Author: Akin Naphtal

Egyptian B2B marketplace Mowarrid has been acquired by Saudi B2B e-commerce Sary as the latter expands its footprint across the MENA region. Founded by Ahmed Essam in 2018, Mowarrid is focused on the B2B food and grocery markets, and allows more than 10,000 retailers to digitally procure all their needs across a variety of more than 1000 products on its platform. Saudi equivalent Sary, meanwhile, connects MSMEs with the biggest international brands and regional players, and has reached more than 350,000 customers and served over 40,000 businesses in 15 cities across Saudi Arabia. It closed a Series C round in…

Egyptian legal ed-tech startup Kouncel has raised a US$1.2 million pre-seed funding round to help it scale. Founded this year by Ibrahim Saleh, Kouncel is an online video education platform for lawyers, offering courses on topics like arbitration, legal drafting and intellectual property based on different jurisdictions. The funding round, which will be used to help the startup reach more users both in Egypt and across the wider MENA region, featured participation from Zaldi Capital, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Academy for Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), and Egyptian entrepreneurship development project Tanmia wa Tatweer. Of the amount raised,…

South African startup Vula Mobile, a medical referral app and online platform which hosts a network of health professionals, has partnered with leading medicines firm Novartis to improve eye care services in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through the Vula Mobile digital platform, primary health care workers can get connected with specialists to enable faster assessment of eye conditions and to optimise the way patients seek care in the rural outskirts. The strategic partnership with Novartis aims to empower primary care facilities in providing service for adequate eye care, improve the quality of referrals to specialist centres and assist health administrators in making…

Egyptian startup Homzmart, the Middle East’s leading furniture and home goods marketplace platform, has announced the acquisition of Berlin-based technology company MockUp Studio as it bids to add to its product offering.Hard-launched in early 2020 by Mahmoud Ibrahim and Ibrahim Mohamed, Homzmart is a digital platform connecting home goods and furniture manufacturers and brands with end consumers.Homzmart’s platform and its end-to-solutions enable both retailers, including the likes of IKEA and Home Centre by helping them easily reach customers, and consumers who have a hassle-free, one-stop-shop shopping experience, with greater choice and flexible financing options.The startup closed a US$15 million Series…

Spectranet, the Internet Service Provider offering 4G LTE based Home Broadband services and Fiber-based Fixed Broadband services, has introduced another innovative product ‘Stryker’, a high tech internet modem to enable multiple users to browse the internet while on-the-move or at their homes and offices. The all-new sleek MiFi device is designed specifically with football as its theme, timed to join Nigerians as they root for the Super Eagles of Nigeria against the Black Stars of Ghana in a world cup qualifier in March. The MiFi is named Stryker to show support and to acknowledge the natural flair of the Nigerian…

Tecnotree, a finnish-based global provider of digital transformation solutions for Communication Service Providers (CSPs) and Digital Service Providers (DSPs), has announced the launch of its digital multi-experience platform, ‘Tecnotree Moments’, in collaboration with MTN Nigeria. The multi-experience partner ecosystem offering aims to create lifestyle bundles of content, applications and connectivity through a pre-integrated digital partner ecosystem for global, local and glocal high-demand and hyper growth sectors. The platform will attract leading partners across different sectors such as education, entertainment, gaming, sports, health and wellness, to enter Nigeria and using direct customer billing to convert ecosystem partners into instant revenue generators…

Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O), the parent company of Facebook, will restrict access to Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik on its platforms across the European Union, the company’s head of global affairs said on Monday. Nick Clegg said in a Twitter post that the social media company received requests from a number of governments and the EU to take steps in relation to Russian state-controlled media on its platforms. Clegg said Meta would continue to work closely with governments on the issue. The European Union said on Sunday it would ban Russian state-owned television network RT and news agency…

The Dean of the University of Ghana’s Law Faculty, Professor Raymond Atuguba, has asked for the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) Bill to be passed. Although averring to the tax policy Although he, explained that funds generated from the said levy will save the country from looming economic threats. Speaking at a Public Lecture on Monday, Prof Atugubah declared that “Ghana is broke.” According to him, the country’s current financial state is a threat to its democracy since studies have confirmed that an ailing economy is the originator of all successful coup d’états in the sub-region. In view of this,…

A 2019 World Bank report says 85% of Africans live on less than $5.50 per day. A large percentage of these adults are unbanked and underbanked; thus, they don’t have access to credit and can’t afford important purchases outright. M-KOPA’s financing platform has proved helpful to this set of users since launching as an energy provider in 2011. The company, which enables underbanked customers in select African markets to access a broad range of products and services without collateral or a guarantor, announced today that it has raised $75 million. The titular “growth equity round” highlighted by M-KOPA in its press statement is its fifth…

Google has disabled live traffic data from being displayed on its Maps app in Ukraine. The app displays this information by collecting anonymous data from Android smartphones, which shows how busy roads and different places are. But it has now been switched off in the region temporarily to protect users. Google confirmed that it took the action for the safety of local communities, after consulting regional authorities. Although traffic data has been disabled, normal maps navigation features are still functioning properly in the area. Data like this has long been used by people involved in desktop detection surrounding significant events.…