Here is our latest roundup of tech headlines from across the African continent. Black-owned digital insurance platform, Lami Technologies, has raised $3.7 million in a seed extension funding round. The funding round, which Harlem Capital Partners led, will help the API platform begin its path to building and distributing an end-to-end digital insurance platform. The additional funding brings Lami Technologies’ overall funding amount to $5.6 million. Lami Technologies, founded in 2018 by Jihan Abbas, is an end-to-end digital insurance and API platform enabling companies across sectors to offer insurance products.
Black Professionals in Tech (BPTN) has officially made its debut in Zambia. The community network, which currently has more than 60,000 Black members worldwide, has created a global network for professionals working within North America and across countries worldwide. BPTN’s new network, which went live at the Bongo Hive Technology Lusaka earlier this week, connects large tech companies with Black tech professionals. It provides employment opportunities to members and offers mentorship and educational resources to help entrepreneurs develop long-standing, successful careers within the tech industry. The platform enables tech giants to hire
Bizao has raised $8.15 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by AfricInvest, Adelie, and Seedstars Africa Ventures and will help the platform accelerate its expansion, helping them provide services to citizens across the continent. Bizao, founded in 2019 by Aurélien Duval-Delort, helps companies accept all local payment methods across Africa. The tech platform uses powerful APIs and advanced financial flows to simplify the challenge of getting Mobile Money, Visa/Mastercard, and Airtime payments. The outlet powers all businesses: local retailers, online merchants, international digital content providers, money
Africa-focused investment firm, Persistent Energy, has raised $10 million in its Series C funding to help support the renewable energy sector in Africa. The funding round, led by Kyuden International Corporation and FSD Africa Investments, also saw private investors Kotaro Tamura, BK Ventures BV, and DPI Energy Ventures participate. Persistent Energy, founded over a decade ago, is a pioneer investor in Africa’s renewable sector. The investment firm works to support and build businesses that can “scale sustainably.” They provide financial capital for startups and allow their team members to work
Black-owned investment firm Fearless Fund partnered with Louisiana-based foundation ProSeed to renovate and rebuild schools in Ivory Coast, West Africa. The partnership aims to transform the educational system in West Africa, giving students the tools needed to succeed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Fearless Fund, co-founded in 2018 by serial entrepreneur and angel investor Arian Simone, and American actress Keshia Knight Pulliam, works to invest in women of color-led businesses seeking pre-seed and seed level investment funding. The VC firm, built by women of color for women of
Black-owned money movement, Zazuu, has raised $2 million in investment funding in a new venture round. The startup, which works to build a more robust remittance for residents in the diaspora, has quickly evolved to become the world’s first cross-border payment marketplace. Zazuu, co-founded in 2018 by Kay Akinwunmi, Korede Fanilola, Tola Alade, and Tosin Ekolie, is on a mission to ease the difficulty of sending money back home, which is currently expensive, slow, and unfair to millions of migrant customers. The platform has helped empower customers by building an
From financial impropriety and conflict of interest to operating without a license, Nigerian fintech company Flutterwave is no stranger to allegations. Most recently, the Kenyan High Court officially granted the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) permission to freeze over $50 million in 52 accounts belonging to the fintech giant following allegations of money laundering in Kenya. According to local media reports, the ARA believes that the platform “concealed” the nature of its business by providing a payment service payment without approval from the Central Bank of Kenya. The assets recovery agency claims the accounts
Senegal-based fintech startup, Wave, raises a syndicated loan of $91.5 million from International Finance Corporation (IFC), Blue Orchard, Symbiotics, responsAbility, and Lendable. Wave Mobile Money, founded by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk in 2018, has quickly grown to become the largest mobile money remittance in Senegal. In 2021, the company closed the most extensive Series A round for an African fintech at $200 million. The digital fintech platform uses technology to build a radically inclusive and affordable financial network. As a result, Wave has built a life-changing economic infrastructure for
Social media giant Facebook is on a mission to create some of the most innovative forms of technology in society today. The platform recently announced the launch of its new AI translator, No Language Left Behind (NLLB-200), the first multilingual machine that can translate up to 200 languages without relying on English data. The NLLB-200 aims to help people better connect in society today by eliminating the language barrier. Meta’s AI model uses one of the world’s fastest AI supercomputers and is already used to translate content on Facebook and Wikipedia.
Kenyan and Canadian-based solar energy platform, Solar Panda, has raised $8 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by investors Oikocredit and Electrification Financing Initiative. The pay-as-you-go solar home system was founded by Andy Keith in 2016, to help provide clean, affordable solar energy to rural communities in Africa. The platform has already provided more than 200,000 solar home systems to households across Kenya from its 37 retail branches. “We are excited to partner with leading global impact investors Oikocredit and EDFI ElectriFI and thankful that this
