Startups

Kenya to scrap tax breaks on startup employee stock options in 2025 Finance Bill

Kenya is proposing to scrap tax breaks on employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) for early-stage startups, a move that risks…

2 months ago

Botlhale AI bets big on South Africa’s multilingual call centres

When you call a customer care service line, you’re likely to hear from a representative that “this call is recorded for quality purposes.”…

2 months ago

Nigerians have tried and failed to curb dangerous policing; can a blockchain tool help?

In Lagos, the memory of October 20, 2020, still haunts Daniel Tambee, a Nigerian blockchain developer. That night, at the…

2 months ago

“We made zero revenue in our first three years”: Day 1-1,000 of Izesan!

Few founders dare to take on the challenge of preserving Africa’s linguistic heritage. Anthony Otaigbe is one of them. When…

2 months ago

Startups on Our Radar: 10 African startups rethinking ride-hailing, credits, and banking no one’s talking about yet

Startups on Our Radar is a bi-weekly column that spotlights new startups across Africa taking unconventional approaches, filling fundamental gaps,…

2 months ago

How data obsession became MyFoodAngels’ secret sauce in the first 1,000 days

In Day 1–1000, we follow founders through the raw, unfiltered journey of company-building: the early scrambles, the quiet breakthroughs, the…

2 months ago

Day 1–1000: How Sycamore founders built the fintech from a living room

What does it really take to build a startup in Africa—from the first idea to the thousandth day? In Day…

2 months ago

Moniepoint, PalmPay, OmniRetail, Paga make FT Africa’s fastest-growing companies list

Six Nigerian startups—Moniepoint, OmniRetail, PalmPay, Termii, Remedial Health, and Paga—have been listed on the Financial Times’ 2024 ranking of Africa’s…

2 months ago

Roam, M-Kopa top Kenyan firms on FT Africa’s fastest-growing companies list

Three Kenyan startups—Roam Electric AB, M-KOPA Holdings Ltd, and Victory Farms Ltd—have been named among Africa’s fastest-growing companies in the…

2 months ago

Onafriq appoints former PPRO chief Simon Black as board chair

Onafriq, a pan-African digital payments network, has named Simon Black as chair of the board of its UK holding company…

2 months ago

South African fintechs Paymenow, TymeBank, Omnisient make FT’s Africa fastest-growing companies list

Three South African fintech startups, Paymenow, TymeBank, and Omnisient, have been named in the Financial Times (FT) Africa’s Fastest-Growing Companies…

2 months ago

10 African startups opening markets, cutting CO2 & seafarming no one’s talking about yet

Startups on Our Radar is a bi-weekly column that spotlights new startups across Africa taking unconventional approaches, filling fundamental gaps,…

2 months ago

Kenyan edtech Craydel expands to Rwanda, taps Nigerian talent in Pan-African push

Craydel, a Kenyan edtech that helps students apply to universities abroad, has launched in Rwanda and is expanding its Nigerian…

2 months ago

This South African AI-powered edtech helps students land top jobs

In a country grappling with about 32% unemployment rate and a drop in tech hiring activity due to a persistent…

2 months ago

“Everything is against you”: The first 1,000 days of PaidHR

At last year’s Moonshot event, I met Seye Bandele, CEO of Nigerian HR tech upstart PaidHR for the first time.…

2 months ago

CBN licences in Nigeria: types, costs & what fintechs should know

If you’re building a fintech startup in Nigeria, one of the first things you’ll need to figure out is this:…

2 months ago

South Africa’s SOLmate doubles users to 100,000 as eWallet surge drives growth

South African fintech startup SOLmate has doubled its active user base over the past year to about 100,000, driven by…

3 months ago

South Africa’s payments startup  Stitch raises $55 million Series B funding

Stitch, a South Africa-based payments infrastructure startup founded in 2021, has raised $55 million in a Series B round, bringing…

3 months ago

Paystack welcomes consumers to its ecosystem with Zap, a transfer app

Nine years ago, Shola Akinlade, Paystack’s CEO, bet on making online payments frictionless and that bet paid off with a…

4 months ago

Moniepoint, OPay, PalmPay responded to 2024 ban with better data collection and compliance

In 2024, Nigerian fintechs faced significant regulatory pressure, including fines and a six-week ban on onboarding new users due to…

6 months ago