Mastercard released a whitepaper highlighting Africa’s readiness, opportunity, and roadmap for responsible artificial intelligence (AI) adoption. Harnessing the transformative power of AI in Africa shares insights into how AI can unlock significant outcomes across the continent’s major industries, including agriculture, healthcare, education, energy, and finance. The whitepaper also details the potential positive impact of AI on digital infrastructure, policy and governance, research and development, local language processing, and investment into Africa. Additionally, it examined how AI can create more jobs, with up to 230 million digital jobs projected by 2030 on
Lava Payments, a fintech startup founded by Mitchell Jones to transform AI-driven transactions, has secured $5.8 million in seed funding. The round was led by Lerer Hippeau and supported by Harlem Capital, Streamlined Ventures, and Westbound. Lava is a digital wallet that lets merchants use usage credits to facilitate transactions, according to TechCrunch. Why Lava Exists Jones launched the startup after leaving his previous Y Combinator-backed fintech startup, Lendtable, where he began experimenting with AI. While building a basic form-filling agent, he continued to experience the same issues. “I was using
Howard alumni Lawrence Blackmon and Roger Roman are the founders of LegalEase, a justice‑tech startup helping people find their expungement eligibility and file court petitions within minutes. Their Expungement.ai platform provides users with a conversational experience to discover their expungement through voice, web chat, or SMS text. Helping people find jobs and housing In the US, nearly 8% of adults and around 33% of African American men have a felony conviction, according to a 2010 study by the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs. Additionally, a report by
Sports tech company, Ballin AI, just announced the close of a $500,000 angel round. The startup, founded by Division I athlete Nyla Pollard, analyzes players’ gameplay to help them improve their performance and increase their recruitment chances. After players upload their film, the footage is examined by a nationally recognized evaluator, who then scores it across various criteria, including defense, shooting, rebounding, scoring, transition, ball handling, and finishing. How does Ballin AI work? “We created Ballin because every athlete deserves the opportunity to have the information they need to develop
Google will invest $37 million across Africa to expand artificial intelligence developments on the continent. A majority of the funds will be allocated to enhance food security and expand digital access in local languages, with $25 million being invested in an AI Collaborative for Food Security. This initiative will help African researchers and nonprofits create AI tools that tackle hunger, climate-related crop threats, and farming inefficiencies, according to TechPoint Africa. The program aims to safeguard millions of smallholder farmers against damaging economic and environmental shocks by leveraging AI in early
Torch, a leadership and coaching enterprise, has acquired Praxis Labs, an immersive learning platform that uses AI to build inclusive workplace cultures, for an undisclosed amount. As part of the acquisition, the entire Praxis Labs team will join Torch. Praxis Labs’ co-founders, Elise Smith and Heather Shen, will join Torch as Head of AI Growth and Head of AI Product, respectively. About Praxis Labs Founded in 2019, Praxis Labs is an AI platform that builds critical human skills with research-backed practice simulations, AI coaching, and skills assessments. The startup has
The UN has created two AI avatars in a bid to help more people learn about the realities faced by those fleeing war. The first is Amina, a character playing the role of a woman living in a refugee camp in Chad after she escaped violence in Sudan. Then, there’s a soldier persona called Abdalla, a character built with the behavior and decision-making patterns of an actual combatant. Both avatars were created by the United Nations University Center for Policy Research (UNU-CPR), a research institution connected to the United Nations,
Agbo Obinnaya and his co-founder, Ngwu Anthony Mark, are helping Nigerians learn about the law through their AI platform, Case Radar. Founded in September 2024, it’s helped 1,400 users receive legal advice and find lawyers for their cases. While its platform is similar to that of ChatGPT, both founders believe its knowledge of legal advice is limited to what is widely available online. In contrast, Casa Radar operates on digitized Nigerian court documents that were previously unavailable on the internet, according to TechPoint. Using AI to teach Nigerians about the
Join our Patreon for extra-long episodes and ad-free content. In this episode of Techish, Abadesi chats with Bridget Todd (There Are No Girls on the Internet and IRL) about how AI is changing our lives, especially when it comes to companionship and relationships. They dive into the convenience economy, the responsibilities of tech companies and users, and why real community still matters in an increasingly AI-driven world. Follow Bridget Todd on Instagram @bridgetmarieindc Check out Bridget’s There Are No Girls On The Internet podcast and the IRL podcast Chapters 02:35 AI Lovers?!10:47 Convenience vs Community 23:18
Fewer Black professionals are entering venture capital, and even fewer are rising through the ranks, a new report has found. The Black Venture Report 2025 On Juneteenth, BLCK VC released the third edition of its Black Venture report. Its first edition was promoted by a question between the co-founders: Where are we, really? That question expanded into a critical report that highlights the link between Black representation and power in venture capital. “Our research continues to expose a stark truth: Black investors remain severely underrepresented, especially in senior roles,” it
