This Week in African Tech 🌍

Hey hey, Darius here 👋🏼

If you've ever sat in a cab staring at your phone while waiting for your driver, congratulations, you're now monetizable inventory.

inDrive has launched an in-app advertising platform across South Africa and 19 other markets, serving animated banner ads during those "low-friction moments" like when you're watching the little car icon inch toward your location.

Early campaigns have already helped a Colombian fintech issue over 1,200 cash loans and a Mexican bank distribute 400+ credit cards.

Let’s unpack the rest of this week’s news…

Tech Roundup

• Jumia will wind down its Algeria operations by Q1 2026 as part of its profitability push, following similar exits from South Africa and Tunisia. The company is focusing resources on markets with clearer paths to profitability, particularly Nigeria.

• Meanwhile, in more news about Jumia, the company’s international sales grew 82% in Q4 2025. The growth is largely driven by Chinese supply chains as the e-commerce platform repositions itself for Africa's lower-middle-income consumers with cheaper goods to improve unit economics and create a path to profitability by 2027.

• Safaricom has launched Ziidi Trader on M-PESA. The new feature enables users to trade shares directly on the Nairobi Securities Exchange through the mobile payments platform, marking a significant expansion from mobile payments into capital markets for Kenya's retail investors.

• And still on M-PESA, Sitoyo Lopokoiyit will leave his role as Managing Director of M-PESA Africa at the end of March 2026 to join Absa Bank Kenya as Chief Executive for Personal and Private Banking. The move closes a chapter that reshaped M-PESA into a financial super app serving over 37 million monthly active users.

• Nedbank has committed to retaining all current NCBA employees after completing its proposed acquisition of a 66% stake in the Kenyan lender, a deal valued at $7.6 billion that will be settled 80% through share swap and 20% in cash.

• Access Bank's acquisition of South Africa's Bidvest Bank has collapsed. The Nigerian lender failed to meet regulatory conditions by the January 26, 2026 deadline, dealing a blow to the bank's pan-African expansion strategy that has relied heavily on acquisitions.

• inDrive introduced an in-app advertising platform in South Africa that displays animated banner ads during ride requests and trips, generating revenue outside of ride commissions to keep fares competitive without increasing driver fees or passenger costs.

• Raenest, a Nigerian cross-border payments company, launched its multicurrency account services in India and the Philippines to target freelancers earning income across borders, with users able to receive payments in under one hour through its FastTrack feature linked to Upwork accounts.

Deal Roundup

• Egypt’s Tactful AI raised $1million to scale its agentic CX platform, its first major move since buying itself back from Belgian telecom firm Dstny. The startup says usage has jumped 100x in the past year as enterprise clients lean on its AI to resolve customer requests end-to-end. The fresh cash will fuel expansion across Egypt and EMEA, plus deeper R&D on a product it’s already pumped $5 million in.

• South Africa’s Talk360 secured a $1.4 million secondary investment led by longtime backer HAVAÍC, giving early angels some liquidity while upping the firm’s stake. The global calling app now serves 6m+ users and recently hit profitability, even spinning off its payments arm NjiaPay. Next up is a rollout of Shop360, which lets users top up airtime and data in 180+ countries as it positions itself as a post–Skype-out alternative.
  

• Electric motorcycle maker Spiro landed a $7 million loan from US climate financier Nithio. Spiro has quickly become one of the continent’s best-capitalised EV players, now nearing $290 million in total funding. The debt will turbocharge its fleet expansion and battery-swapping network as it pushes to industrialize two-wheelers in markets where bikes dominate daily transit.

• Aruwa Capital, the Lagos-based women-led PE firm,has  secured up to $8 million from IFC for its second fund. The raise supports Aruwa’s $50 million target to plug West Africa’s SME financing gap, with a blended-finance kicker of $3 million also on the table. Fund II will back growth-stage, gender-diverse businesses across healthcare, consumer goods, fintech, and cleantech, with Ghana accounting for up to 20% of allocations.

• Venture studio Delta40 has raised $20 million in what it calls Africa’s first institutional venture studio fund. The Nairobi–Lagos outfit blends capital with hands-on operational support, investing $ 100,000-$500,000 from idea to Seed and already claiming 5.5x leverage across its 16-company portfolio. The new raise expands its studio capacity as it doubles down on building, not just backing, pan-African companies.

• SolarAfrica raised $94 million in debt to build a 114-MW solar plant in South Africa’s Northern Cape, a big swing away from its rooftop-solar roots. The project, SunCentral 2, will feed power through the grid to industrial customers, offering a lifeline as Eskom continues to buckle under outages and ageing infrastructure.

• Beltone Holding has finalised its $197.6 million acquisition of Baobab Group, giving the Cairo firm an instant footprint across seven African markets. Baobab’s €848.8 million loan book and 1.6 million customers now fold into Beltone’s push to become a tech-led MSME lender rather than a traditional brokerage. The deal also gives Baobab’s shareholders (including Apis Partners and Abler Nordic) a full exit.

Events

• Jobtech Alliance and LaMP are hosting a public webinar on Wednesday, February 18, to unpack fresh data from their new Sector Scan and highlight startups creating cross-border recruitment and mobility tools. Expect trend readouts, founder spotlights, and a peek at the most promising ideas in the space. If you’re building for workers on the move, register to attend here.

• Lagos Tech Fest returns on 17–18 February 2026, now in its 6th year, spotlighting the best of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem. The edition brings together startups, enterprise leaders, investors, and policymakers for two days of pitches, roundtables, and networking. Expect panels, exhibitions, and after-hours events designed to connect capital to opportunity and shape the future of African tech. Secure your tickets here.

Opportunities

• Google for Startups Accelerator Africa is back for 2026. Applications are open until March 18 for a three-month hybrid program helping growth-stage startups tackle technical challenges, scale products, and access Google Cloud credits, AI tools, and dedicated mentoring. Program kicks off in April, with graduation and Demo Day in June. Apply here.
  

• Applications are open for the 2026 WE Empower UN SDG Challenge. The global competition spotlights women social entrepreneurs advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Winners will pitch in New York during Climate Week and the UN General Assembly, with Diane von Furstenberg hosting the final showdown. Apply by March 8.

Post of the Week

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. 👇🏾

Wow, still here?

You must really like the newsletter. Come hang out. 👇🏾