uLesson, an edtech startup founded by ex-Konga boss, Sim Shagaya has raised $3.1 million in seed funding from TLCom…
News
Uganda launches phone manufacturing plant amidst issues of surveillance of political rivals
With the launch of Uganda’s mobile phone and computer manufacturing plant, the country’s alleged surveillance violations issue with Chinese phone makers bring up questions about whether sa…
Twitter wants to give you more control over your conversations with its new “hide reply” feature
“Out of sight, out of mind.” You don’t need to worry about having offensive or derogatory replies to your tweets anymore, you can now hide them with these simple clicks.…
Nigerian mobility giant, GIGM launches intercity and international transport services in Ghana
Following a few months of speculation, Nigerian mobility giant GIGM kick-starts its tech-enabled intercity operations in Ghana and international transport service between Lagos and Accra.…
Motorcycle-hailing operators in Nigeria’s biggest city may pay up to $503,000 annually to operate
After protracted negotiation battles with government and transport unions, motorcycle-hailing operators in Lagos have reached a dangerous middle ground…
Social Media Roundup: African Giant
This week on social media; Burna boy’s abum gets Grammy nomination, #SayNoToSocialMediaBill and other stories.…
Nigerian web hosting company, GigaLayer, acquires Russian web hosting company, HUB8
It is not often you hear about a Nigerian startup acquiring a foreign-owned company. But Nigerian web hosting company, GigaLayer has acquired Russian-owned HUB8, a leading global web hosting company.…
Some MTN Ghana iPhone users are having issues using USSD codes
One of the easiest ways to perform online transactions is by dialling USSD codes from any mobile phone. Right now, MTN subscribers in Ghana who use iPhones are having difficulty using USSD codes…
Cheki ex-CEO, Gbenro Dara joins Opera as managing director to lead its new marketplace, OList
Having worked for classifieds sites Efritin and Cheki, Gbenro Dara has now taken up the role of managing director in another yet another classifieds company, Opera’s recently announced vertical, OList…
OPay appears to compete against Uber, Bolt in Nigeria with OCar
Opera-founded, OPay has launched yet another vertical; a car-hailing service called OCar. Coming just after it announced a $120m funding round led by Chinese investors, the startup seems to be taking …
The Lagos state government is on a mission to convert recreational parks into makeshift innovation centres
Moving away from the typical use of parks for recreation, the Lagos State government, through LASPARK, gives innovation-driven firms free spaces within state-owned parks for erecting low-cost innovati…
OPay’s $120m series B round boosts fund chest to almost $200m
OPay raises $120 million series B fund to scale in Nigeria and enter other African markets while improving high-frequency usage services on the payment platform.…
Nigerian-based medical logistics startup, LifeBank commences drone delivery
Nigerian-based medical logistics startup, LifeBank is adding ‘Beyond Visual Line Of Sight’ (BVLOS) drone delivery to its methods of transportation, a first of its kind for an African-led c…
Konga founder Sim Shagaya’s earliest company, E-Motion Advertising acquired by Seyi Tinubu’s Loatsad Promomedia
In 2005, barely 7 years before Sim Shagaya founded Konga, he ran an outdoor advertising company called E-Motion Advertising. The company just got acquired by Seyi Tinubu’s Loatsad Promomedia.…
Nigeria’s LifeBank wins $250,000 from a Jack Ma Foundation initiative
LifeBank wins $250,000 from the Jack Ma Foundation (through the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative). The medical logistics startup beat 9 other African startups competing for a share in $1 million tot…
3 startups graduate from Itanna second cohort accelerator programme
Honeywell Group-backed corporate VC, Itanna releases the second batch of startups from its accelerator programme while revealing plans to support startups transitioning into West African markets…
Founder of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma is in Nigeria
Co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma is in Nigeria to attend the Nigeria Digital Economy Summit (NDES) in the nation’s capital, Abuja. …
UPDATE: “We didn’t suspend OBus, we are changing its business model” — OPay
Barely three months after its beta launch in Lagos, OBus — OPay’s public bus-hailing service — has reportedly suspended operations indefinitely.…
Kenya’s obsession with licences puts Swvl operations on hold
Swvl, the Egyptian ride hailing company seems to have suspended its operations in Kenya due to regulatory issues around licensing — a growing trend in the East African nation.…
TECNO parent company, Transsion Holdings enters African mobile payments with PalmPay
Transsion Holdings, the company behind the TECNO, Infinix and Itel brands, may have finally entered the African mobile payment market with PalmPay. Could this signal a competition with Opera’s OPay?…