This Week in African Tech 🌍

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Tech Roundup

• Nigerian financier Adebayo Ogunlesi has joined OpenAI’s Board of Directors. He was the founding partner of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a private equity firm that sold to BlackRock for $12 billion last year.

  

• Mastercard has opened a new office in Accra, Ghana, to boost its West African presence and support payment solutions that drive more people to use fintech services.

• Meta is replacing its fact-checking model with community notes on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. This move could hurt content moderation firms like Pesacheck and worsen Africa's misinformation crisis, where disinformation has been weaponized for over a decade.

• Nigerian Bolt and Uber drivers are calling on the federal government to replace state-level policies like licensing fees and mandatory trip data sharing, which are harming their livelihoods.

• Kenya wants to force social media companies to set up local offices, citing hate speech and harassment concerns, just months after social media fueled the Finance Bill protests.

• Safaricom and the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) argue that the Kenyan Central Bank’s $200 million fast payment system is too expensive and time-consuming, suggesting improvements to existing systems like Pesalink instead.

• The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, Beyond Finance, and FosterImpact have launched the Women Empowerment for Climate fund to raise $100 million by end of 2025 for women’s climate adaptation in Asia and Africa.

• Global accelerator Techstars has launched a new program in Botswana to support and scale regional startups. Its presence is expected to drive economic growth, innovation, and cross-border collaboration in Southern Africa.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) is now accepting payments in Naira, simplifying cloud costs for Nigerian companies. The naira has lost over 100% of its value against the dollar since 2023, so this is a big relief for startups.

Deal Roundup

• DOB Equity has invested an undisclosed amount in Spouts International, an East African company providing access to clean water. This deal marks a shift in DOB’s focus towards sustainable food systems, renewable energy, and clean water.

• LemFi has raised $53 million in a Series B round led by Highland Europe, bringing its total capital raised to $85 million. The Nigerian remittance startup will use the funds to expand its features and build a full-stack financial hub for immigrants globally.

• South African startup FARO has raised $6 million in an investment round led by JP Zammitt, the President of Bloomberg. FARO will use the funding to make fashion more affordable and tackle textile waste across Africa.

• Kenyan climate-tech Sistema.bio has raised $3.5 million from Novastar Ventures as part of an internal $7.75 million round. The funding will help expand its biogas technology across Africa.

• South African SaaS startup The Awareness Company has raised $1.6 million in a seed funding round led by NEXT176 and Holocene. The funds will boost marketing, sales, and increase the product's AI capabilities.

• Purple Elephant Ventures (PEV), a Kenyan venture studio, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding to build tourism tech in Africa. The studio has already launched five startups, and this funding will be used to scale its portfolio of startups and launch new ones.

Other Events and Opportunities

• Go Time AI, Africa’s accelerator for early-stage AI startups, is hosting a Demo Day in Lagos, Nigeria on January 24th to showcase its first cohort of founders. They’ll present AI-driven products in fields ranging from social commerce to law and education. Register here to get an invite.

• Applications are open for the Timbuktoo MineTech Accelerator program. The Timbuktoo MineTech Hub is an accelerator for youth-led startups in mining. The program offers mentorship, funding, and a global network to increase growth and efficiency in mining. Apply by February 13.

• On January 31st, CloudPlexo & AWS are hosting an exclusive dinner for VCs, founders, and tech enablers in Nairobi. It’ll be a night of meaningful talks and connections, and spark collaboration and opportunities for growth in Africa’s tech scene. Sign up here to attend.

• Applications for the 4th Visa Fintech Accelerator are now open. It gives fintechs access to tools, network, and mentorship to scale their products, and four startups that got in last year went on to raise funding from Visa. Apply here by March 15th.

  

• Stanford Seed is collaborating with the African Management Institute to run the Aspire Business Growth Programme for founders and CEOs of small, fast-growing companies in Africa. Founders get access to expert lectures from Stanford faculty and practical growth tools. Applications are open here.

• On Janaury 24th, Cloudplexo is hosting an engaging session about cloud costs and financial management for African businesses. It promises actionable insights and strong strategies for keeping costs down. Apply here to attend.

And that's a wrap!

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