Author: Akin Naphtal

South African solar startup, Hohm Energy, has secured $8 million in seed funding from investors, E3 Capital and 4DX Ventures, marking the largest seed round ever amassed by a South African technology startup. Established in 2021 by visionaries Tim Ohlsen and Emir Gluhbegovic, Hohm Energy has swiftly proven itself a trailblazer in South Africa’s renewable energy landscape. Their innovative platform offers a dual solution, enabling customers to digitally determine their properties’ solar energy needs, while facilitating access to credit financing for rooftop solar installations. Moreover, the platform streamlines the entire process for solar installers, enabling them to efficiently design, manage,…

According to a recent report from Bloomberg, social media platform, Reddit has signed a deal with an undisclosed AI company, permitting them to train their models on the platform’s content. The move coincides with Reddit’s anticipated initial public offering (IPO), which could potentially debut as soon as next month. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that Reddit disclosed the deal earlier in 2024 to potential investors, with the contract estimated to be valued at $60 million annually. This agreement, if finalised, could serve as a precedent for future collaborations with other AI firms, as speculated by Bloomberg insiders. In light…

Artificial intelligence (AI) experts and industry executives, including renowned AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio, have joined forces to call for increased regulation surrounding the creation of deepfakes, citing potential societal risks associated with the technology. According to Reuters, AI researcher at UC Berkeley, Andrew Critch, and the group penned an open letter highlighting the growing usage of deepfakes, and the fact that the AI-generated imagery often involved sexual imagery, fraud, or political disinformation. With AI advancements rapidly improving deepfake creation, the signatories have stressed the urgent need for safeguards. Deepfakes, which are realistic yet fabricated images, audios, and videos generated by…

Opera, a global web innovator, has announced a milestone for its payments platform, Opera MiniPay, which has now surpassed a million users across Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. Launched in September 2022 in collaboration with partners Celo Foundation and Mento Labs, MiniPay is a dollar-pegged stablecoin wallet integrated into Opera’s Mini browser, which leverages blockchain infrastructure and Opera’s extensive mobile user base in Africa to improve digital finance across the continent. The platform enables instant, low-fee transfers between users via digital dollar equivalents, leveraging phone numbers for simple onboarding and Google Key Backup for secure authentication. Additionally, MiniPay offers users the…

The 2023 Robotics and AI Society Bill, intended to regulate the Kenya’s growing artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics industry, has encountered strong opposition from industry insiders, sparking significant debate and calls for reconsideration. The Kenya Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society Bill 2023, if passed, would require all entities operating in these sectors to register with the newly proposed Robotics Society of Kenya (RSK). Failure to comply could result in significant penalties, including fines of up to KES 1 million (approximately USD 6,000), imprisonment for up to two years, or both. Professionals in Information Technology (IT) and representatives from the American…

MTN has launched a major solar energy initiative at its Johannesburg headquarters, with over 5,400 solar panels currently operational as the company moves to reduce reliance on South Africa’s strained power grid. With this solar energy initiative, MTN is set to make its head office 40% less dependent on the municipal grid by the end of February. This undertaking follows a phased approach by MTN, intending to inject a total of 1,800kW into the office’s microgrid. The telco’s primary objective is to greatly lessen the impact of frequent power blackouts, locally known as “load shedding,” which have plagued South Africa…

GoDaddy, a US-based provider of web hosting and domain registration services, has shared five tips that can help small businesses and entrepreneurs around the globe to harness the power of the internet and build a strong online presence to thrive in today’s digital landscape and propel their growth. Start with a Domain Name: Securing a domain name is akin to claiming real estate in the digital realm. Entrepreneurs are advised to check the availability of desired domain names and register them promptly. A memorable domain name not only serves as an online identity but also facilitates easy discovery by potential…

U.S. technology giant Microsoft has set its sights on Spain, announcing an investment of $2.1 billion aimed at boosting the country’s artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud infrastructure over the next two years. The investment comes as part of the company’s broader strategy to deepen its footprint in Europe and capitalise on the continent’s growing demand for digital services. Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President, Brad Smith, revealed the news on X (formerly Twitter), as he spoke on the company’s commitment to Spain’s digital transformation journey. Smith highlighted that the investment goes beyond establishing data centres, but also signifies a deep commitment…

CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, has attributed the recent wave of layoffs in the technology industry to tech companies needing to create a “leaner” workforce following the period of rapid expansion that was seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. The tech industry has seen mass workforce reductions in 2024, with Layoffs.fyi projecting that 159 tech companies have laid off 41,793 employees so far. While this number is a far cry from the over 260,000 tech layoffs in 2023, many tech workers are concerned about losing their jobs to new technology like artificial intelligence (AI). However, many tech leaders, Zukerberg included, have…

Experts from Russian cybersecurity firm, Kapersky have shed light on the evolving cyberthreat landscape in Global South regions, doing so during the 9th annual Cyber Security Weekend – META 2024, hosted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The discussions focused on the security implications of emerging technology trends such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and threats targeting industrial control systems within critical infrastructure across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Speaking on the evolution of cyberthreats, Director of META Research Center Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) at Kaspersky, Amin Hasbini, noted, “as the cybersecurity landscape evolves, cyber threats continue to become diverse…