Startups
In nearly a decade, hundreds of entrepreneurs have emerged with innovative startups across the African continent. We provide insights on their experiences and highlight the activities of investors who fund them.
Top stories
OurPass set out to simplify online checkout but after a shaky pivot to business banking, unpaid salaries, and claims of a toxic culture, the startup now faces an uncertain future.
African tech exits are occurring, but secrecy around deal terms limits the ecosystem’s ability to benchmark success.
Takealot is extending its delivery network beyond e-commerce with Takealot Fulfilment Services, aiming to become South Africa’s go-to logistics partner for businesses.
Gamr is building a gaming empire from Nigeria, combining community, training, and IP development as it aims to scale across Africa and become the continent’s first gaming unicorn.
Many African SMEs struggle with marketing due to limited budgets and expertise. Loopify is tackling this with affordable, AI-powered tools designed to help small brands grow and compete effectively.
Admyt acquires in-mall platform SHôPING, rebrands it as Mallpass to expand from parking into digital retail engagement across South Africa.
Revolut has hired former Uber executive Amine Berrada to lead its Morocco operations as it eyes licences in the country and South Africa.
Exclusive: Founded by former Jumia executives, customers of Nigerian fintech, Lidya are struggling to withdraw funds as CEO and CTO exit the company. Employee salaries also remain unpaid.
The Zobe Ring houses a passive NFC chip that uses tokenised credentials to handle contactless payments, share contact info and unlock devices. It’s battery‑free and works with existing credit and debit cards.
Visa has opened its first African data centre in South Africa, backed by a R1bn investment to boost fintech growth, speed up transactions, and meet rising data localisation demands.
MTN is courting startups with a cloud accelerator, but it must overcome technical gaps and stiff global competition to gain traction with startups and corporates alike.
Former Paystack employee, Temi Giwa, has raised over $130,000 on Kickstarter, for Tru, an ankle-based step tracker, which can be embedded in swappable jewellery accessories.
Itana has launched what it calls Africa’s first full-stack AI and data growth zone, providing local GPU clusters and data infrastructure to help AI startups and researchers on the continent train models that can compete globally.
What started as a response to a Google deranking has evolved into Demfati, an event management solution based in Calabar that simplifies ticketing, e-voting, forms, and cinema bookings in Nigeria.
Rally Cap has partially exited South African fintech Stitch after its $55M Series B, signalling growing momentum for investor exits in Africa’s startup ecosystem.
Borderless is building the infrastructure to help African diaspora collectives invest back home, starting with startups and real estate.
Finnova is a Nigerian startup simplifying banking for millions of users through its WhatsApp embedded chatbot.
With zero funding, three founders built Nestuge — a platform helping creators sell courses, communities, and content — paying out ₦500 million ($326,000) to Nigerians in just two years.
In a rare move for a Nigerian startup, Payaza raised and repaid ₦14.9bn in commercial paper. CEO Seyi Ebenezer shares how robust internal structures and discipline made it possible and why others should follow suit.
truQ Co-founder Williams Fatayo has stepped down as CEO after a conflict with COO and Co-founder Folusho Ojo.