African Tech Conversations Talking Venture Capital With Eline Blaauboer Of TBL Mirror Fund And Safaricom Spark Venture Fund Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] This week’s African Tech Conversations [http://conversations.africantechroundup.com] sneak-peek is drawn from an in-depth chat with Eline Blaauboer [https://www.linkedin.com/in/eline-blaauboer-713b864], Managing Partner at both TBL Mirror Fund [http:
African Tech Conversations Ringing In The Festive Season With Dr Solomon Assefa of IBM Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] As far as tech and innovation news goes, the past ten days have been pretty eventful-- what with the George Soros-backed Leapfrog raising $800 million to invest in Africa [http://www.iol.co.za/
Zebra Cabs Raises $21.6 Million To Take On Uber And Taxify In South Africa Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] SA Taxi-owned Zebra Cabs [http://twitter.com/ZebraCabs] has raised just over $21.6 million from Futuregrowth Asset Management to expand their owner-driver scheme in Johannesburg, and to take on Uber and Taxify. Their
Senegal Launches A New Electronic Currency Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] Senegal is now the second African country after Tunisia to adopt an electronic currency. eCFA is equivalent in value to the country’s physical tender and will be available on all mobile money and
Kenyan Agritech Startup WeFarm Secures $1.6 Million In Funding Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] How much of an over-achiever is Elon Musk fixing to become, though? In the last week, he’s added providing global internet coverage via a massive satellite network to his audacious To-do List. In
Vodacom South Africa To Launch An SVOD Platform Called Vodacom On Demand Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] Trace TV is fixing to launch arguably the most anticipated SVOD offering of the year, Trace Play. Their ambitious roll-out will involve making Trace Play available in English and French in 100 countries around
Highlights From DISCOP Johannesburg and Digital Lab Africa (feat. Jason Njoku of iROKO) Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] Andile Masuku [http://twitter.com/MasukuAndile] and Brian Lupiya [https://twitter.com/OFFICIALMUZIKID] spent three days last week at DISCOP Johannesburg [https://twitter.com/discopafrica]— Africa’s biggest multi-screen, multi-platform marketplace, assessing trends within
The Kenya Revenue Authority Says Uber Will Not Be Subject To Value-Added Tax Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] In this week’s African Tech Round-up, we ask the question, “Should Uber’s wings be clipped before they change the world as we know it?” Lawmakers on the continent appear torn between adopting
Kenya Commercial Bank Gets Hacked? Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] So, Episode 80 of the African Tech Round-up, aka the episode that nearly never happened, is finally out. In an interview Andile Masuku [http://twitter.com/MasukuAndile] just taped for the upcoming season of
Rwanda Launches World's First Drone Delivery Service Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] Rwanda has helped Africa beat the rest of the world to rolling out a commercial drone delivery service. [http://qz.com/809576/zipline-has-launched-the-worlds-first-commercial-drone-delivery-service-to-supply-blood-in-rwanda/] The land of a thousand hills has partnered with the UPS
Tecno Plans To Start Manufacturing Mobile Devices In Nigeria Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] This week’s African Tech Round-up episode is jam-packed. Digital video content creator, streaming evangelist and co-founder of Pockitttv [http://pockittv.mobi/], Julian von Plato [https://twitter.com/JulianvonPlato] joins me to chat about
MTN Group Accused Of Sneaking Nearly $14 Billion Out Of Nigeria Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] There’s blood in the water. Nigerian lawmakers are flexing their might with a confidence rarely seen in decades past— at least as far as taking large corporates to task for flouting regulations. According
Kenyan Solar Company D.Light Lands $22.5 Million To Fund Growth Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] In a week which saw Yahoo announce that it had suffered the worst cyber-breach in history, and all three of Egypt’s incumbent mobile telcos opting not to bid for the 4G licenses being
Barclays Africa's Blockchain Transaction A World First Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] It’s been a busy week for the continent’s fintech scene. The past week saw MTN South Africa announce that it would be discontinuing its mobile money service due to “a lack of
Afrimarket Lands €10 Million To Deploy E-commerce Platform Across Francophone Africa Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] The French e-commerce startup, Afrimarket [https://twitter.com/Afri_market], has raised €10 million from the Global Innovation Fund and the private sector arm of the French Development Agency (AFD), Proparco, as well from
Mark Zuckerberg Goes On A Charm Offensive In Nigeria And Kenya Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] Mark Zuckerberg’s much-publicised trip to the continent [http://qz.com/770002/mark-zuckerberg-is-in-nigeria-facebooks-largest-african-market/] spawned dozens of think-pieces in the blogosphere this past week. Many pundits clearly view Mark’s 'surprise' visit to
72: Naspers Wilting In The Heat + DEMO Africa 2016 Highlights Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] The gravy train may well be over at Africa’s largest tech company (by market value)— Naspers. Naspers CEO, Koos Bekker, told investors late last week that the coming year is going to be
71: Econet Wireless Set To Roll Out Shine's Ad Blocking Service Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] Econet Wireless has recently announced that all ±40 million of their subscribers in Africa will benefit from Shine’s ad blocking service— starting with those in Zimbabwe. This deal represents Shine’s first deployment
70: Not-so-little Trademark Faux Pas Leaves Safaricom and Craft Silicon Red-faced Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] Safaricom and Craft Silicon both took an “L” this past week. As it turns out, they neglected to trademark the Little Cabs [https://twitter.com/littlecabKE] brand name before launching their ride-sharing service some
69: MTN Group Reports Losses In Mid-Year Results For 2016 Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] MTN Group’s warning [https://www.techcentral.co.za/mtn-sinks-on-profit-warning/67049/] that their interim financial results for the period ending June 30th 2016 would be unpleasant did a lot to absorb the shock when
68: Kinnevik's Half-Year Financial Report Sheds Light On Their Investment In Nigeria's Konga Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] Who knew that a little quarterly update by a publicly-traded Swedish investment firm could get Nigeria’s e-commerce fraternity all worked up? Not us. So, as Kinnevik [http://www.kinnevik.se/en/] was going
67: Telkom South Africa In The Lead With Game Changing Mobile Packages Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] Data costs need to come down significantly if Africa is ever going to realise the dream of making access to the internet available to every single person living on the continent. As things stand,
66: Codeacademy Receives $30 Million Investment Lead By Naspers Ventures Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] There’s no doubt that online education is a hot ticket at the moment. While the folks at Andela are probably still celebrating landing $24 million worth of investment courtesy of the Chan Zuckerberg
Facebook 65: Will Facebook's OpenCellular Crush BRCK? Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] Last week, the global digital behemoth that is Facebook announced that they’ll be rolling out the OpenCellular system [https://code.facebook.com/posts/1754757044806180/introducing-opencellular-an-open-source-wireless-access-platform] worldwide. OpenCellular is said to be an inexpensive,
64: African Spirit, American Spin Subscribe on iTunes [http://bit.ly/2cl7ISa] | Subscribe on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z3LxMD9ilV0cMYc9c9MMe] It’s the 4th of July, and in honour of the fact that our biggest audience outside of Africa is based in the USA, this week’s African Tech Round-up episode has a decidedly
