This Week in African Tech 🌍

Nigeria throws Meta in hot water 😬

Caleb Maru
July 28, 2024

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 thousands of smart folks curious about tech in Africa.

Happy Sunday! 👋🏽

Let’s get into This Week in African Tech.

Mercury, a San Francisco-based digital bank preferred by African startups, is closing accounts of users in 13 African countries, leaving startups scrambling for alternatives. Regulators are concerned about money laundering in the region.

Immad Akhund, CEO/Founder, Mercury

Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has fined Meta $220 million for abusing the data of its Nigerian users, following a three-year investigation. Meta denies wrongdoing, disputes the fine, and will appeal the FCCPC's decision.
Ticketmaster, the world’s leading ticket marketplace, has acquired 11-year-old South African startup Quicket to expand its reach in Africa. Quicket's platform will be used to offer ticketing solutions for events of all sizes across the continent.
Shortlist and FSD Africa, with analysis from the Boston Consulting Group, have published "Forecasting Green Jobs in Africa," a first-of-its-kind report that predicts the creation of up to 3.3 million new direct green jobs across the continent by 2030, with the majority in the renewable energy sector, particularly solar. You can download the report here.
Airtel Africa reported a $31 million profit in Q1 2024, rebounding from a $151 million loss last year. Even though the company faced currency devaluation and rising costs in key markets, it expanded its customer base to 155.4 million and grew mobile money and data services.

Space X’s Starlink could be heading to Liberia after President Boakai and Elon Musk had a virtual meeting to discuss launching satellite internet access in the country. During the meeting, Musk highlighted Starlink's potential to support education and healthcare in Liberia.
Bolt has introduced a new feature requiring South African riders to verify their identity with a selfie and ID document before booking a ride. The company wants to build trust between drivers and riders with this feature.
Risevest, a Nigerian fintech startup, is in talks to acquire Hisa, a Kenyan startup that provides access to US stocks, as part of its expansion strategy into Kenya. If successful, this acquisition would mark Risevest's second purchase following its acquisition of Chaka in 2023.

Eke Urum, CEO/Founder, Risevest

NETA Auto, a Chinese electric car brand, has entered the Kenyan market and plans to open an EV assembly plant in two months. The company wants to assemble 250 vehicles per month at the new plant and expand its presence across Africa, targeting 20 countries within two years.
Kenya's oldest bus operator, Kenya Bus Service Management Ltd (KBS), has acquired its first electric bus from BasiGo, marking the beginning of its fleet modernisation. BasiGo aims to deliver over 1,000 locally manufactured electric buses to Kenyan operators within the next three years.

The Africa Centre for Digital Transformation (ACDT) has warned Ghanaian banks about potential cybercrime threats following a global software failure involving Microsoft and CrowdStrike. The ACDT identified a new group of cyber attackers exploiting this failure to distribute malware disguised as updates, urging banks to be cautious and implement comprehensive security strategies.

TerraPay has secured $95 million in debt financing to improve the growth of affordable remittance services across Africa. The company plans to expand into new markets and partner with additional money transfer operators to lower transaction costs.
Ambar Sur, Founder & CEO, TerraPay
Intron Health, a Nigerian AI startup providing speech-to-text transcription tools for healthcare, has raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding. The company wants to expand its team, enhance research, and strengthen its cloud-native and on-premises capabilities.
Egyptian fintech company MNT-Halan has raised $157.5 million in capital, with $40 million coming from the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The startup connects customers, vendors, and micro-enterprises, offering services like ride-hailing and logistics.

Novus Holdings has invested R55 million in Bytefuse, an innovative AI company, to enhance its ability to deliver enterprise-scale AI solutions. The investment was motivated by Bytefuse's successful AI projects in education which aim to improve student outcomes through AI-driven one-on-one tutoring.
One Acre Fund, a Kenyan social enterprise supporting smallholder farmers, has raised $1.4 million from Impact Bridge Asset Management to expand its operations. The social enterprise aims to serve 10 million farmers across Africa by 2030.
Village Capital has invested $850,000 in Kenyan agri-tech startup Aquarech and Nigerian market management platform CoAmana through its Reducing Inequalities Investment Facility. The investments will be used to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in both countries.

The second Women Who Build Africa (WWBA) Assembly will take place in Nairobi, on the 5th-6th of September, with the full conference day on the 6th. The event is hosted in partnership with Delta40 and the African Fintech Summit. If you’re a startup who’d love to participate in a workshop day, applications are open here.
South African payments infrastructure company Stitch will host its third annual Scale Summit on the 3rd of October in Johannesburg, focusing on understanding and engaging South African consumers through payment innovation. The event will feature insights from Stitch and partner AB InBev. Guests can express interest in joining here.

And that's a wrap for this week!

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

And if you don't already, make sure to sign up to get this in your inbox next week.

And remember - it just takes just five referrals to join our WhatsApp community 👇🏾

Catch you soon!