This week in Africa: A unicorn makes an acquisition

Welcome to Tech Safari!

Your tour guide on African Tech 🧭

Hello to the 551 new folks who have joined the Safari since Wednesday!

If you haven't subscribed, join 5,904 smart folks curious about Tech in Africa.

Happy Saturday!

It's been a big week. The last few weeks - just before hitting send - I tell my brother (and editor) that I'm quitting the newsletter.

He tells me I say that every week. I explain 'it's different this time.' Every time.

I'm not quitting the newsletter, but I do need a break.

So this weekend is my first couple days of not writing - I'm out in the country with no laptop.

Hopefully I come back better, energised and with more fire articles for you 🔥

Let's do it!

On Wednesday we hosted a fun session with Vesti on the challenges migrating from Africa. 391 of you came!

Ona had a great insight that summed up how important a clear migration processes can be.

You can catch the recording here.

Today's Tech Safari is brought to you by.. International Intrigue

International Intrigue is how I keep up with the rest of the world - outside of Africa.

It's one my favourite newsletters: punchy, informative and the pun game is on fire.

Next week, I'm collaborating with Intrigue to write a special essay on Africa's Diaspora. It comes out on Monday!

Subscribe to International Intrigue below to get it.

Alright - today we are recapping what happened in African Tech.

It's a light week this week. Let's dive in!

Tech Roundup

Flutterwave, Nigerian payments processor, was hacked - maybe? Techpoint Africa reported that over $6.3 million was stolen in February, from accounts of startups like PiggyVest, Nomba, Opay and PalmPay, citing court filings. Flutterwave clapped back denying the claims.

Between March 2021 and 2022, M-Pesa users transacted over $88 billion, with 87.5% of these made through peer-to-peer transactions and only 12.5% to merchants. Kenya's government plans launched a tax monitoring software to reduce the tax evasion from mobile money transfers.

Nigeria becomes the first African country to introduce open banking. The Central Bank of Nigeria has created guidelines on how banks and third parties can share customer data. This will open opportunities for banks and fintechs to partner together in Nigeria.

I notice that our news is quite Nigeria and Kenya centric. If anyone has good sources, people or news to follow that's outside of Africa's main countries please let me know 🙏🏾

Deal Roundup

YMO, a Guinean fintech that offers a digital payment platform in West Africa has raised $3.2 million in a seed round from Breega, INCO Ventures and a few others. This makes history in Guinea as the biggest startup raise in the country. Congrats to Carole Cazassus (Chief Investment Officer at INCO and early Tech Safari reader) on the investment!

Andela - an African training and job placement unicorn - has acquired Qualified. Qualified is an assessment platform for engineering talent, and the acquisition will add 3.6 million engineers to Andela's community. 

EchoVC, a Nigerian Venture Capital firm has launched an $8 million blockchain-focused fund. Their main focus will be on blockchain's ability to abstract or tokenize data and the potential to scale autonomously.

Events and Opportunities

A few more grants and programs announced this week for founders.

The African Business Heroes Prize Competition is back with a $1.5 million grant up for grabs. Apply to enter by 12 May.

Great opportunity for insurtech startups in Rwanda - the ZEP-RE InsurTech Programme is a 6-month incubator with a $15 000 cash prize. Check it out here.

And that's a wrap! We will be back with a feature story next week.

Did we miss anything? Or just want to say hey? I'd love to hear from you! You can

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Catch you soon!

👋🏾 Caleb