Last year, Pan-African incubator, MEST Africa invested $1.1 million in its Class of 2019. For this year’s class however, only seven startups out of 15 will receive the incubator’s $100k cheque.…
How Gozem transitioned from a motorcycle-hailing platform into a super app in two years
In 2018, Emeka Ajene and Raphael Dana started Gozem as a motorcycle-hailing platform. Two years later, with more than 500k users in Togo and Benin, it’s making a swift transition to a super app: their…
RxAll enters the Founders Factory Africa programme, to access about $40k in funding
Founders Factory Africa (FFA) has announced that it has selected RxAll, a Nigerian healthtech startup, into its Venture Scale programme. The startup will have access to up to $300k in funding and supp…
Nigerian API fintech, Mono, raises $500k pre-seed, wants to build Plaid for Africa
Founded two months ago, Nigerian API fintech startup, Mono, has raised $500k in pre-seed funding from Lateral Capital and Ventures Platform among others. It will be used to expand the team and scale t…
A path to growth and scale: Two sides of a coin for startups
For interchangeable words thrown around a lot, one would think growth and scale mean the same thing. We take a look at how they differ and inflection points that make them similar.…
Trump’s DFC investment play in African private funds and startups so far
On January 2, the Trump administration launched the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Since then, the agency has invested in African investment firms and startups like SPE Capi…
As Autochek acquires Cheki Ghana and Nigeria, Cheki Kenya remains with ROAM Africa
Autochek, an automotive company founded by Etop Ikpe, has announced its acquisition of Cheki Ghana and Nigeria from ROAM Africa. Cheki Kenya, on the other hand, will remain with the online classifieds…
eWorker is positioning itself as the go-to company for senior engineering talent in Africa
Ike Okosa founded eWorker in 2015 as a freelance job platform. Five years later, with no external funding, the company now connects senior software developers in nine African countries to global compa…
Former Cars45 CEO, Etop Ikpe, will head Autochek, a new company set to launch on October 1
It’s no longer news that Etop Ikpe has left Cars45, the company he founded four years ago as CEO. Now, the entrepreneur has been tipped to become CEO of another company, Autochek, which is a reb…
Nigerian blockchain startup, Chekkit, pilots its drug verification tech in Afghanistan
Chekkit has gone into partnership with Fantom and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Health to run a 3-month pilot project. The product of this partnership will be to track and verify 80,000 pharmaceutic…
Cameroonian healthtech startup, Healthlane, secures $2.4m investment to expand offerings
As GiftedMom, Alain Nteff and his team raised $220k to help mothers and pregnant women with medical care. Pivoting to an all-encompassing health app in Healthlane, the team has raised more than $2.5m …
“Our requests went from 80+ daily to less than 10.” — Tora Africa ex-CMO, Ized Uanikhehi, shares the company’s failure story
TORA Africa was known to recruit and train riders for ride-hailing and logistics companies like ORide until it shut down in March. Here, Ized Uanikhehi, ex-CMO, shares its 10-month journey as a startu…
What you need to know about VC firm, V8 Capital Partners and its Growth Labs programme
V8 Capital is known to invest in growth-stage startups. But recently the firm decided to build an arm for early-stage startups via its Growth Labs programme. Here, Managing Partner, Tobi Oke, tells us…
Jobberman acquires top competitor, NGcareers, in an undisclosed deal
Nigerian career recruitment platform, Ngcareers, has been acquired by Jobberman in an undisclosed deal. For now, both companies will operate independently but the goal is for both entities to become J…
3 Nigerian tech CEOs feature on 2020’s Fortune 40 under 40 list
Global publication, Fortune, released its 2020 40 Under 40 list yesterday. It features Abasi Ene-Obong of 54gene, Olugbenga Agboola of Flutterwave, and Obi Ozor of Kobo360 for their efforts during the…
Inside Bento’s plan to influence the monthly spend culture of Nigerians
Formerly known as Verifi.ng, Bento focused on helping companies with their payroll. Now, it is partnering with BuyPower, Kwaba, and Schoolable to help Nigerians pay for services monthly.…
How Taeillo is using AR/VR to change the experience of furniture shoppers in Africa
Jumoke Dada and her team at Taeillo have found a niche for themselves using locally sourced materials to make furniture for Nigerians. Using AR and VR, they also want to improve the experience of furn…
Why IROKO is done scaling in Africa, at least for now
This week, IROKO will halt its African growth efforts and lay off 150 people in the process. Causal effects from the pandemic and government regulatory onslaughts seem to be at the heart of this decis…
Techpoint Awards 2020: Complete list of winners and Hall of Fame inductees
ICYMI: Here is the complete list of winners and Hall of Fame inductees at the recently concluded Techpoint Awards 2020…
Here are the African startups from Y Combinator’s Summer 2020 Demo Day
Y Combinator held its Demo Day online for the 2020 summer batch. Five African startups made the cut out of 192 that participated in the 2-day long event.…