This Week in African Tech 🌍

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Hey hey from sunny(ish) Cape Town, South Africa 👋🏾 🇿🇦

It really is event season.

Last week we explored how Estonia built the ultimate startup country and what that could mean for African countries.

On Tuesday, we’re teaming up with our friends from Estonia and Kenya to talk about how to build a startup village. But in real life! Catch more details here.

No Tech Safari trip is complete without a mixer.

So, I’ll be hosting a Tech Safari Mixer for our fam in Cape Town on November 23rd.

Tech Safari Mixers are a great way to connect and kick back with others in the tech ecosystem. And they’re a ton of fun.

We have limited spots, so RSVP here.

And if you know anyone who should be here, share it with them: https://lu.ma/capetownmixer

Alright, let's dive in 🪂

Tech Roundup

• WiSolar, a South African digital solar company, introduces prepaid solar panels. The panels bring 80 megawatts of solar power to homes to tackle South Africa's energy crisis - marked by frequent load shedding.

• Bolt Food is shutting down in Nigeria. ‘The company is making the move to streamline resources and boost its efficiency.’ This comes a week after Chowdeck, a local food delivery startup reported ₦1 billion in monthly order value.

• Last-mile delivery startup, Fez Delivery, is rolling out 'FEZ ECO' - a fresh line of electric bikes. Their launch signals a step towards greener, more efficient delivery solutions.

• Flutterwave's CFO Oneal Bhambani and other members of Flutterwave’s finance team have left the company just a year and a half into their roles. This comes during Flutterwave’s preparation to IPO.

• Safaricom, Kenya's telecom giant, is teaming up with M-PESA Africa and Japan's Sumitomo Corporation to launch Spark Accelerator - to help early-stage startups with mentorship, funding, and go-to-market support.

Deal Roundup

• MNT-Halan, Egypt's fintech startup, raises another $130 million led by CI Capital, contributing to a total of over $400 million raised this year.

• South African startup JOBJACK an online platform for entry jobs raises $2.5 million in pre-Series A to help with unemployment in the country.

• Awfar, the Egyptian SaaS e-commerce startup, raises a six-figure USD fund from a Saudi-based venture studio, Value Maker Studio (VMS).

• Togolese super app, Gozem which provides on-demand transport, acquires Moneex, a Benin-based payments startup. The acquisition boosts Gozem’s ambitions to be a super app in Francophone Africa.

Events + Opportunities

• Cape Town 🇿🇦 We’re bringing the tech community together to celebrate African Tech. Come by for a night of connection, fun and good times.

  Capacity is limited so save your spot here.

• Women in Tech: Apply for the Aurora Tech Award an annual global prize for female-led tech startups. They’re giving $30,000 for first place, $20,000 for second, and $10,000 for third. Apply here before December 1st.

• The Africa Tech Festival is on in Cape Town this week. I’ll be talking about how to build a startup village, alongside our friends from Estonia and Kenya. Check it out here and grab your ATF tickets here.

• Nairobi! Latitude59 x Kenya Edition is almost here. We’re celebrating Nairobi’s ecosystem and hearing from a world-class lineup of speakers. Our Tech Safari community gets 40% off tickets this week with the code L59xTECHSAFARI40. Grab your ticket here 🥳 

• Founders - want to learn how to e-commerce?

  We are teaming up with Nick Joshi from Leta, Wandia Gichuru from Shopzetu, and Vikaran Ubhi from Paystack to dive into how to scale an e-commerce company on Thursday 16th November. RSVP here.

And that's a wrap for this week!

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