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This Week in African Tech 🌍
See you in Cape Town!
Welcome to Tech Safari!
Your tour guide on African Tech 🧭
Hello to the new folks who have joined the Safari since the last edition.
If you haven't subscribed, join 18,733 smart folks curious about Tech in Africa.
Hello and welcome to this week in African Tech!
This week, we’ve got a lot happening on the Tech Safari front, so let’s dive in.
First, the Tech Safari Mixer is coming to Cape Town!
On Thursday the 14th of March, we’ll bring together Tech Safari's community of founders, investors, and ecosystem players in South Africa for a great evening of conversations and networking.
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It’s going to be a good one, so don’t miss out. Save your spot here.
Next, we’ve got a great webinar coming up with Raise. We’ll be talking about the pros and cons of bootstrapping versus raising for your company. If you’re trying to figure out which is a better option for your startup, this session is for you.
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Save your spot here and don’t forget to join us on Wednesday!
And finally, this week on Tech Safari, our friends at Tushop showed us how they’re automating grocery shopping with a new product, Jipange.
If you’re in Kenya, you can try Jipange and save time on shopping here: https://bit.ly/m/tushop.
Now, let’s get into the roundup!
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Tech Roundup
Mastercard and MTN MoMo are teaming up to launch a prepaid virtual card. Now MTN's mobile money customers in 13 African markets can access over 100 million payment points worldwide. Plus, MoMo merchants will be able to accept card payments.
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MultiChoice has partnered with Paramount to introduce the Paramount+ channel. MultiChoice’s subscribers can now enjoy direct access to content from CBS, Paramount+ Originals, Showtime, Paramount Pictures, and more. This marks Paramount’s debut in Africa.
Uber is in talks to invest up to $100 million in mobility startup Moove. This could push Moove’s value to about $750 million. But, the deal isn’t sealed yet, and the final figure could still change.
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Equitel has partnered with Airtel to launch 5G in Kenya. This makes Equitel the first mobile virtual network operator to offer 5G services in Africa. This is the third 5G network roll-out in the country after Safaricom in 2021 and Airtel Kenya in 2023.
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Two Binance executives were arrested in Nigeria this week as part of a market manipulation investigation. They had travelled to Nigeria after their site was banned in the country. Binance hasn’t commented on the arrest, but trading of the Nigerian naira (NGN) against Bitcoin and Tether on its platform has been stopped.
Deal Roundup
South African startup Cue, which offers AI-enabled customer service chat software, raises $2 million in a seed funding round from angel investors. Cue will improve AI integration on its customer service platform and support its growth and expansion plans.
Nigerian debt recovery startup, Bfree raises $2.95 million. The round was led by Capria Ventures. Bfree will use the funding to enhance its risk management solutions tailored to banks and lenders.
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Egyptian fintech MoneyHash raises $4.5 million in seed funding. COTU Ventures and Sukna Venture led the round. The funding will help MoneyHash to bolster its payment technology and scale across the Middle East and Africa region.
Events and Opportunities
For International Women’s Day, Oui Capital is hosting the second edition of The African Amazons Masterclass! This virtual event offers female founders the chance to attend sessions, connect with other African female entrepreneurs, and learn from the brightest minds in the ecosystem. Apply here to be a part of this Masterclass on the 8th of March, 2024. The closing date is the 2nd of March, 2024.
Dream VC has opened applications for its 2024 cohort. This year, Dream VC will run the Launch Into Venture Capital (LIVC) and Investor Accelerator Program (IA). LIVC is a four-month-long program that offers a way into entry-level VC roles, while the IA program targets mid to advanced-stage career professionals. If you’re looking to get into VC, apply here before the 14th of April, 2024.
Egyptian startups are invited to apply for the 12th edition of the MINT Incubator program, which helps startups become investment-ready. The program includes a series of mentoring sessions and workshops on finance, sales and marketing, growth hacking, accounting basics, legal, and many more. Applications are open here.
Applications are open for Growth4Her, a six-month Investor Readiness Accelerator Programme for women in West and Central Africa. G4Her bridges the gender financing gap in Africa by helping female entrepreneurs go from small to high-potential growth-stage businesses. Applications are now open here until the 4th of March, 2024.
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And that's a wrap for this week!
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