The Latest from Tage Kene-Okafor
Valar Ventures leads $20M round in online brokerage platform baraka
Stock-trading apps have multiplied over the past couple of years, targeting varying demographics and audiences that they feel need to partake in investment activities to live healthier financial lives
Modus expands to sub-Saharan Africa with the launch of its AI and blockchain-focused $75M fund
New York-based venture platform Modus has launched Modus Africa, a venture capital fund for AI and blockchain startups across sub-Saharan Africa, TechCrunch has learned. The fund is expected to reach
Silkhaus gets $7.75M to digitize short-term rentals across emerging markets
Silkhaus, a Dubai-based platform for short-term rentals coming out of stealth, has raised $7.75 million in seed funding, money it plans to use for expansion across South Asia, Southeast Asia and the M
African web3 startup Nestcoin declares it held its assets in FTX, lays off employees
African web3 startup Nestcoin has laid off some employees as FTX’s demise impacted its business. This information was shared by the startup’s CEO, Yele Bademosi, who, in a tweet, said FTX&
Blnk, a fintech that provides instant consumer credit in Egypt, raises $32M in debt and equity
Credit card penetration in Egypt is low, with just over 4 million cards used in a population of more than 100 million people. As such, people in the country have little or no access to credit, given t
Kuda takes digital banking play to the UK with its remittance product
Kuda, the London-based and Nigerian-operating startup taking on incumbents in the country with a mobile-first and personalized set of banking services, is expanding to the U.K. by offering a remittanc
Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec step down as Jumia co-CEOs
African e-commerce giant Jumia has made a change in management as co-founders Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec step down effective today as co-CEOs, according to a statement seen by TechCrunch. The
Yassir pulls in $150M for its super app, led by Bond
Yassir, an African super app platform that offers on-demand services such as ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery, and payments, has raised $150 million in Series B funding, five times what it rais
Nigerian proptech SmallSmall raises $3M to provide flexible living solutions for customers
Inefficiencies have marred Nigeria’s rental system for years, thus affecting how landlords and renters transact. Most landlords collect rent one to two years upfront, while renters struggle to find
Money Fellows, an Egyptian fintech digitizing money circles, raises $31M funding
Egyptian fintech Money Fellows has raised $31 million in what it describes as the first close of its Series B investment. The round, which the startup expects to top up in the coming months, was led b
54gene valuation slashed by over $100M amid job cuts and CEO exit
It’s been a strange couple of months at African genomics startup 54gene. In August, it sacked 95 employees, mostly contract staff (in labs and sales departments) hired to work in 54gene’s COVID bu
54gene CEO steps down as the company looks to cut more jobs
54gene co-founder and chief executive officer Dr. Abasi Ene-Obong has stepped down from his executive role, the African genomics company confirmed to TechCrunch today. The three-year-old company has a
Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari signs the Nigeria Start-up Act into law
Last May, the Nigerian presidency launched the Nigeria Startup Bill in collaboration with a group of Nigerian tech leaders and several government bodies to govern how startups and regulatory bodies op
Nigerian retail automation platform Bumpa raises $4M, led by Base10 Partners
Millions of small and medium businesses still operate inefficiently due to dependency on manual processes, which limits their capacity to grow and scale; this is despite contributing to about 48% of N
MaxAB, an Egyptian B2B e-commerce platform for food and grocery supplies, nabs $40M
Last year, MaxAB, the food and grocery B2B e-commerce and distribution platform serving a network of traditional retailers across Egypt and Morocco, raised its $55 million Series A in two tranches; th
Egypt’s Nexta to launch ‘next-gen banking’ app with fresh $3M
Nexta, an Egyptian startup that plans to launch its banking app in the coming months, has secured a $3 million investment from eFinance Group, a state-owned provider of digital payments solutions. Thi
Kenzz, an Egyptian e-commerce platform for the mass market, grabs $3.5M seed funding
Kenzz, an e-commerce platform bringing shopping to the mass market in Egypt and MENA, is announcing that it has raised $3.5 million in seed funding. U.S.-based and MENA-focused venture capital firm Ou
Nigerian banking-as-a-service platform Maplerad raises $6M, led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures
Banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platforms have taken off rapidly across the fintech world over the last 18 months. By partnering with banks, these platforms allow entities, from startups and fintechs to b
Fast Forward Venture Studio to build African startups from idea to scale
Opeyemi Awoyemi, one of Nigeria’s well-known serial founders, is back with another outfit. It’s not a tech company this time — Awoyemi co-founded online jobs site Jobberman (which wa