Visa Says Stablecoins Are ‘Pretty Big’ for Africa’s Payments Future
Visa’s head of South and East Africa, Michael Berner, told TechCabal that Africa’s digital payments are expanding faster than any other region, with mobile‑money transactions reaching $1.4 trillion in Sub‑Saharan Africa in 2025. The payments giant is four years into a $1 billion, five‑year commitment, highlighted by a $61 million data centre in Johannesburg. Berner said stablecoins could become "pretty big" on the continent and that pilots for crypto‑based settlements between banks and Visa will launch soon. The comments come as fintechs like Flutterwave adopt blockchain partners and Tether invests in African remittance startups.
Nigeria Reviews 26-Year Telecom Policy as Networks Face Mounting Pressure
Nigeria’s regulator, the NCC, has launched a review of its 26‑year‑old telecommunications policy, proposing 15 reforms that target mobile tariffs, competition, 5G spectrum efficiency, and consumer protection. The overhaul seeks to curb rising data costs, frequent fibre‑optic cuts – over...
Nigerian Fintech Sycamore Wants $29 Million in Deposits After MFB Acquisition
Sycamore, a Nigerian digital lender, has acquired a micro‑finance bank licence to build a deposit base exceeding ₦40 billion ($29 million). The firm aims to mobilise deposits that outpace its projected ₦40‑50 billion ($29‑36 million) loan book this year, reducing reliance on costly commercial...
Paystack’s First Dashboard Rebuild in a Decade Brings AI Into Merchant Operations
Paystack, the Stripe‑owned African fintech, unveiled the first complete rebuild of its merchant Dashboard in a decade, adding a refreshed UI, unified mobile‑web experience, and an AI‑powered Command Centre. The new Command Centre lets merchants ask natural‑language questions and receive...
GoTyme Heats up South Africa’s Fintech Talent War with Employee Ownership Plan
GoTyme Bank, the South African digital bank backed by Patrice Motsepe, has introduced a Long‑Term Incentive Programme (LTIP) that grants equity to employees with more than six months’ tenure. The move follows a broader South African fintech shift toward employee...
Nigerian AI Startup Talksign Launches Real-Time Sign Language Translation Models
Talksign, a Nigeria‑UK AI startup, unveiled two real‑time sign‑language translation models on May 20. Palm 1.0 converts American Sign Language into text or speech with 84.2% semantic accuracy, while Echo 1.0 turns written or spoken English into photorealistic ASL video at 30 fps and...
Stablecoin Payments Infrastructure Startup Checker Raises $8 Million for Africa, Asia Expansion
Checker, a stablecoin payments infrastructure startup, raised $8 million in seed funding to expand across Africa, Asia and Latin America. The round was led by Galaxy Ventures, Al Mada Ventures and Framework Ventures, with participation from regional fintechs and investors such as...
He Started Building in Military-Era Nigeria. Now He Builds AI HR Software.
Chuma Chukwujama founded Allied Technologies in 1996 to digitize Nigerian businesses, later rebranding to AlliedSoft and then Xceed365HR as the firm embraced cloud-native HR software in 2015. The company, now operating as Talpro Software, offers a localized HR platform that...
Why Kenyan Digital Bank Cloud9 Acquired Mtickets in $773,000 Deal
Kenyan digital bank Cloud9, founded by Tesh Mbaabu and Mesongo Sibuti, acquired ticketing platform Mtickets in an all‑stock transaction valued at roughly KES 100 million ($773,000). Mtickets, which has processed more than one million tickets across concerts, transport and sports events since...
Showmax Is Gone. MultiChoice’s Future Is Now Premium Streaming and Payments
MultiChoice is abandoning its loss‑making Showmax platform and concentrating on two higher‑margin bets: DStv Stream, a premium decoder‑free streaming service, and Moment, its in‑house fintech payment engine. DStv Stream’s subscriber base surged 139% after its 2023 relaunch, driving revenue to...
Samsung One UI 9 Beta Is Here: What Galaxy Users Should Know
Samsung rolled out the One UI 9 beta on May 13, 2026, initially for the Galaxy S26 series and limited to six markets. The new UI sits on Android 17, introducing a revamped Quick Panel, enhanced Samsung Notes tools, and broader accessibility options. Samsung...
The Kenyan Boeing Engineer Who Chose Trucks over Prestige
Kenyan‑American engineer Charles Thuo left a stable Boeing career to drive trucks and launch Apexloads, a logistics startup that digitizes verification for East African freight. The platform connects shippers, brokers and transporters through a neutral, technology‑only stack, aiming to lower...
Trazo Built a Food Delivery Business in Smaller Cities. Now It Wants to Enter Lagos.
Trazo, formerly OliliFood, built a hyper‑local food‑delivery platform in Nigeria’s mid‑size cities Asaba and Warri, processing over 120,000 orders and generating about $1.5 million in GMV. The startup survived COVID‑19 lockdowns and rising inflation by bootstrapping and cross‑subsidising from its fintech...
AGL Taps REasy to Launch China-Cameroon Shipping Service for SMEs
Africa Global Logistics (AGL) Cameroon has teamed with trade‑finance platform REasy to launch a groupage shipping service that lets small and medium‑sized enterprises share container space when importing from China. The pilot container arrived on April 29, combining REasy’s digital payment...
Nairobi’s Traffic Police May Soon Give Way to AI
Kenya’s Treasury has earmarked $9.1 million for Phase III of Nairobi’s Intelligent Transport System, expanding AI‑driven traffic lights, cameras and sensors to 125 key intersections. The rollout, backed by a $185 million concessional loan from the Export‑Import Bank of China, will replace...
South African Artists Earned $30.69 Million on Spotify in 2025. Most of It Came From Abroad.
South African artists generated R504 million ($30.69 million) on Spotify in 2025, a 28% year‑on‑year rise and almost double the 2023 figure. Nearly 74% of that revenue came from listeners outside South Africa, making the global market the platform’s biggest source of...
Everything Google Announced at the Android Show: I/O Edition 2026
Google unveiled Gemini Intelligence, an AI layer that spans Android phones, wearables, cars, glasses, and the newly announced Googlebook laptop. Android 17 brings a Meta‑optimized Instagram experience, a refreshed emoji set, and new creator tools like Screen Reactions and Smart...
AI Is Becoming Part of Everyday Journalism in Nigerian Newsrooms, Report Says
Nigerian journalists are increasingly using AI tools such as ChatGPT, transcription software, and writing assistants, rating the technology’s impact on their daily work at 7‑8 out of 10. A new Carpe Diem Solutions report covering 17 media organisations reveals that...
Kenya’s Finance Bill 2026 Could Compel Crypto Platforms to Identify Wallet Owners
Kenya’s Finance Bill 2026 proposes that cryptocurrency exchanges and digital‑asset platforms file annual returns with the Kenya Revenue Authority, disclosing user identities, transaction histories, and wallet activity. Penalties for false or omitted information include up to KES 100,000 ($775) fines and...
Apple Releases iOS 26.5: Here Is Everything that Changed on Your iPhone
Apple rolled out iOS 26.5 today, the final major update in the iOS 26 series, available as a 14 GB over‑the‑air download. The release introduces end‑to‑end encrypted RCS messaging for iPhone‑Android chats, suggested place listings in Apple Maps, and automatic Bluetooth pairing for...
ABAN Says Africa’s Startup Funding Recovery Is “More Grounded” Than Previous Peaks
African startups raised $3.4 billion in 2025, a 32% rebound after three years of decline. Angel participation revived, with networks deploying $4.4 million and 65% of backed firms securing follow‑on capital. More than 90% of individual angels now write cheques under $25 K,...
Three of Nigeria’s Biggest Banks Lost $1.56 Million to Fraud in 2025
Nigeria’s three largest banks—Access Holdings, GTCO and UBA—reported a combined fraud loss of ₦2.13 billion ($1.56 million) in 2025. While the total number of fraud incidents fell 15% year‑over‑year, the average loss per successful attack rose to ₦44,454 ($32.65). UBA intercepted 86%...
MTN Rwanda Returns to Profit as Data and Fintech Drive Q1 Growth
MTN Rwanda reported a profit after tax of Rwf 10.8 billion ($6.8 million) for Q1 2026, reversing a loss from the same period a year earlier. Service revenue climbed 14.7% to Rwf 295.7 billion ($200.8 million) and EBITDA rose 17.3% to Rwf 106.8 billion ($72.5 million),...
Agritech Attracts Strongest African Angel Investor Interest Despite Funding Decline
A new African Business Angel Network (ABAN) report shows agriculture and agritech startups captured the strongest interest from African angel networks in 2025, even as sector funding fell to $168.1 million, down 18% from 2024. The survey of over 60 angels...
Kenya’s Watu Posts Record $37 Million Profit on Phone Financing Explosion
Watu Credit, the Nairobi‑based asset‑financing startup, posted a net profit of KES 4.8 billion ($37 million) for 2025, a 14‑fold increase from the prior year. Revenue surged 92.7% to KES 28.3 billion ($219 million), largely propelled by its Simu smartphone‑financing unit. The phone‑financing boom offset a...
Opera-Backed Stablecoin App MiniPay Rides Africa Demand to 15 Million Wallets
Opera’s MiniPay stablecoin wallet has surpassed 15 million activated wallets, more than double the count a year earlier. The platform processed 360 million peer‑to‑peer transactions worth over $300 million by the end of 2025, with USDT as the primary asset and a dominant...
WayaWaya Founder Teddy Ogallo Lived a Sheltered Life, Then Had to Rebuild Everything
Teddy Ogallo, founder of Kenyan fintech WayaWaya, grew up in a privileged military barracks before a sudden family hardship sparked his drive to build resilient solutions. He steered the company toward AI‑powered conversational banking on WhatsApp, battling costly gatekeeping by...
Paga Enters Crypto Through Partnership with Blockchain Network Sui
Paga, one of Africa’s oldest fintechs, announced a partnership with Mysten Labs’ Sui blockchain to launch crypto payments, yield‑bearing stablecoin accounts, tokenised asset offerings, and cross‑border rails. The deal was unveiled at the Sui Live event in Miami and follows...
Safaricom Is Pushing M-PESA Deeper Into Kenya’s Retail Investing Market
Safaricom is deepening M-PESA’s role in Kenya’s retail investing market as assets in its Ziidi money‑market fund more than doubled to KES 18.7 bn ($145 m) in FY26, pushing total platform wealth to KES 21 bn ($162 m). The telecom giant launched Ziidi Trader, a mobile‑first...
Quick Fire 🔥 with Sarah Wahinya
Sarah Wahinya, Stellar’s East Africa lead, steers Web3 and fintech growth across the continent by linking global crypto infrastructure to local payment needs. She emphasizes that stablecoins like USDC replace slow, costly banking for freelancers and traders, turning crypto into...
Samsung One UI 8.5 Now Available: What Galaxy Users Should Know
Samsung began rolling out its One UI 8.5 update on May 6, 2026, starting in South Korea and expanding globally from May 11. Built on Android 16, the mid‑cycle upgrade adds a full visual redesign, expanded Galaxy AI capabilities, and new cross‑platform sharing...
Safaricom’s Mobile Data Business Is Now Bigger than Voice Calls
Safaricom reported that mobile data now accounts for 42.1% of its connectivity revenue, overtaking voice services at 41.3% for the year ended March 2026. Data revenue jumped 14.4% to KES 83.4 billion ($646 million), while voice grew only 1.3% to $634 million. Messaging revenue...
Village Capital Backs Two Ghanaian Startups with $350,000 From Latest Fund
Village Capital has deployed $350,000 from the Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility into two Ghanaian startups, marking the first investments from a fund designed to back early‑stage African companies. The $200,000 investment targets Rivia Clinics, a tech‑enabled primary‑healthcare provider, while $150,000...
Namibia-Based Firm to Back Early-Stage Southern African Startups with $10 Million Fund
Bellatrix Investment Managers, a Namibia‑based alternative asset firm, has launched the Ndjaba Seed Fund – a $10 million venture capital vehicle aimed at early‑stage startups across Southern Africa. The fund will back 35‑50 companies over a ten‑year horizon, focusing on fintech,...
Fincra Expands Ghana Presence with New Payments Licence Approval
Fincra, a Nigerian payments infrastructure provider, secured an Enhanced Category Payment Service Provider licence from the Bank of Ghana, allowing it to process cedi‑based payments, collect mobile‑money transactions, and receive inbound transfers. The approval follows a Canadian PSP licence obtained...
CashAfrica Taps ChamsSwitch to Fix Tap-to-Pay Compliance Gap
CashAfrica, a Nigerian NFC tap‑to‑pay provider, has teamed up with licensed switcher ChamsSwitch to close a critical compliance gap. The partnership lets CashAfrica focus on the contactless user experience while ChamsSwitch routes transactions and satisfies banking‑sector due‑diligence requirements. By adding...
Kenya’s Best Coffee Was Always for Export. This Founder Kept It.
Kenyan specialty coffee, long exported in green form, is being reclaimed by Ritesh Doshi, a former investment banker who acquired Spring Valley Coffee. Doshi is roasting Kenya’s highest‑grade beans locally, keeping the premium product in Nairobi and selling it through...
Coinbase Taps Egyptian-Founded Kemet for Institutional Crypto Derivatives Expansion
Coinbase has teamed with New York‑based, Egyptian‑founded Kemet to give institutional clients a single gateway to its four crypto‑derivatives venues, including the Coinbase Derivatives Exchange and Deribit. The partnership includes an undisclosed investment from Coinbase Ventures, underscoring Coinbase’s push to...
Why More Exits Don’t Mean More Liquidity for Africa’s Tech Ecosystem
A new Stears‑Ventures Platform report tracking 181 VC‑backed exits in Africa (2011‑2026) shows exits are at a record high, driven by a 36% rise in exits alongside a 33% drop in funding. Acquisitions now account for 73% of exits, while...
MTN Nigeria Says It Saved $5.89 Million on Gas as Diesel Dominates Energy Mix
MTN Nigeria reported a $5.9 million cost saving in 2025 after expanding its use of gas‑powered electricity, yet diesel still accounted for 58% of its energy mix. The telecom giant’s operating expenses hit $1.01 billion, and a projected 2.0% margin dip—about $102 million—highlights...
Sabou Capital Secures Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund Investment to Back SMEs
Sabou Capital, a Nigeria‑based impact fund, secured an anchor investment from the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund, part of a $200 million fund of funds. The capital will be deployed to early‑growth SMEs in agriculture, healthcare, logistics, mobility, fintech and climate‑tech...
Four Nigerian Banks Processed $208 Billion in Mobile Transactions in 2025
In 2025 Nigeria’s four largest banks processed a combined ₦286.19 trillion (≈$208.15 billion) in mobile transactions, narrowing the gap with fintech rivals. GTCO alone handled ₦72.4 trillion ($52.66 billion), while its pay‑with‑transfer volume surged 7,814.8% to ₦10.4 trillion ($7.56 billion). United Bank for Africa, Zenith Bank...
StanChart Kenya Cuts Staff Below 1,000 in 11th Year of Restructuring
Standard Chartered Kenya has trimmed its workforce to 942 employees, marking the 11th consecutive year of reductions and bringing headcount down from a 2014 peak of 2,048. Redundancy payouts fell sharply to $870,000, while the bank invested over $108 million in...
“It’s Been a Story of a Lot of Pivots”: Day 1-1000 of Insight7
Odun Odubanjo, a former product lead at Shopify, founded Insight7 in May 2022 to turn qualitative interview data into actionable insights. After a rocky start and modest early revenue, the startup pivoted in 2024 toward market‑research customers, boosting revenue tenfold,...
Four Graduates Are Building an AI Video-Dubbing Tool for African Filmmakers
Four recent graduates launched Reedapt in 2025, an AI‑powered dubbing platform built for African languages after witnessing $500,000‑plus costs and poor nuance in traditional dubbing. The Lagos‑based startup already serves over 200 users—mainly Nollywood producers and churches—and has secured two...
Talstack Partners BII, Ventures Platform to Teach ESG to African Startups
Talstack, a corporate learning SaaS, has teamed with British International Investment (BII) and pan‑African VC Ventures Platform to launch an ESG education programme for African startups. The free‑access track, live as of Wednesday, includes four self‑paced courses covering respectful workplaces,...
Quick Fire 🔥 with Michael Emeeka
Michael Emeeka, Business and Customer Operations Lead and Country Lead for Blockchain.com Nigeria, oversees user operations, market growth, and customer‑centric strategy for one of the world’s largest crypto platforms. Formerly at Luno and Zenith Bank, he transitioned from traditional finance...
MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola Earned $3.4 Million in 2025
MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola earned a total of R56.997 million (about $3.4 million) in 2025, a 61.2% jump from the prior year. The surge stemmed mainly from R23.9 million in long‑term incentive vesting and a 62% rise in MTN’s share price, which...
YC-Backed Fintech Grey Registers as Payment Service Provider in Canada
Grey, a Y Combinator‑backed fintech, has become a registered payment service provider in Canada under the Retail Payment Activities Act. The registration builds on its Interac integration, allowing users to send Canadian dollars instantly to any Canadian bank account. Grey...
He Survived a Misdiagnosis. Then He Built an AI Platform for Clinical Decisions.
Clement Okoh survived a misdiagnosed multiple myeloma and founded Monte Sereno Health in 2021, an AI‑powered healthcare operating system aimed at unifying Africa’s fragmented medical landscape. The platform embeds an AI agent, StarPilot, that offers real‑time decision support, pulls patient...