Kenya’s central bank has called on the public to share their views, before May 20th, on the possibility of adopting a digital currency, just one day after it emerged that Zambia is also testing its viability too. The Bank of Zambia is also carrying out research on digital currencies. Digital currency, unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, is developed by central banks and pegged on countries’ fiat currencies. The potential decision-making comes just a year after Nigeria became the first country in Africa to pilot its central bank digital currency . While Ghana
Amitruck, a Kenyan tech-enabled logistics platform, has just raised $4 million in seed funding – bringing the total funds raised to date to $5 million. The most important purpose of this round is hiring, according to Amitruck founder and chief executive officer Mark Mwangi. The seed round was led by Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV), with the participation of Dynamo Ventures, Rackhouse Venture Capital, Flexport Inc, Knuru Capital, Launch Africa Ventures, Uncovered Fund and a number of angel investors. Launched in 2019 as a digital logistics marketplace, Amitruck connects shippers with transporters
An African healthcare startup running several hospitals has secured $18 million in a Series A round. These funds will build its “tech-forward healthcare system” across Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. The funding round for Africal Health Holdings, led by Asia Pacific Land/Natural World Limited, saw the participation of several investors, including TRB Advisors, Breyer Capital, M3, Inc., Valiant Capital, Kepple Ventures, and SUNU Capital. Based in West Africa, Africa Health Holdings will use the new capital to expand its telemedicine service beyond Ghana to countries like Nigeria and Kenya. The startup’s MyCareMobile
A minority-owned platform that allows you to compare colleges, course options, and tuition fees all in one go has just managed to raise $1M in a pre-seed round that will go towards improving its search and recommendation technology. Craydel was launched earlier this year by co-founders Manish Sardana, John Nguru, and Shayne Aman Premji. It was inspired by the lack of a reliable portal in Africa to guide the big decisions on which college and course selection students will take. The trio then decided to bring to life a platform that would eliminate this
Electric vehicle startup BasiGo has today announced the launch of its operations in Nairobi, and the buses will come in 25 and 36-seater capacities, with a range of about 250 kilometers. The startup plans to sell locally assembled electric buses using parts from China’s EV maker BYD Automotive; the company said while announcing it had raised $1 million in pre-seed funding. It is also planning to enter other markets within the East Africa region after establishing ground in Kenya. BasiGo is backed by several investors, including Climate Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital
Twiga Foods has raised $50M in its Series C round to take its mission to expand food and retail distribution across the African continent. The firm, which launched in 2014, uses technology to build supply chains in food and retail distribution. It claims to simplify the supply chain between fresh food producers, FMCG manufacturers, and retailers through a B2B e-commerce platform and it currently has over 100,000 registered customers and delivers to 10,000 every day. Twiga now plans to use the funding to test out a model they’re developing “to reduce the
Bolt is set to roll out electric taxi options in South Africa four months after introducing e-bike food delivery services as part of its mission to expand across the continent rapidly. The move comes amid plans by Uber to test a carpooling and rideshare service in Nairobi, with ideas to also roll it out in Ghana and Nigeria. Bolt’s electric taxi option is part of the company’s “green category” initiative. The system lets riders only hail an electric or a hybrid vehicle – which is considered more environmentally friendly. The firm
Uber is set to launch its new ‘Pool Chance’ service in Kenya, enabling riders heading in the same direction to share the cost on their journey. Riders have a chance of getting discounted rides if the driver picks up other passengers; otherwise, they’ll have to pay the regular fees they’d pay for an individual ride. UberPool negotiates a specific carpool rate for the rider regardless of who else gets into the vehicle. The Pool Chance trip option is available on the budget service, Chap Chap in Nairobi; in the populous Nigerian city of Lagos
Google has just launched TaskMate, a crowdsourcing app that lets people use smartphones to do tasks and get paid, in Kenya after a year-long experiment in the East African country. This launch, however, is just the beta version. TaskMate joins a growing list of apps and services launched by Google that offer people local job opportunities such as taking a photo of a nearby restaurant, answering survey questions, or helping translate sentences from English to your local language. It also includes a rewards app that lets people get paid for filling out local services
Netflix Inc has launched a free mobile plan in Kenya as part of its strategy to spark growth in the East African nation, home to over 20 million internet users. The plan will be rolled out to all users in the country; it will be available on Android mobile phones and will not have any ads. Some shows will not be included in the free plan, and they will be marked with a lock icon. Clicking on one of those titles will encourage the user to sign up for a
