Startups

EXCLUSIVE

LemFi buys UK card issuer to expand remittance services as competition heats up

Lemfi founders, Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran

EXCLUSIVE

The fall of House Vendease: High executive pay, a failed tech gamble, and mounting vendor debts

Vendease featured image

EXCLUSIVE

Moove inches closer to unicorn status as it plans $300m funding

Moove

EXCLUSIVE

From operators to founders: The Flutterwave alumni building Africa’s future

Flutterwave Mafia

EXCLUSIVE

African startups hit $1 billion in funding for 2025 as Egypt leads in May

funding

EXCLUSIVE

OmniRetail founder, Silverback Holdings invest in South African basketball team

OmniRetail team

EXCLUSIVE

Deimos founder’s new DevSecOps startup targets software delivery gaps in emerging markets

Salus Cloud founding team

EXCLUSIVE

This startup is solving Lagos’ housing crisis by building apartments, but not spending a kobo

housing

EXCLUSIVE

This startup is giving merchants access to global markets through WhatsApp

Importa founder

EXCLUSIVE

Semicolon alumni can now get a Computer Science degree in two years from Tech-U

Semicolon and Tech-U staff

EXCLUSIVE

This startup is betting on vehicle repair history to fuel innovation in insurance and lending in Africa

Electric vehicle charging

EXCLUSIVE

dLocal to acquire AZA Finance as it looks to grow its African operations

merger

EXCLUSIVE

15 startups compete for $10,000 as Pitch2Win announces fifth edition

Pitch2Win

EXCLUSIVE

Moniepoint in talks to acquire 78% of Kenya’s Sumac Microfinance Bank after regulatory nod

Moniepoint terminal

EXCLUSIVE

How I built a profitable Nigerian startup with customer revenue from Day One — Uche Ukonu

Funding

EXCLUSIVE

After delaying customer orders for eight months, Heroshe faces shutdown

Heroshe founders

EXCLUSIVE

Nigerian startups are turning to debt but not everyone is ready

Patrick Igwe

EXCLUSIVE

From Lara.ng to logistics: How Samuel Odeloye is using 8 years of transport data to fix Nigeria’s last-mile delivery

a motorcycle

EXCLUSIVE

CFO of Y Combinator-backed Vendease steps down

Mohamed Chaudry, CFO and COO Vendease

EXCLUSIVE

African migrants could pay more to send money home under Trump’s new US tax bill

A paper plane with foreign currencies

LemFi has acquired UK-based Pillar. As African fintechs like Grey, PalmPay, and NALA expand globally, competition in the remittance space is heating up, with startups racing to bundle FX, lending, and wallet services.




African startups have raised $1 billion in funding since January 2025, marking a 40% increase compared to last year. Egypt stands out as the top performer, securing 31% of the total funding


OmniRetail founder Deepankar Rustagi joins Silverback Holdings in backing South African basketball team Cape Town Tigers. This co-investment follows Silverback’s profitable partial exit from OmniRetail.








Fifteen early-stage founders will get a chance to compete and win a $10,000 grant at the fifth edition of the Pitch2win competition.






Mohamed Chaudry has stepped down as CFO and co-COO of Vendease during a critical restructuring phase.


The US House has approved a controversial 5% tax on remittances by non-citizens, a move that threatens revenue for African fintechs.


LemFi buys UK card issuer to expand remittance services as competition heats up

LemFi has acquired UK card issuer Pillar to expand its services beyond remittances. The move intensifies competition among African fintechs targeting diaspora users.

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The fall of House Vendease: High executive pay, a failed tech gamble, and mounting vendor debts

Drastic pay cuts, unpaid salaries, debts, and broken promises have sparked internal turmoil at Vendease as the once-promising startup faces an uncertain future.

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Moove inches closer to unicorn status as it plans $300m funding

Moove, a Nigerian mobility fintech plans to raise $300m to push its valuation past $1bn, potentially making it Africa’s next unicorn.

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From operators to founders: The Flutterwave alumni building Africa’s future

From fintech to AI, former Flutterwave employees are launching high-impact ventures across Africa’s tech ecosystem.

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African startups hit $1 billion in funding for 2025 as Egypt leads in May

African startups have raised $1 billion in funding between January and May 2025, a 40% jump from last year. Egypt accounts for almost a third of the total funding raised.

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OmniRetail founder, Silverback Holdings invest in South African basketball team

OmniRetail founder Deepankar Rustagi co-invests in Cape Town Tigers with Silverback Holdings, an existing investor in his startup.

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Deimos founder’s new DevSecOps startup targets software delivery gaps in emerging markets

Salus Cloud, a DevSecOps startup spun out of Deimos, raises $3.7M to bring AI-powered software delivery to startups and SMEs across Africa and other emerging markets.

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This startup is solving Lagos’ housing crisis by building apartments, but not spending a kobo

A proptech startup called Citiliving wants to solve Lagos’ housing crisis by building new houses. According to the founder, “We cannot AI our way out of it.”

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This startup is giving merchants access to global markets through WhatsApp

Importa General Merchant Limited is breaking barriers in cross-border trade by letting African merchants order small quantities at factory prices, pay in Naira, and shop via WhatsApp.

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Semicolon alumni can now get a Computer Science degree in two years from Tech-U

Semicolon and Tech-U partner to bridge academia and industry, offering Semicolon alumni a fast track to a Computer Science degree and Tech-U students access to practical tech training.

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This startup is betting on vehicle repair history to fuel innovation in insurance and lending in Africa

After a frustrating loan experience in 2019, Ayodeji Audu launched Reown to digitise vehicle history data in Africa. From garage software to EV financing, the startup aims to unlock value across mobility, lending, and insurance sectors.

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dLocal to acquire AZA Finance as it looks to grow its African operations

dLocal is acquiring AZA Finance in a deal rumoured to be around $150 million to expand its African presence, with the aim to deliver localised, efficient payment solutions.

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15 startups compete for $10,000 as Pitch2Win announces fifth edition

Fifteen early-stage startups will pitch and compete for a chance to win a $10,000 equity-free grant and gain exposure to over 30+ global investors at Pitch2Win 5

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Moniepoint in talks to acquire 78% of Kenya’s Sumac Microfinance Bank after regulatory nod

Moniepoint has gotten regulatory approval to begin talks to acquire Kenya’s Sumac Microfinance Bank, which has $23 million in assets.

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How I built a profitable Nigerian startup with customer revenue from Day One — Uche Ukonu

What if you could build a successful startup without relying on VC? This article reveals how the founder of smallChops.ng used customer revenue to scale, offering practical tips on value, process, and growth.

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After delaying customer orders for eight months, Heroshe faces shutdown

Exclusive: For months, Heroshe customers in Nigeria have been unable to get their packages from the US, UK, and China. Many say the company stopped communicating, asked for extra fees, and still failed to deliver. Now, Heroshe may be shutting down logistics entirely.

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Nigerian startups are turning to debt but not everyone is ready

Nigerian startups are increasingly turning to debt for growth, but experts warn it’s only suitable for mature companies with strong financials, compliance, and a clear repayment strategy.

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From Lara.ng to logistics: How Samuel Odeloye is using 8 years of transport data to fix Nigeria’s last-mile delivery

Before COVID-19, Lara.ng had 250k monthly users. Now, founder Samuel Odeloye is using eight years of transit data to build Motion Space, a smart logistics platform for Nigeria.

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CFO of Y Combinator-backed Vendease steps down

Vendease’s CFO, Mohamed Chaudry, resigns amid a major company restructuring that includes layoffs, a strategic pivot to software, and a renewed search for funding.

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African migrants could pay more to send money home under Trump’s new US tax bill

US lawmakers have passed a bill to tax remittances by non-citizens, a move that could disrupt African fintechs and reduce the $90bn diaspora inflows critical to the continent.

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LemFi has acquired UK-based Pillar. As African fintechs like Grey, PalmPay, and NALA expand globally, competition in the remittance space is heating up, with startups racing to bundle FX, lending, and wallet services.




African startups have raised $1 billion in funding since January 2025, marking a 40% increase compared to last year. Egypt stands out as the top performer, securing 31% of the total funding


OmniRetail founder Deepankar Rustagi joins Silverback Holdings in backing South African basketball team Cape Town Tigers. This co-investment follows Silverback’s profitable partial exit from OmniRetail.








Fifteen early-stage founders will get a chance to compete and win a $10,000 grant at the fifth edition of the Pitch2win competition.






Mohamed Chaudry has stepped down as CFO and co-COO of Vendease during a critical restructuring phase.


The US House has approved a controversial 5% tax on remittances by non-citizens, a move that threatens revenue for African fintechs.