Partech, the global technology investment firm, announced the first closing of Partech Africa II at €245 million, already above the target fund size. This second iteration of Partech’s Africa-focused strategy is backed by major Development Finance Institutions, as well as Institutional and Commercial investors.

Partech Africa II will double-down on its successful strategy to identify and support the next generation of category leaders across the continent. The Fund will provide $1 million to $15 million initial tickets from Seed to Growth to support...

The West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) has landed the world’s largest subsea cable, 2Africa, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province.

The 45,000km, 180 Terabits per second (Tbps) cable is now connected to various Open Access Data Centres in the province, including one run by WIOCC in Durban. This offers the region and the country increase in international capacity and the promise of more reliable internet and other connectivity services. The 2Africa cable project was...

DT Corporation, a global provider of fintech, cloud communications, and traditional communications services, announced that it is rebranding its Africa-based Leaf Wallet app to IDT's flagship financial services brand, BOSS Money.

The rebranding is part of a broader initiative to leverage the key technologies of Leaf Wallet to gradually expand across Africa allowing U.S. consumers to send money transfers directly to family and friends in the Continent. The newly branded BOSS Money wallet will continue to use the Leaf...

LG Electronics has appointed Dong Won Lee as its new Regional Managing Director (MD) for East Africa (EA). He takes over from Sa Nyoung Kim who has been holding the position for three years since January 2020.

Before his appointment, Dong Won Lee was the Managing Director of LG Iraq. A position he has held since 2019. He is celebrated for turning around the business in Iraq by increasing sales growth by 50 percent hence registering double-digit growth. Mr. Lee brings over 20 years of hands...

South Africa's Carrier-neutral data centre and interconnection services provider Teraco has acquired the iconic Great Westerford building in Cape Town from Ingenuity Property Investments.

Great Westerford, a landmark building with over 30 000sqm of premium grade office space, is situated in the prime location of Rondebosch, Cape Town. The conclusion of the acquisition means that Teraco has ownership of the building that houses its CT1 data centre investment and results in the full ownership of all facilities and the underlying land that...

Flutterwave, Africa's payments technology company, has announced that it has received its Payment Services Provider and Payments Facilitator licenses in Egypt.

The licenses will enable Flutterwave to act as an official payment service provider in the country, collect payments on behalf of its customers and settle payments locally and globally. These licences will allow Flutterwave to deploy Flutterwave for Business suite of products including store, payment links, invoices, checkout in Egypt. Flutterwave as a...

Equity Bank customers can now send and receive money conveniently through Western Union straight from their phones. 

The bank announced today that it has integrated the services on its Equity Mobile App and Equity Online banking.  This, it says will allow customers to send funds through the digital banking platforms directly to the receiver’s bank account around the world, as well as other Equity Bank accounts around the region and also as a cash pick-up transaction to...

Climate resilience venture launcher Triggering Exponential Climate Action (TECA) has announced the selection of seven startups to each receive $55,000 in funding to advance their solutions for the blue economy in Africa.

The startup founders were selected following their participation in TECA’s fellowship program, where they were supported to create ideas for companies in the blue economy, build teams, and form companies. The TECA program, managed by BFA Global and supported by FSD Africa, was...

As it advances on its digital transformation agenda, Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX, has set up the NGX Digital and Technology Products Advisory Panel.

The Panel would provide a forum for the Exchange to interact with the capital market community and the fintech ecosystem to enhance and increase NGX’s digital product offerings. Responsibilities of the Panel include but are not limited to providing insight into product innovation and proposing ways...

Mama Money, a fintech that offers cross-border money transfers and banking services has joined forces with TNM, a telecommunications and mobile money operator in Malawi.

This partnership allows Mama Money customers to easily send money to any TNM Mpamba account for cash collection at over 40,000 locations across Malawi, with no cashout fee for the recipient. It’s estimated that the monthly remittance flows from South Africa to Malawi are over $20 million through...

Olaseni Alabede, a veteran of the payments technology sector has joined Global Technology Partners (GTP), an MFS Africa company, as chief technology officer (CTO).

Acquired by MFS Africa in June 2022, the US-based GTP is the largest processor of prepaid cards in Africa, with more than 80 banks – including UBA, Ecobank, BIA, Stanbic, Coris, NSIA and Zenith Bank – using its platform. Prior to joining the GTP executive team, Alabede was the Vice President of Product Development in MasterCard’s Installments business. In this...

Strong execution continues to deliver double-digit revenue and EBITDA growth despite a challenging macro-environment. Airtel Africa  reported a reduced  profit of $801 million in the past nine months, down from $864 million in the previous year.

Despite growing its customer base and revenue, expenses increased and net finance costs jumped, leading to a decline in gross profit. Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer, on the trading update: “Providing affordable, innovative and...

The global anti-money laundering market size is expected to reach $7.7 billion by 2030, according to a new study by Research and Markets. The report gives a detailed insight into current market dynamics and provides analysis on future market growth.

The global increase in instances of money laundering may be responsible for the market's optimistic growth potential. One of the main causes of the rising number of money laundering cases globally is the expanding use of virtual currencies and...

Seyi J. Matanmi is a technology product developer and entrepreneur. Educated in software development, research and analytics, he currently leads the cloud services outfit, Hosteet, operating out of Lagos, Nigeria.

Please introduce your company, how it came to be and what you do.

Hosteet was founded with the mission of making it easy for businesses to take advantage of the power and scalability of the cloud. We started out as a small team of tech enthusiasts, and now we've grown to become a leading provider of cloud hosting solutions. Our services include a range of products...

Don Okoth is General Manager for Kenyan Fulfillment and Logistics startup Sendy. In this interview, he talks about the current state of logistics in Kenya and beyond, including Sendy's role in shaping the industry.

Your first business line Sendy Transport halted its peer-to-peer service last year to focus on supporting businesses. What was the reason for this?

From the onset, Sendy Transport was built to support businesses. Over the years, we have continued to fulfill this need. Our focus remains to impact businesses across the continent using all our solutions, Sendy Transport and Sendy...

In the early 1900s, the Ugandan Railway was built, connecting Mombasa to Lake Victoria, and facilitating trade within the region. This milestone in Kenyan history connected many parts of the country and East Africa not only to each other but to the world and opened many economic opportunities.

So much opportunity that this railway led to the founding of Kenya’s now greatest city, Nairobi, which was originally established in 1899 as a railway depot specifically for the Uganda-Kenya railway. As always, great progress always...

According to the World Economic Forum, artificial intelligence (AI) can contribute up to USD 15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. However, in Africa, AI market growth has stagnated. Estimated at USD 870 million in 2021, with marginal growth forecasted until 2024.

It has been argued that continents in the Global South will continue to benefit less from AI than those in the North. Oxford Insights highlights this because governments require the appropriate environment to support AI development...

Cybersecurity breaches pose a major business risk and can no longer be viewed as a technology concern. Business leaders agree on this point according to Gartner’s 2022 Board of Directors Survey which found 88% of respondents viewed cybersecurity as a business risk.

However, only 13% of boards have responded by instituting cybersecurity-specific board committees overseen by a dedicated director. In some instances, it may be the case that directors are not always completely aware of their duties...

Mastercard’s New Payments Index 2022, published late last year, found that 95% of consumers in South Africa used at least one emerging digital payment method in the last year, with usage expected to increase further.

The 2021 iteration of the same survey found that more than half (57%) of South African consumers would avoid businesses that do not accept electronic payments of any kind. An overwhelming 97% of those surveyed at the end of 2022 indicated that they are likely to use a digital payment...