Author: Akin Naphtal

Kenya-based agritech Apollo Agriculture, which helps farmers access high-quality farm inputs, financing and markets, plans to double the number of farmers it is serving by the end 2022 and to introduce other products that deliver more value per acre of land. This is after raising $40 million in Series B funding in the equity round led by Softbank Vision Fund 2. Apollo uses the satellite imagery data of farms and AI to rate the credit-worthiness of farmers. It plans to use the new funding to refine its technology and deliver more products and services to farmers. Launched in 2016, the startup…

A wholesale e-commerce platform based in Kenya with hubs in the Americas, Asia and Europe, Powered by People, has secured $5 million in seed funding to increase its transaction volumes by growing the number of small brands using its B2B online marketplace to reach international buyers. The equity funding was led by Susa Ventures and Golden Ventures with participation from a number of investors including Flexport Ventures, J Ventures, and the founders of DraftKings, Fabric. It brings the total funding raised by the startup to $7 million, having previously received support from a number of investors including the Founders Factory Africa,…

MTN Group has announced senior leadership appointments to operating companies in Nigeria, Iran and Sudan, all of them internal candidates, as its focus on executing strategy to drive growth, de-leverage faster and reveal value in our fintech and fibre businesses. The appointments are effective 1 April 2022. “A vital enabler of our strategy is having the best talent, culture and future-fit skills,” says MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita. “Today’s announcement demonstrates the depth of talent within the Group, as well as the strength of our succession planning.” Following the recent appointment of MTN Nigeria Chief Operating Officer Mazen…

Nigerian startup Pivo is providing an all-in-one financial services platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the supply chain sector, offering them access to banking, lending and insurance solutions. Formed by Ijeoma Akwiwu and Nkiru Amadi-Emina in July 2021 and launched in public beta in September, Pivo is targeted at any business that deals with the import, export, manufacture, distribution and retail of FMCG, logistics and haulage, and clearing and forwarding. Pivo has three main products. Pivo Capital, its flagship product, gives SMEs access to loans worth as much as US$50,000. Pivo Finance, meanwhile, offers customers access to a…

Nigerian startup CodeLn, an online tech talent marketplace, has launched Insight, a smart applicant tracking system that helps startups manage job applicants and monitor their job vacancies, for free. CodeLn is an end-to-end technical recruitment platform, helping companies easily recruit software developers by automating the entire process. It claims to reduce technical recruitment time by 80 per cent. The startup’s new platform, Insight, is a smart, easy-to-use application tracking system where recruiters can post jobs, share jobs, receive job applications, manage job applications, and collaborate with team members to rate and hire candidates from any field. Key features include a…

Nigerian agri-tech startup ThriveAgric has raised US$56.4 million in debt funding from local commercial banks and institutional investors to grow its 200,000-strong farmer base and expand into new African markets, including Ghana, Zambia and Kenya. Founded in 2017 and fully operational since 2018, ThriveAgric empowers farmers in Nigeria to sell their products to FMCGs and food processors, leveraging its proprietary technology to access finance as well as improve productivity and sales to promote food security. The technology, an agricultural operating system, works entirely offline, dispatches USSD to farmers, and powers Android apps used by field agents to help digitally collate…

Vodafone Deutschland and sports streamer DAZN have revealed they are jointly testing the transmission of German Bundesliga football games using 5G. Most recently, 5G-based transmission technology was used in February in the match between FC Bayern Munich and SpVgg Greuther Fürth. Both companies had previously used 5G at other Bundesliga games to transmit images and sound from field reporters and cameramen from inside the stadium. According to the pair, the use of 5G in TV shortens the path that live images take before they reach television viewers. Cameras can be connected to a 5G-enabled router in order to transmit recordings…

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Fintech Conference has named Kenyan startup Money254 as the grand prize winner of its 2022 Fintech Startup Pitch Competition. Launched in April 2021, Money254 is a financial services comparison platform, making it easier for users to find, compare and apply for financial products that match both their needs and eligibility. By combining independent financial product research with partnerships across leading institutions, Money254 users are able to search and apply for financial products such as personal loans, business loans, and savings accounts from a variety of leading banks, microfinance institutions, and digital apps – all…

Egyptian fitness app Welnes has closed a US$300,000 seed funding round to expand its team and prepare for GCC expansion by 2023. Launched in 2020 by Amr Saleh and Amr Diab, Welnes is a community app that helps users reach their weight-loss and lifestyle goals by providing them with customised nutrition and workout plans. The programmes are served in a group setting, while the app also features a robust gamification model that keeps users motivated and committed. To date, Welnes has helped over 15,000 users who have uploaded 500,000 meal pictures and made over five million likes. The startup’s US$300,000…

Google has announced two new tools for businesses that operate extensive delivery fleets: the Last Mile Fleet Solution and the Cloud Fleet Routing API. The new Last Mile Fleet Solution, which is part of the Google Maps platform, puts an emphasis on optimizing every step of the last-mile delivery process from ordering to delivery. As the name implies, the new Routing API, which is part of Google Cloud, focuses on route planning across fleets of delivery vehicles. The Last Mile Fleet Solution is now in public preview. The Cloud Fleet Routing API will become generally available in the second quarter of the…