This Week in African Tech 🌍

Hey 👋🏽, 

Here’s what’s happening in African tech: a court just handed Umba a legal loss, Nvidia is building an AI factory across five countries, and Peach Payments just made its Francophone debut.

Roundup’s coming up in a sec—but first, a quick announcement:

Now, on to this week’s roundup….

Tech Roundup

• A Kenyan court has ordered neobank Umba to pay $21,600 in damages and legal costs for unfairly terminating an executive’s contract. The ruling found that Umba violated due process during a probation period in January 2023.

• Cassava Technologies and Nvidia are building Africa’s first AI factory, with plans to deploy 12,000 GPUs across South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and Morocco. The rollout begins in South Africa in June 2025.

• South African fintech Peach Payments is acquiring Senegalese payment platform PayDunya, marking its entry into Francophone Africa. The deal is expected to close in the coming months.

• Nigerian food delivery startup Chowdeck has hired Henry Whyte to lead its Ghana operations. Whyte previously served as Bolt Ghana’s senior operations manager and will now oversee Chowdeck’s expansion into Accra.

• MTN Group has partnered with global video software provider Synamedia to launch a new streaming service for mobile and broadband users across Africa. The move aims to boost digital inclusion and expand access to content.

• Surayyah Ahmad, co-founder of Aduna Capital, has launched Sabou Capital, a new SME fund targeting Anglophone and Francophone Africa. The fund will invest up to $1.5 million in 25 startups across agriculture, climate, energy, supply chain, and mobility sectors.

• South African fintechs Happy Pay and Peach Payments have partnered to expand Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services across the country. Online merchants using Peach Payments can now offer interest-free, deposit-free payment options through Happy Pay.

Deal Roundup

• Moroccan fintech PayTic has raised $4 million in a funding round led by AfricInvest. The investment will support its expansion into North and Sub-Saharan Africa and boost its payment automation tools.

• Kenyan tourism-focused venture studio Purple Elephant Ventures has topped up its seed round by $500,000, bringing the total to $5 million. The additional funding from Alphatron Group will help it strengthen its position in Africa’s tourism-tech space.

• African hub network AfriLabs has secured a $150,000 donation from the Airbnb Community Fund. The unrestricted funding will help it support over 500 innovation hubs and thousands of entrepreneurs across 53 African countries.

• South African fintech Stitch has secured $55 million in funding to improve its end-to-end payment solutions for businesses across Africa. Raba Partnership contributed $4.2 million to the round.

• Egyptian fintech ADVA has been acquired by Maseera Holding and will now serve as Maseera’s technology and data analytics hub for North Africa. ADVA has also applied for Egypt’s first digital consumer finance license for full digital onboarding.

• Kenyan fintech Umba has secured a $5 million debt facility from Star Strong Capital to grow its customer base and boost lending capacity.

Other Events and Opportunities

• Join the first edition of the Talent Safari Webinar Series on April 23 at 4PM EAT. Hear from Paul Kimani, CEO of Workpay, as he shares how he built one of Kenya’s top startups—and the hard lessons he’s learned about hiring and team growth. Sign up here.

• Tech Connect Marrakech is set for April 17th during GITEX Africa 2025. Organized by XConnect Africa, this exclusive event brings together tech founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders for high-energy networking and strategic collaborations. Join Gerald and his team for impactful conversations and connections!

   

• Are you building an SME out of Kenya? Kuzana, an SME accelerator, has opened applications for its second cohorts. Selected companies get up to $40k worth of capital and support with accounting, marketing, sales, and operations. Apply here by May 5th.

And that's a wrap!

That’s it for this week. See you on Wednesday 😃 

Cheers,

The Tech Safari Team

PS. refer five readers and you’ll get access to our private community. 👇🏾

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