This Week in African Tech 🌍

Plus, a Tech Safari Course? 👀

Caleb Maru
September 10, 2023

Welcome to Tech Safari!

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Happy Sunday!

Hope you’re enjoying your weekend.

Today I was looking at some of our stats on Tech Safari.

In the last eight months we have had 12 million impressions on LinkedIn. It still blows my mind.

And it made me appreciate the power of writing effectively.

Writing has helped me become a better communicator, negotiator and storyteller. It’s actually helped every domain of my life.

Over the last few months, I’ve been teaching other writers, founders and my team how to write.

And today I want to run an experiment.

Would you learn how to write from me?

If yes, fill out this quick survey here. If there’s enough interest, I may create a course of cohort-based program!

Alright, into this week’s edition

M-PESA is rolling outstanding orders [Recurring payments] - becoming the first mobile money platform with this feature.
Lagos finally gets metro after a 12-year wait. The electric-powered Blue Line metro will help ease traffic in Lagos, which is currently the worst in the world.

Amazon launches Starlink’s competitor in Africa. They’re teaming up with Vodafone to bring better 4G/5G internet to Africa using low earth orbit satellites.
Kenyan B2B e-commerce startup Wasoko expands to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Wasoko helps retailers source goods online and access financing. They currently operate in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Senegal, and Ivory Coast.

Egyptian startup Glamera obtains fintech license to expand into Saudi Arabia. Glamera is a beauty services booking platform that raised $1.3 million in pre-seed funding to expand across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Nigeria's Itana, formerly called Talent City, has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding led by Future Africa, Local Globe, Amplo, and Pronomos Capital. They're building Africa's first Digital Free Zone, offering perks for tech companies to set up shop and grow from Lagos, Nigeria.

Nigeria’s Banking as a service startup Anchor (YC 22) has raised $2.4 million in seed funding led by Goat Capital. They lease banking tools to fintechs, letting them offer financial services without starting a bank from scratch. (Congrats Segun and team!)
Kenya’s Kotani Pay raises $2 million in pre-seed funding to help Africans send money home via crypto. The round was led by P1 Ventures with participation from DCG/Luno and Flori Ventures

Egypt's health insure-tech, Sehatech has raised $850,000 in funding from A15 and Beltone venture capital. They've built a platform to simplify communication and financial transactions among players in Egypt's healthcare market.
Catalyst Fund has closed $8.6 million of their $40 million fund to invest in climate-tech startups in Africa. The raise was led by FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi), Cisco Foundation, USAID Prosper Africa, and tech investor Andrew Bredenkamp.

Calling all female founders in Africa! Women Startup Competition (WSC) is launching their Africa chapter. In its nine years in Europe, WSC has supported over 620 early-stage female-founded startups across 15 countries. Apply here
African founders, here's your chance: Join the Beyond Limits fellowship for an exciting six-week program to boost your business skills in Africa. Plus, you could snag grants and funding. Apply here by September 27th!
To our homies in Nigeria, get ready for AltSchool's creative economy and business school! The skill-to-market ed-tech is expanding beyond tech skills like coding. Apply now for the first program cohort!
The Africa Tech Festival is back! This year’s edition will happen in Cape Town, South Africa between 13-16 November. This event will bring together more than 15,000+ attendees- including founders, investors, and industry leaders. Register as an attendee or partner here
Calling all rural and agri-tech startups in Africa. Apply for the Emerald Financing facility, designed for early-stage startups extending credit to rural SMEs. Apply here by December 31, 2023.

And that's a wrap for this week!

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Catch you soon!