Author: Akin Naphtal

Grey, a fintech started by two Nigerians to simplify sending and receiving foreign payments for Africans, has raised $2 million in seed funding. The service offered by Grey enables its customers to have virtual international bank accounts for free and enjoy a seamless foreign payment process. “Grey was founded in 2021 to empower people to live a location-independent lifestyle,” CEO of Grey, Idorenyin Obong, says. “I believe that the least of your worries as a freelancer, remote worker, or digital nomad should be sending or receiving payments, so we’ve made it easy. We like to say that we’re on a…

Flutterwave, the Nigerian fintech firm has announced that it has been granted a Switching and Processing License by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the highest licence given to fintech companies in the country. Only top-tier players in the tech ecosystem like Interswitch, eTranzact, 3Line, Unified Payments (UPSL), Cards Technology Limited (CTL) and a few others currently possess the licence. This means that Flutterwave, which has before now depended on its Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) and International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licenses for its operations in Nigeria, can now carry out more functions including card processing services, non-bank acquiring,…

Lagos state of Nigeria is drawing nearer to its ambitious Smart city plans as it prepares to launch its state-wide fibre optics duct infrastructure allowing it to connect every inch of its territorial land area of 351,861 hectares or 1,171.28 km2 (452.23 sq mi). The state has also started state-wide deployment of CCTV (Closed circuit television) all to ride on the fibre optic backbone in a way that further helps to improve security and track traffic CCTV is going beyond selected locations to become a state-wide phenomenon as is the case in advanced countries, said a senior official in the…

Eyowo, a digital bank has unveiled its Digital First payment offering – the Better Card – which is certified by Mastercard. As one of the pioneer partners in Nigeria to join Mastercard’s Digital First Card Program, Eyowo brings a best-in-class digital banking experience to its customers. This includes digital access to card information, unsurpassed payment security and access to a host of payment options (ecommerce, contactless and QR) from any digital device of their choice. Powered by Providus Bank, the Better Card offers customers a seamless payment experience that eliminates the risk of card fraud by safely storing their payment…

Microsoft’s African Transformation Office (ATO) has announced that Microsoft veteran Kunle Awosika has been appointed to the position of Managing Director as previous MD Wael Elkabbany steps into a new role heading up the Africa Regional Cluster. The tech giant says that Awosika, a Nigerian native, has more than 22 years of experience working in multiple countries across the continent. When Microsoft opened its Nigeria office, he was one of the three pioneer team members and has played various roles in the company, including Director of Enterprise Business, Country Manager: Microsoft Kenya and Director: Small and Medium Corporates, Emerging Markets.…

Highly rated tech magazine, TechBerg has unveiled tech icon, Gwynne Shotwell, the current Chief Executive Officer of Youtube as its Woman in Tech Wednesday (WTW). WTW, one of the most high-profile tech personality ratings is a weekly review and rating of female tech personalities across the globe. It’s a special publication based on critical analysis and facts in the tech space. Born in 1968, Susan Diane Wojcicki is a Polish-American business executive and presently CEO of YouTube. She has been in the tech industry for over 20 years. Wojcicki was involved in the founding of Google, and became Google’s first…

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) says that London based fiber broadband server, Community Fibre, has selected its TCS HOBS™ platform as a means of furthering the support and growth of businesses. A press release of TCS expresses that Community Fibre and Internet Service Provider (ISP) intends to serve about half of the nearly four million population target the company has set of itself. Furthermore, Community Fibre seeks to capitalize on the TCS HOBS platform to quickly present offerings and new products that contribute positively to its customers. “Community Fibre will launch new digital services with superior innovation and a much-improved time…

New York-based healthcare fintech Nitra has raised $62 million in a mix of equity and debt capital. Investors in the seed round include Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), New Enterprise Associates, Pantera Capital, KB Financial Group, Jerry Yang/AME Cloud Ventures and Will Smith’s Dreamers VC, among others. Miami-based VC firm CoVenture is providing the debt facility. Nitra says the new capital will be put towards accelerating the company’s growth, launching new products and scaling its team. The funding will help the fintech launch its first product, a Visa business card for the healthcare industry that will allow physicians to earn unlimited rewards…

Expansion of Africa Data Centre Samrand Facility from 10MW to 40MW; Africa Data Centre’s entire platform capacity is expected to exceed 100MW on completion of the Samrand Facility. Africa Data Centres, a business of Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology group, announced that it has broken ground on the expansion of its Samrand facility in Johannesburg, from 10MW to 40MW of IT load. “The expansion,” says Tesh Durvasula, CEO of Africa Data Centres, “will happen in multiple phases. The construction of the first phase is starting today and will deliver 20MW across eight data halls by 2023. The next phase will…

Singapore-headquartered cross-border remittance firm Lightnet has secured a $50 million capital commitment from LDA Capital. Lightnet will have the option to increase the $50 million to a total commitment of up to $100 million over the next three years. The funds will be utilised to facilitate web 3.0 payment and blockchain ledger-based remittance services focused across Asia Pacific by expanding operating corridors and obtaining licences. Operating in concert with close partner Velo Labs, Lightnet aims to create the first, real-time blockchain settlement flow for remittance and payments between Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) and banking institutions under regulatory supervision and support.…