dedicated to connecting startups, investors, founders, and products. With a lineup of influential keynote speakers, thought-provoking panel sessions, dynamic workshops, and a bustling deal room, the Africa Startup Festival served as a vibrant showcase of the creativity, intelligence, and determination embedded in the African entrepreneurial spirit. The festival provided a platform for profound and technical discussions through multiple panel sessions led by luminaries such as Napa Onwusah, A...
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Zazuu, Africa-Focused Fintech, Shuts Down Amid Funding Challenges
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Zazuu, Africa-Focused Fintech, Shuts Down Amid Funding Challenges

London-based fintech startup Zazuu, dedicated to the African market, has officially ceased operations due to its inability to secure additional funding. The closure was announced through a LinkedIn post, citing the challenging funding climate as the primary reason for the decision. Despite raising $2 million in June 2022 to enhance its cross-border payment services and develop an unbiased payment platform, the startup faced difficulties in sustaining its growth ambitions. It, however, acknowledged exploring all options before arriving at this difficult choice. Zazuu started as a chatbot providing daily FX rates on Facebook and Telegram before evolving into a licensed organisation in the UK, serving users across North America and Europe. The platform aimed to offer transparency in remitt...
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What you may have missed at the Africa Tech Festival
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What you may have missed at the Africa Tech Festival

The event is the home to digital innovation and transformation in Africa and was created to provide a space to foster and build the future of Africa’s tech industry. Here’s what you might have missed from this year’s event: Leo Chen, president of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa, presents his opening keynote for the Africa Tech Festival 2023. Picture: Vernon Pillay THE AFRICA Tech Festival has now come and gone and if you did not get a chance to attend the event, then we have some insight for you. The event is the home to digital innovation and transformation in Africa and was created to provide a space to foster and build the future of Africa’s tech industry. Africa Tech Festival was held from November 13-16 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). INFRASTRUCTURE South Afr...
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Tanzania’s NALA wants to make Rwanda a settlement hub for East Africa
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Tanzania’s NALA wants to make Rwanda a settlement hub for East Africa

NALA Money, the Tanzanian business and consumer cross-border payments fintech backed by Bessemer Ventures and Accel, says it plans to make Rwanda a settlement hub for its East African remittance business. Making Rwanda a settlement hub means that all international money transfers that Nala processes for beneficiaries in East Africa will first terminate in Rwanda before it is settled into the accounts of beneficiaries across the region. In June this year, Flutterwave one of Africa’s most-valued privately held fintech, announced a similar plan after it acquired a payment service provider (PSP) licence in Rwanda. Nala Money, which allows residents in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States to send money to 9 African countries, recently acquired a licence from Rwanda’s apex financia...
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Experts stress tech innovation, human capital for Africa’s industrialization
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Experts stress tech innovation, human capital for Africa’s industrialization

Achieving sustainable industrial development in Africa requires a balanced strategy aligning technological innovation with human capital development, experts said at a pan-Africa forum that wrapped up on Saturday. At the 2023 African Economic Conference in Addis Ababa, themed "Imperatives for Sustainable Industrial Development in Africa," researchers emphasized the pivotal role of integrating technological innovation and human capital development for economic progress on the continent, according to a statement released the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) on Friday. Experts presented the results of their research during the three-day meeting. According to a paper titled "Enhancing Industrial Productivity and Competitiveness in Africa: A focus on Technological Innovation and Huma...
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1st 3i Africa Summit to be hosted by Ghana in May 2024
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1st 3i Africa Summit to be hosted by Ghana in May 2024

Amidst the buzz of the Singapore FinTech Festival, a landmark announcement was made today about the 3i Africa Summit, a pioneering event poised to unlock Africa’s digital and financial potential, and Ghana will be the host. The Summit, scheduled for the May 13 to 15, 2024, in Accra, Ghana, is expected to draw over 2,000 industry leaders from 80+ countries to ignite innovation and harness the impact of FinTechs in the digital financial economies across the continent. Under the theme “Unleashing Africa’s FinTech and Digital Economic Potential,” the 3iAfrica Summit is a collaborative initiative by the Bank of Ghana, Development Bank Ghana, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) through Elevandi. It aims to be a strategic platform to showcase Africa’s digital prowess and to stimulate...
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12th edition of Tech in Ghana set to kick off in Accra
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12th edition of Tech in Ghana set to kick off in Accra

The 12th edition of Tech in Ghana, a prominent platform dedicated to building and strengthening Ghana’s tech ecosystem since 2017 is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 28th November, 2023 at the Accra Digital Centre in the Greater Accra Region. The conference is aimed at providing valuable avenues for industry leaders to bond, engage in global knowledge exchanges, meaningful networking with industry peers, and showcase innovation. In addition, Tech in Ghana would also empower entrepreneurs by highlighting their work on a global stage, giving them access to international markets. The conference, organized twice annually in London and Accra, would feature a dynamic mix of multinational corporations, startups, tech companies and government representatives. It would also boast of an impre...
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Chinese companies explore growth opportunities in Africa at tech festival
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Chinese companies explore growth opportunities in Africa at tech festival

Chinese executives in digital technology have expressed confidence in the African market at an ongoing tech festival here, pledging to play a greater role in the continent's digital transformation. The Africa Tech Festival, which concludes on Thursday in Cape Town, South Africa, featured two main events -- AfricaCom and Africa Tech, focusing on topics such as connectivity, digital inclusion, enterprise transformation and emerging technologies. Driven by the growth prospects of the booming African market, Chinese companies seek to expand their market share as the continent experiences a digital revolution. Over a dozen Chinese companies attended the exhibition. Zhang Jianfeng, sales director at Shenzhen-based Signalinks Communication Technology, said the company aims to provide its cutti...
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