The January 2023 fundraising activity was, however, heavily influenced by a single large deal: the $443 million acquisition of AI company Instadeep by BioNTech. Excluding this outlier, African startups in January 2023 raised roughly $99.1 million, bringing the YoY decline to a more moderate 16.2%.

This suggests that the underlying growth of the African tech ecosystem remains relatively stable, despite the headline-grabbing funding slowdown.

The three sectors with the highest funding are agritech with $26.3 million in raises, cleantech with $18.1 million, and healthtech with a modest $13.5 million. Various sectors—most notably fintech—within the ecosystem have observed a decline in funding compared to the sums raised in previous years. With a global funding winter in tow, investors are increasingly focusing on startups with proven track records of traction and growth, leaving fewer resources available for testing the waters. 

Three of the four logistics startups—Bosta, FriendlyM and Roboost—who raised funds in January 2024 were from North Africa, or Egypt specifically. Last year, logistics startups received a fair bit of interest as the fourth sector with the highest funding at $205 million. While only a fraction of this funding came from North Africa, Egypt’s logistics sector may see increased interest this year with the growing success of mobility startup Swvl which recorded its first-ever net profit of $2.1 million last year after recording $161 million in losses in 2022.

2. Investments: EIB makes its third African injection, and Accelerate Africa and T-vencubator debuts

While funding is pretty much the same since last year, Africa’s tech ecosystem investment space saw both new and old faces in January 2024.

Early on in the month, the European Investment Bank (EIB) made its third investment in an Africa-focused venture. This time, Seedstars was the lucky choice with a $30 million check. The venture says it will distribute 50% of the funds across francophone Africa with selected startups set to receive between $250,000 and $2 million. Seedstars also received an additional $10.5 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) later in the month.

On the strategic side, two-time unicorn founder Iyin Aboyeji and investment powerhouse Mia von Koschitzky-Kimani teamed up to launch what media houses are now terming “The YC of Africa”. The venture is Accelerate Africa, a Nigeria-based accelerator which will provide 10 pre-seed and seed-stage startups with business and product development expertise with the aim of pitching to investors. 

Finally, Egypt saw the launch of a VC Firm-Incubator hybrid with T-vencubator, a firm that wants to invest in “exceptional talents shaping Egypt’s future”.

3. M&As: Access Holdings closes three acquisitions in one month

Last month, the parent company of Nigeria-based commercial bank, Access Bank, taught startups a lesson on acquisitions. Access Holdings completed three acquisitions within the space of a month.

In the second week of January, it announced that it had completed the acquisition of Zambia’s Atlas Mara more than two years after it announced the merger. Less than a week later, it completed the acquisition of insurance brokerage company Megatech Insurance. 

One of its most significant acquisitions was ARM Pensions, Nigeria’s second-largest pension fund manager, which received regulatory approvals just days before the end of the month. These acquisitions, long anticipated, underscore Access’ strategic expansion across the continent.

4. Pivots: Kippa and Zilla jump ship

Ecosystem players who contributed to our 2023 Wrapped article noted that 2024 will see more startups move towards better business models.

We saw a bit of that in January with two startups pivoting. Zilla, which launched as a buy-now-pay-later product in 2021, changed gears and pivoted to cross-border payments last month. Sources close to the company said it faced challenges with helping customers understand the BNPL model. 

Next, Kippa, which faced a $31,000 internal fraud case, announced that it would move from fintech to edtech. The company, last year, moved its agency banking product KippaPay to another startup, and now, it’s launched an edtech platform that will allow users to create courses using AI. 

5. Shutdowns: Cova shuts down, and Woven knits itself back together 

While some startups pivoted, some wound their activities up.

In a January 24 email to users, asset management platform Cova announced that it would cease operations by February 10. While Cova’s management is yet to give specific reasons for its shutdown, citing only “several factors” in its email, CEO Oluyomi Ojo had mentioned in a 2021 interview that users were still adapting to the concept of a startup that helps users transfer asset ownership in the event of their death. The startup raised $800,000 during its run. 

Another startup, Woven Finance, was also in the news for shutting down. The Nigeria-based startup sent an email announcing its shutdown plans, but later rescinded the claim, stating that the email was sent in error. 

6. Stepdowns: Peter Njonjo, Ashkay Grover, Tosin Osibodu, and Duke Ekezie, step down

As we waved goodbye to startups in January, some CEOs also bid farewell to their companies.

Cellulant CEO Ashkay Grover who joined the group in 2021 stepped down to focus on personal matters. The company had reportedly effected a third round of layoffs just one month before Grover’s exit. 

Kenyan agritech Twiga Foods also parted ways with its co-founder and 10-year CEO Peter Njonjo who stepped down from the company’s board. TechCabal’s investigation indicates that Njonjo was forced out by investors who bailed the company out of a lawsuit with a $35 million investment. 

Tosin Osibodu, co-founder and CEO of Chaka also exited the company to focus on a new venture, Alpaca. Chaka was acquired by Risevest last year, and Osibodu left the company in the capable hands of Risevest CEO Eke Urum. 

Finally, Kippa’s co-founder Duke Ekezie disbanded from the company he and his brother Kennedy Ekezie founded. Duke is reportedly set to focus on a new venture that he and Kennedy had previously discussed. 

7. Companies: Swvl announces first-ever net profit, TymeBank achieves profitability in the fifth year 

Two companies netted some profit last month.

MENA-based mobility startup Swvl reported its first net profit of $2.1 million and an operating profit of $13.4 million. This is a notable shift from the $56 million operating losses reported in H2 2022. Swvl’s head-turning business is especially significant when you consider that it reported $161 million in losses just one year ago. How did it turn the tides? The company sold off some of its subsidiaries and narrowed its focus to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Swvl also transitioned into a B2B business, and laid off over 40%—about 400 employees—of its workforce.  

South African neobank TymeBank also did what many banks don’t do: it made its first profits within five years of launching. Two months after it reached 8 million subscribers—and six months after reporting $45 million in losses—TymeBank reports that it reached over $215 million in annualised revenue. Here’s the full story. 

8. Cybercrime: Nigeria and Ghana move to fight mobile money fraud

West Africa is tackling fraud by focusing on its mobile money agents.

Nigeria’s apex bank, in January, announced a partnership that will see to the implementation of new KYC measures at PoS points. The country recorded over 10,098 fraud cases worth ₦1.95 billion ($2 million) last year, and it wants to make sure that won’t happen again. Soon, the apex bank will launch the new feature that will flag potentially fraudulent transactions and force PoS agents to conduct KYC measures before approving transactions.

Ghana is doing something similar to tackle fraud in its $155 billion mobile money space. Mobile money agents in the country had until February 1, 2024, to link their accounts to Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) or the Ghana card. 

9. Big Tech: Google launches first African cloud centre

In January, during a week-long conversation surrounding how cloud computing eats into a startup’s funds, Google launched its first cloud region in Africa, bringing its cloud services to South Africa. 

This makes Google the latest major cloud provider to enter the South African market, following Microsoft Azure (2018), Amazon Web Services (AWS) (2020), and Alibaba Cloud (2019).

10. Internet: Telecom Egypt to launch 5G 

Egypt approved its first 5G licence.

Over 12 African countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe have launched 5G and Egypt is set to join them in a couple of months. 

The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) of Egypt, in January, awarded the nation’s first 5G licence to the state-owned Telecom Egypt at a $150-million price tag. The telecom also announced that it has begun testing 5G services in five locations across the country, aiming for a full rollout later in 2024.

Per our friends at Africa: The Big Deal, a curated funding database, African startups raised $3.4 billion in 2023. At TechCabal, our number is at $3.2 billion because we define funding a bit differently. What’s important to note is that we’ve left out undisclosed funding and estimates in this. The ecosystem experienced a quarter-on-quarter decline from Q1 2023 when $1.2 billion was raised, to Q2 with $877.8 million and Q3 with $492.7 million. There was a slight uptick in Q4 which saw $551.2 million in raises. 

At $3.2 billion—or even $3.4 billion, what’s clear is that 2023 marks the lowest funding for African startups since 2020’s $2.1 billion. It’s a 36% decline from 2022’s ~$5 billion total. 

The good news is, much like the plight of abandoned New Year resolutions, the decline in venture funding isn’t just an African affair—it’s a worldwide trend. Per Crunchbase, the once-mighty flow of VC funding has been on a steady downhill slide since January 2022, which was the last time global tech funding exceeded $60 billion per month. January 2023 marked a descent to just under $40 billion, which, compared to the modest $19.2 billion raised in November 2023, almost feels like a glorious beacon of hope.

The bad news—or as seers want us to believe—it’s only going to get steeper in 2024 with several forecasts finding investors being more cautious on whose mouth they put their monies. At least 10 of the 23 tech leaders we spoke to for our 2023 Wrapped article said as much, noting that 2024 will see more frugal investors, leaner startups and tougher economies…at least in the first half. Investors at global funds like Thomvest Ventures and QED who spoke to Business Insider also gave similar predictions.

It might not always be sunny in tech, but there’s a silicon lining to this gloomy news. To quote Healthcap founder Ola Brown, “Some of the largest tech companies in the world, such as Apple, WhatsApp, Slack, Microsoft, Amazon, and Uber, were born during “venture capital winters”. Funding winters push companies towards sustainable growth and innovation.

Regions: How did the Big 4 perform?

Region-wise, North African startups led the way in 2023 with $1.074 billion in raises. This, of course, was pushed by Instadeep’s $680 million acquisition led by BioNTech.

Meanwhile, across Africa’s top quartet, funding streams shrunk as harsh economies surfaced. The Big 4—Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa—used to refer to the four countries that receive the most attention from investors, raised $2.37 billion—about 74.9%— in total. Surprisingly, Nigeria sits at the bottom of the ladder this year with just $398.2 million while Kenya sits atop with $756.2 million. 

This is a major decline (66% ) for the West African giant which has raised over $1 billion per year since 2021. 

Sectors: Big Energy  

While Nigeria’s tech ecosystem might have not been fully charged in 2023, the continent’s energy—or cleantech—sector certainly was. 

Don’t get it wrong, fintech is still king, accounting for about 45% of the total funding. But energy-led startups brought power to the industry, and new meaning to the phrase, more passion, more passion, more energy, more energy, more footwork…

Between June 2023 and October 2023, the energy sector continuously dominated funding, with a significant 43.7% of the total capital raised during that period.

In April and May, energy startups were the second-highest performing sectors after fintech. That’s seven out of twelve months with energy in the leaderboard for the African tech ecosystem. The biggest deals from this sector are led by Kenyan cleantechs with SunKing’s $130 million securisation deal and Wetility’s $48 million mezzanine round, and Nuru’s—a DRC startup—$40 million Series B round. 

Funding: VC investment in 2023

In 2023, there was a lot of talk about how much funding startups raised or didn’t raise, but so little about the moneybags behind them.  But hey, investors are people too, right? If you were wondering which new VC firms popped up last year and which old ones raised new funds?  Here’s what you need to know. 

Exciting closes:  Partech Africa took the crown with the close of its $263 million Africa Fund II, doubling their investment caps. Knife Capital also announced the close of its $50 million growth fund in the same month—August. And the party kept going with P1 Ventures, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, and others raising 8 figures in first closes, gearing to raise even more this year. 

The VC scene went green:  Specialised climate funds blossomed across the continent. Novastar led the charge with its $200 million  Africa People + Planet Fund, while E3 Capital and Lion’s Head joined forces with their $100 million Low Carbon Economy Fund. AfricaGoGreen added another $47 million to the mix, and local players like Echo VC chipped in with green-focused funds. Grovest, Sasol’s Venture, Gaia Energy, and others also announced climate-focused funds.

New kids on the block: A number of fresh faces made big splashes. Growth Fund Norrsken22 stormed into the year with a $250 million debut fund, while Black Ostrich Ventures and  Seedstars Capital joined the continent’s party with their maiden Africa-focused funds. Even established players like Emkan Capital debuted a new $31 million fund for early-stage startups. Equator’s $40 million maiden fund also came in followed months later by  Aduna Capital’s $20 million fund which focuses on under-funded regions like Northern Nigeria.

Not so new kids:  Established VCs doubled down in Q2:  Ajim Capital, Oui Capital, Goodwell Investments and Alitheia Capital closed new funds, while Saviu Ventures neared its €32.8 million ($35 million) goal. Flat6Labs announced a $95 million seed fund to expand its investments to Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, and Senegal, and TLcom set sights on a $150–$180 million fund for the continent. 

We also saw angels: Right at the start of 2023, Kazana Fund launched Angel Syndicate with over 190 investors in the network. The year also saw continued participation from angel investors with big names like Paystack’s Shola Akinlade and Flutterwave’s Olugbenga Agboola making the list. Even footballers invested in francophone startups like StarNews Mobile. Companies joined the party too, with inDrive’s $100 million fund and Safaricom’s planned venture capital subsidiaries, showcasing the growing appetite for Africa’s startup scene. 

But what do the numbers say? Per the 2023 African Private Capital Industry Survey,

there was less investment in VC firms last year. However, even with the decline in the first three quarters of 2023 compared to the last two years, investment levels remain significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels. Overall, it was a mixed year for African VC, but the future looks bright. With more investors coming in and more startups emerging, the African VC ecosystem is poised for continued growth.

P.S.: If you want recaps of the biggest stories from each month in 2023, check out our monthly African Tech Roundups here. 

Now, as we round up, these are their lessons from 2023 and their predictions of what the ecosystem will be in 2024.

仙人掌年 or Year Of The Cactus

If it doesn’t work, don’t force it. It’s important to know when to quit or shut down a business instead of trying fruitlessly to make it work. 

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More than ever, this year emphasised how critical it is to be ahead of policies. KYC is very policy-driven, and trailing behind policies can be gravely consequential. One needs to derisk against policy changes. One also needs to derisk against economic shocks; while we predicted the economic downturn, we underestimated its magnitude. 

2024 Outlook: Things won’t get better until Q3 2024 regarding fundraising. We may not see as much funding as we used to for a long time. However, I think that the economy will pick up quickly next year. We will also see a lot more silent mergers. 

There will also be a new generation of founders who are more experienced in managing their businesses, who focus on unit economics, and who will provide technology that solves real-life problems.

2023 taught me to thrive in chaos. There are a lot of variables that can throw your plan off at any time, so we had to learn how to adapt while maintaining excellence and peace of mind.

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2024 Outlook: Whatever we faced as a collective ecosystem in 2023 will only worsen in the next year.  I am not trying to be a prophet of doom, but I think that sometimes we need to acknowledge how the patterns in economic situations work. 

I still think there will be a lot of growth just the way some plants grow in hard environments. My advice to everyone is to be a cactus this coming year.

Running a sustainable and profitable venture will never be unfashionable. The past few years have made me question whether the tech ecosystem understands business. We were building businesses with no business model and plans to raise [funds] continuously.

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This year showed that the fundamentals of business can never change.

2024 Outlook: A tougher year ahead for the economy and African startups. But there are a lot of problems to solve, so we will see a new crop of startups. However, resilience will be key.

The adage, “Expect nothing and prepare for everything,” is very real for startups in the region. We have seen some awesome African startups fold this year for various reasons, making survival a critical priority for us. These times call for us to put our heads down, build and deliver. The beauty contests are over!

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2024 Outlook:  The appetite for local solutions and collaborations with corporations and multinationals is increasing, a great indicator that the industry is poised for evolution. We are excited about the future.

2023 was not an easy year for the company, but we remained intact and delivered some great campaigns, brought on new clients and welcomed back old clients. This is because we stayed true to our mission and quality levels. That’s a big learning for the year: continue to focus on the work, and the company will survive in the most testing times.

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2024 Outlook: 2023 was turbulent; I think the first part of 2024 will be too. In some ways, this is a course correction, and in other ways, we’ll all be adjusting to a new normal of slimmed-down budgets, but not a reduction in quality of work.

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Jude Dike, CEO at Get Equity

Never leave anything to chance, and things can always get worse.  A good example is the current exchange rate. Many people speculated N1000 as the point of doom, and not enough people considered it could get worse.

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2024 Outlook: I think the venture downturn is slowly reversing, I think there will be a lot of local involvement more than before. This is because valuations are no longer  “unreasonable,” and more VCs are getting more money. However, I think most of these investments will be in naira.

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Uzoma Dozie, CEO at Sparkle

The real eye-opener in 2023 was how crucial it is for everyone in our financial services space to pull together against cybercrime. We’ve got to team up, share what we know, and keep these fraudsters at bay. That’s how we secure our systems and give…

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our customers a safe space to do their business.

We also need to tighten up our security and stick to the rules we set. Different players in the industry, chasing different goals – be it boosting valuations, increasing transactions, or growing customer bases – have kind of let critical standards slip. So, as we step into 2024, it’s high time we all get on the same page with standards to foster trust and a healthier business environment.

2024 Outlook: 2024’s looking like it’s going to be quite the bumpy ride. We’ll likely see more businesses struggling due to the economic challenges we’re facing. But, those with solid structures and foundations should be able to weather the storm.

Investors are going to get pickier. They’ll look beyond just the size of a business. They’ll be checking out the quality, the systems in place, governance, and resilience against tough times. 

I’m also betting big on AI, particularly generative AI, as a game-changer. Any business that’s not investing in AI is going to miss out. It’s all about being truly digital, not just in the front-end stuff but deep in the backend too. This helps not just in sniffing out fraud, but also in ramping up efficiency and enhancing the customer experience

Big plans and moonshots

2023 highlighted that nothing is more powerful than a group united by a common purpose, leveraging tech to accomplish their goals. If the inputs are there and pressure is applied over time, impact is inevitable. The principle played out at Jetstream when we closed our fundraising round in a tough funding environment at the start of the year.

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2024 Outlook: Our outlook for 2024 is to add long-term capital to the foundation of trust-based cross-border e-commerce we built in 2023 and blow open access to tech-enabled, fully financed cross-border trade across the continent, focusing on verticals that will make or break Africa’s development.

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Seun Alley, CEO at Fez Delivery

One key lesson from 2023 is the importance of adaptability. Navigating uncertainties reinforced the need for agile strategies and resilient business models. At Fez Delivery, we’ve had to set (up) electric vehicles to move cleaner and to save cost, with energy prices soaring.

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2024 Outlook: I anticipate a continued emphasis on digital transformation, with AI-driven innovations playing a pivotal role in reshaping industries and enhancing customer experiences. At Fez, we’re already implementing AI-driven solutions in our everyday operations.

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Perseus Mlambo, Founder & CEO at Union 54 and ChitChat

The biggest takeaway is to be aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses. As the world changes and redraws its hard lines, perseverance will be rewarded, as will building the hard stuff that moves the needle forward, where the promotion of Africa and African interests is concerned.

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2024 Outlook: It’s impossible to build tech away from the government, and so we will see closer collaboration between tech and government. We should start to see an established crop of founders placing bets on policy. We will also start to see governments worry about digital sovereignty and try to be fully involved and, in a way, guarantee against censorship.

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Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Founding Partner at Future Africa

My biggest lesson this year is that God can be trusted. I made some big moves on pure faith and God came through for me. Beyond that, however, I’m learning that small is beautiful: small teams, fewer companies, and smaller friend groups. I learned I can accomplish way more by keeping the crowd away and keeping things high quality.

I took our fund management company private. For the first time since I started my career in tech, I don’t…

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have any outside investors. I also kept headcount at ~10.

2024 Outlook: I’m looking forward to a few profitable tech companies exiting on the NGX, more tech companies learning to work with the government, some startups selling to large Nigerian corporates,  and at least a few Nigerian startups getting investment or acquisition from large global tech corporates. 

I’m also looking forward to the implementation of the Nigerian Startup Act and the launch of Itana.

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Hannah Subayi Kamuanga, Partner at Launch Africa Ventures

The big lesson for me in 2023 is that inclusivity and diversity of teams, business models, geographies, and collaboration (among tech stakeholders) are key to delivering value and generating returns..

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2024 Outlook: The 2023 funding slowdown forced startups to focus on capital efficiency, actionable paths to profitability and improved unit economics, which will benefit the African tech ecosystem in the long term. In addition, a stronger focus on corporate engagement and governance will be key to ensuring that financial mismanagement is avoided. 

I expect progress in the development and use of alternative deal structuring and sources of capital for start-ups — not only in equity sales and SAFE but the use of convertibles, more CPs, valuations based on unit economics and realised tractions, and also the increased use of blended finance, revenue-sharing models and venture debt.

Be fast. Be flexible

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There is nothing new under the sun. ⁠Being cost-efficient is critical, not just during hard times but especially during good times. You never know when the market will change. Never get complacent. You get sucker punched by…

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the market when you get complacent. Anticipate competition, it makes you sharper and more focused.

2024 Outlook: It will not be an easy year. Businesses, investors, and consumers in Nigeria will adapt to (the) new realities of the Nigerian economy. Inflationary pressures will continue to dominate consumer behaviour. ⁠With the above said, there is a sliver of hope that these reforms in Nigeria (will) produce a more functional economy, leading to greater foreign investment and growth opportunities. 

There’s a small chance the venture market rebounds. But if interest rates drop in the US, pressure may increase to deploy capital. Right now, it’s the investor’s market. I suspect that may persist in 2024.

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Ope Onaboye, CEO at Renda

The biggest lesson I was reminded of in 2023 is the need to be flexible. We had spent about two months putting together our financial model for the year when January 2023 came, and the cash scarcity threw everything off balance. While we were recovering from that, fuel prices increased, the Naira was devalued and all those projections…

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went down the drain.  Innovate fast and try things quickly when you are an early-stage startup. If it doesn’t work, move on very quickly.

2024 Outlook: 2024 will be a very frugal year and entrepreneurs will have to start thinking and building smart because investors are not parting with their money as easily as before. As entrepreneurs, we need to start thinking about profitability and how to build with efficiency. Efficiency is the keyword.

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Seye Bandele, CEO at Pade HCM

The funding crunch got worse and we had to focus on ensuring that we continue to deliver superior value to customers. Being funded means you can operate in a way that prioritises other things over revenue generation and collection, but when you aren’t sure that VC dollars…

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will come, you focus on your growth squarely and ensure you’re doing enough to keep your business alive.

2024 Outlook: Due to the reasons above, in 2024 we’ll see the rise of actual business-minded startups that have fine-tuned things like their unit economics, are focused on providing value for their markets and are doing a decent job at it. As a result, there will be a better inflow of funding into these companies. Also, I expect to see more collaboration among investors, as foreign investors have now learnt to trust local investors more and will work with them to make the right investment decisions in the new year.

Back to the basics

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Tonye Irims, CEO at Wisolar

Obsess over a market: We stayed focused on our industry niche which led us to build deeper relationships with the customers and understand their larger problems. Focus on customer problems: So many founders waste valuable time chasing investors, competitors, and things that don’t matter. Focus on customer problems and solve them.

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Build a great culture: Our engineers worked Saturdays if necessary, with no benefits, only government holidays, and a simple office. But even then, we were rated 4.5 on Glassdoor because we had an amazing culture.

2024 Outlook: Further and larger start-up investments in Africa. More diasporans returning to take advantage of the opportunities available in Africa, especially in the areas of agriculture and medicine.

Be frugal, be true, be transparent, share challenges, accept them, and move forward. The 2020/2021 times are over, there’s no more FOMO in terms of funding startups.

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2024 Outlook: 2024 means back to rationality. Better funding, better founders, better startups, and better businesses.

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Anthony Itaigbe, Izesan!

Listen to your instincts. Follow your intuition. ⁠If there’s no manual, that means you’re onto something new. ⁠Never stop hiring—the best and brightest are always out there waiting for an opportunity. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Don’t repeat mistakes.

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Listen to your customer. Listen to your team. Be like water—adapt so that you can overcome. ⁠Find healthy outlets to vent when things take a turn for the worse.

2024 Outlook: In 2024, the startup ecosystem will delve deeper into market correction with a renewed focus on profitability over growth.

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Oluwaseun Adegoke at TechPR Nigeria

The biggest lesson from 2023 is that integrity is crucial. I think that was a major theme for the ecosystem and a lesson every founder needs to take note of.

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2024 Outlook: Regarding 2024 though, the macroeconomics aren’t looking good; in terms of US interest rates and our local naira devaluation and spiking inflation. So that just means foreign VC money still walking away from Nigeria like Craig David and more startups shutting down.

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Ndabenhle Ntshangase, Founder & CEO at AirStudent

The importance of making decisions quickly in a startup cannot be understated, however, we tend to think that everyone has to agree. One of the business lessons from this year is that sometimes you have to commit to the work even when you disagree with the method.

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One of our partners said, “I’ve made many mistakes, but never the mistake of being deceitful in business. I guess I’ve always understood that people do business with people so I had to make sure people can trust me”. This has truly seeped into our culture at the company.

2024 Outlook: In 2024 we will see more and more corporates opting to use technology to book their travel instead of travel agents. We will also have more first-time overseas travellers.

We recently officially launched our corporate offering, which will give corporate clients access to some of the best travel-tech tools for their needs. We also plan to increase our staff to service our growing business.

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Be present

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Eric Asuma, CEO Kenyan Wallstreet

A critical revelation in 2023 has been the recognition that sole reliance on advertising is insufficient for meaningful expansion. To truly thrive, media companies must embrace innovative business models, a lesson exemplified by the struggles faced by traditional media entities in Kenya that failed to adapt and innovate.

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Moreover, I have seen first-hand the importance of cultivating exceptional talent who possess a deep understanding of the local landscape to scale a new media enterprise in Africa.

2024 Outlook: I foresee a shift where innovative use of AI will become instrumental in enhancing newsrooms, particularly in discerning and interpreting trends, especially within the financial media space. We will be unveiling an exciting initiative in Q1 2024 along these lines.

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Sylvia Brune, CEO at pawaPass

Meaningful offline conversations reveal common ground, fostering understanding and empathy that diminish fear and the perceived need for a “protector” role in various situations.

As someone involved in building online products in the user verification and anti-fraud space, this perspective has shaped how I approach our products and their users.

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Individuals who may appear fraudulent are often just seeking ways to make their lives work through workarounds and hacks. Differentiating between them and actual fraudsters poses a challenge, but one worth tackling.

2024 Outlook: We will crave even more real-life connections. Successful companies will be those creating conditions for these connections to flourish. In the identity space, this will mean enabling genuine human access to platforms and tools that enhance real-life thriving. Achieving this involves effectively combating the rise of identity fraud and addressing the risks associated with AI being used for nefarious purposes.

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Cynthia. E. Chisom, Vice President at Spark Africa

Raising a lot of money doesn’t guarantee that your startup will be successful. Also, the government plays a very important role in ensuring that startup founders are successful, especially in a country such as Nigeria. Governance is key.

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2024 Outlook: Two predictions are that Abuja will be the next interesting place for startups in the ecosystem. I can foresee that we’ll start to see more startups outside Lagos in places like Akwa Ibom, Enugu, and Edo State building momentum.

In October 2023, 27 African startups secured $144.3 million in funding through 27 fully disclosed investment rounds. This marks a 23.6% rise compared to the $116.7 million raised in September 2023.

It’s, however, a 22.6% decrease from October 2022’s 186.4 million. 

The three sectors with the highest funding are energy with $86.3 million in raises, fintech with $29 million, and healthtech with a modest $8.6 million. 

In terms of sector performance, various sectors—most notably fintech—within the ecosystem have observed a decline in funding when compared to the levels from the previous year. 

Nonetheless, an intriguing trend surfaces: the energy sector has consistently secured the lion’s share of funding since June 2023, constituting a substantial 43.7% of the total capital raised between June 2023 and October 2023.

In October 2023, East African startups dominated the fundraising landscape, securing an impressive $79.1 million in investments. Southern African startups claimed the second spot with $36.8 million in capital raised, while West and North African counterparts followed closely, securing $18.9 million and $9.5 million, respectively.

The top five disclosed deals of the month are:

1. Kenyan startup M-Kopa’s $65 million debt round from IFC.
2. South African fintech Stitch’s $25 million Series A extension.
3. Nigerian cleantech WATT’s $13 million raise.
4. Kenyan agritech One Acre Fund’s $7.5 million raise.
5. Kenyan healthtech Maisha Meds $5 million raise.

*Note: This data is inclusive only of funding deals announced in October 2023. Raises are often announced later than when the deals are actually made. This data also excludes estimated grants from accelerators. 

2. Startups: Patricia announces plans to kick off repayments

In October, crypto startup Patricia announced plans for the repayment of customer funds.

The startup, which suffered a $2 million hack in 2022, first offered users with assets stuck on the platform the chance to convert their funds into equity.

Patricia also announced that it would kick off repayment of customer funds in November. The startup had initially engaged DLM Trust, an SEC-licensed trust company, to handle the repayment, but DLM Trust pulled out after disagreements between the two parties. 

3. Layoffs: Dash and WhereIsMyTransport shut down, and Majorel lays off 200 employees

Last month, Ghanaian fintech Dash announced its shutdown. Despite raising $86.1 million over five years, the company had to contend with mismanagement and financial misreporting, issues which the board of directors suspended CEO Prince Boakye Boampong for. Dash’s shutdown will see to the layoff of its 70+ employees. 

South African startup Where Is My Transport also announced its shutdown in October after failing to raise new funding. The startup, which raised over $140 million since 2016, will lay off its 140 employees as it winds down. 

Meanwhile, Majorel revealed that it would lay off 200 employees from its Kenyan subsidiary. Sources say the layoffs are due to the court case the content moderation firm is embroiled in with Meta and Sama.

4. M&As: Safaricom fully acquires M-Pesa Holdings, Writesea acquires CoverAI

October saw Safaricom complete its acquisition of M-Pesa Holding Company Limited from Vodafone BV. While the acquisition—which cost Safaricom just $1—was initially announced in May, the telecom had to get regulatory approvals before acquiring the corporate trustee company that holds all M-Pesa deposits. 

Three-month-old Nigerian AI startup CoverAI was also acquired in October. Writesea, a US-based company which provides services to other companies to help them create and manage their online recruitment platforms, acquired the startup in a five-figure deal some estimate to be $50,000.

5. Telecoms: Airtel Africa and MTN Nigeria record revenue increases 

Right before the month wrapped up, Airtel Africa released its financial statement for the first nine months of the year. While the company recorded a 19.7% increase in revenue, it reportedly recorded $13 million after tax due to FX issues. 

MTN’s Nigerian subsidiary also recorded a 21.76% increase in revenue. The telecoms financial statements show that while revenue grew by 21.76% to ₦1.77 trillion ( $2.1 billion) in the first nine months of 2023, profits declined by 45.22% to ₦148 billion ($188 million).

MTN Nigeria also received troubling news in October after a tax appeal tribunal ordered the telecoms to pay $72.6 million in back taxes for the years 2007–2017. The telecom, afterwards, revealed that it would be appealing the decision.

6. Economy: Nigeria announces plan to upskill 3 million people in tech

In October, Nigeria’s country’s minister of communications, innovation, and digital economy, Bosun Tijani, announced plans to equip 3 million early-to-mid-career Nigerians with tech skills by 2027 as part of the ministry’s strategic blueprint.

At TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference Tijani explained that 3MTT—short for the “3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) Programme”—would be deployed with a 1–10–100% model that will 1% of the 3 million intended participants trained by February 2024. 

7. Big Tech: Amazon confirms South Africa launch for 2024

E-commerce giant Amazon confirmed the launch of its online shopping service in South Africa in 2024. South Africa will become the second African country, after Egypt, to host a locally-dedicated Amazon shopping website. 

The company’s launch in South Africa should have happened earlier, but it experienced a pushback after a Western Cape High Court ordered a stop to the construction of its African headquarters. While the decision has now been overturned, Amazon still has local retailing laws in South Africa to adhere to before it can kick off business in South Africa.

8. Companies: Eskom records R24 billion in losses for 2022/23 FY

Last month, South African power-generating company Eskom released its financial report for the year 2022/23.

The company suffered losses up to R24 billion ($1.2 billion), twice the R11 billion ($588 million) in losses it recorded for the 2021/22 financial year. The company blames its decreasing generating capacity as well as increased municipal debt for the loss. 

CEO Calib Cassim, however, says that this is the last of such losses for Eskom. 

9. Economy: South African Airways makes a comeback 

South Africa’s national carrier made a comeback in October.

After a three-year hiatus stemming from a declaration of bankruptcy in 2029, South African Airways (SAA) relaunched in October and announced a new route connecting Cape Town and Johannesburg to São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil. 

10. Investments: Eight organisations to invest in various sectors 

While funding may be low at the moment, October saw several firms announce new funds which will be injected into several ventures across the continent. 

In September 2023, 22 African tech startups raised $116.7 million across 22 fully disclosed* raises. Compared to August 2023’s $243.7 million total raise, this represents a 52.11% decrease. 

This also represents a significant YoY decrease—about 69.6%—from September 2022 when African startups raised $383.4 million. With this, September marks the month with the second-lowest funding following March’s $66 million raise. 

In total, Q3 saw African startups raise $492.6 million across 67 fully disclosed deals. It’s a decline from Q2’s $877 million total raise, and an even sharper drop from Q1’s $1.3 billion. So far, African startups have raised $2.57 billion. 

Per region, Southern African startups made a surprising appearance in first place with $69 million in raises, about 59.1% of the total funding. This is mostly led by energy startup Wetility’s $48 million raise. West Africa comes second with $26.1 million, East Africa with $20.2 million, and North Africa with $1.4 million.

Per sector, the top three sectors for September 2023 are energy with $60 million (51.41%)—led by the Wetility raise and Kenya’s SunCulture’s $12 million raise, fintech with $27.5 million (23.56%), and retail/e-commerce with $11.6 million (9.94%). 

The top five disclosed deals of the month are:

1. South African energy startup Wetility’s $48 million debt and equity round.
2. Kenyan energy startup SunCulture’s $12 million syndicated debt facility.
3. Ghanaian agritech Complete Farmer’s 10.4 million pre-Series A round. 
4. Zambian fintech Lupiya’s $8.25 million Series A funding. 
5. South African retail startup Rentoza’s $6 million raise.

*Note: This data is inclusive only of funding deals announced in September 2023. Raises are often announced later than when the deals are actually made. This data also excludes estimated grants from accelerators.

2. Investments: Enza Capital launches a $58 million fund

In September, Kenyan-based venture firm, Enza Capital, raised $58 million to support startups on the continent. 

The VC company, which invests from first cheque, is also kickstarting a new shared ownership model that allows startup founders the ability to own part of the firm. Enza capital has allocated 10% of its carry pool to founders.

Another VC firm, P1 Ventures, also closed a $25 million fund which it plans to invest in African businesses across fintech, SaaS, AI and healthtech ventures.

3. M&As: Risevest acquires Chaka, WhoGoHost acquires SendChamp

Q3 also ended with a few acquisitions.

First, earlier in the month, Nigerian cloud infrastructure company WhoGoHost acquired SendChamp, a cloud communications startup, for an undisclosed amount. 

Much later, Nigerian trading startup Risevest announced its acquisition of digital trading startup Chaka for an undisclosed sum. 

4. Shutdowns: 54gene shuts down

Last month, TechCabal also confirmed that Nigerian genomics startup 54gene is shutting down. The news was confirmed by ex-CEO Ron Chiarello. 

The startup, which raised $54 million since its founding in 2019, struggles through several leadership changes and impulsive spending habits. 

Meanwhile, founder and ex-CEO Dr. Abasi Ene-Onong launched a new genomics startup, Syndicate Bio, in the same month.

5. Sendy goes into administration, PayDay searches for a buyer

September saw Kenyan logistics startup Sendy enter into administration—an independent person, Peter Kahi, will take control of the company until it can resolve its financial crisis. 

This comes after the company, which was reportedly burning $1 million per month in operating costs, failed to find a buyer.

Meanwhile, Nigerian fintech startup PayDay also confirmed its search for a buyer in September. The company, which raised $3 million in March 2023, faced a series of challenges including contentious salary increases, impulsive management choices and faulty infrastructure. 

6. Economy: Kenya joins PAPSS

In September, Kenya became the tenth African country to join the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS).

Trade secretary Moses Kuria made the announcement noting that the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) had signed the agreement and completed all the necessary formalities.

So far, the service—which is used by nine central banks—has reportedly saved African companies $5 billion in transaction charges.  

7. Layoffs: mPharma lays off 150 staff

One year on, and layoffs are still occurring in the tech space.

In September, Ghanaian healthtech mPharma announced that it had laid off 150 employees—including 40 from its Nigerian team. Per CEO Gregory Rockson, the layoff are—unsurprisingly—due “macroeconomic conditions driven by the devaluation of the naira”.

This comes 19 months after the startup raised $35 million in a Series D round.

8. Economy: Sama to provide 2,100 Kenyans with AI jobs

Months after Meta cut ties with it, Kenyan content moderation firm Sama is taking a new turn.

In September, the company announced a pivot from content moderation into artificial intelligence (AI). Per Kenya’s cabinet trade secretary Moses Kuria, the company was set to hire 2,100 Kenyans to work in several AI-focused teams including machine learning, and business process outsourcing (BPO). 

9. Social Media: Kenya is still going after TikTok

While Sama might not be interested in moderating content anymore, several other Kenyan players are.

September saw Kenyan officials with a renewed drive to ban TikTok…or at least parts of it. The Kenyan Film Classification Board (KFCB) reportedly requested that TikTok disable its Live feature in the country in a meeting with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. The meeting was held with the Kenyan president to discuss a petition to ban TikTok earlier received by the Kenyan Parliament.

Meanwhile, similar petitions to ban TikTok have surfaced in Uganda and Egypt. 

10. Global News: TikTok fined $370 million in the EU

Looks like the social media company is fighting fires everywhere.

In the European Union, TikTok was fined €345 million ($370 million) for violating privacy laws relating to the processing of children’s personal data. Per Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner, TikTok committed a number of breaches between July and December 2020 including non-verification of age for underage users, and setting visibility for under-16 accounts to “public” by default.

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In July 2023, 23 African tech startups raised $132.2 million from 25 fully disclosed* raises. Compared to July 2022’s $239.7 million total raise, this represents a 44% YoY decrease. 

It is, however, a slight increase—about 4.75%—from June 2023 when African startups raised $126.2 million in total. 

Per region, East African startups took the lead with 35.8% of the funding, $47.4 million across startups in Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda. Central Africa makes a rare second place with 30.2% of the July raises—$40 million raised by cleantech startup Nuru. 

West Africa and North Africa come in third and fourth with $35.7 million and $9.1 million raised respectively, while Southern Africa has only one fully disclosed raise in July 2023, a $100,000 round raised by South African edutech CatalyzU.

Per sector, cleantech startups retained the lead with 30.2% of the raises—once again, led by Nuru’s $40 million round. Last month, cleantech startups 41%, about $52.3 million, of the $126.3 million raised. 

The other leading sectors for July 2023 are e-commerce/retail with $21.9 million raised, healthtech with $20.6 million raised, and fintech with $13.7 million in raises.

The top 5 disclosed deals of the month are:

1. DRC’s cleantech startup Nuru’s $40 million Series B raise.
2. Rwandan e-commerce startup Kasha’s $21 million Series B raise. 
3. Kenyan healthtech MyDawa’s $20 million raise. 
4. Nigerian startup Terragon’s $9 million raise.
5. Nigerian logistics startup Moove’s $8 million raise.

*Note: This data is inclusive only of funding deals announced in July 2023. Raises are often announced later than when the deals are actually made. This data also excludes estimated grants from accelerators.

2. Legislation: Kenya Finance Act is free, Uganda to tax foreign companies

In July, Kenya’s Court of Appeal lifted the freeze order on the implementation of the country’s newly-enacted Finance Act. The lift came after Kenya’s Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Njuguna Ndung’u revealed that the country was losing Ksh500 million ($3.5 million) for every day the Act wasn’t enforced. Now, the country will go on to generate Ksh211 billion ($1.4) from taxes created by the Act.

In more news about taxes, Uganda has enacted a new law that will tax foreign companies domiciled in the country. The country’s amended Income Tax Act now imposes a 5% tax on income earned by foreign companies operating in the country.

3. Crypto: SA and Namibia say crypto platforms need licences

Last month, Namibia gave crypto a side hug as the country officially approved the licensing of crypto platforms. It doesn’t mean crypto is legal tender just yet, though. It just means the Namibia Virtual Assets Act of 2023 now mandates all crypto platforms in the country to hold a licence before they can operate.

South Africa reinforced similar rules. Per the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), all crypto exchange platforms in the country will have to apply for licences by November 30 or face the law. 

Nigeria, on the other hand, confirmed that global crypto platform Binance was indeed operating without necessary approvals in the country. It also warned all crypto investment platforms against soliciting Nigerian investors.

4. Internet: Starlink launches in Kenya and Malawi, Safaricom to launch satellite internet service

In July, Starlink launched in two new African countries: Malawi and Kenya. 

The service launched in Malawi about a week after it launched in Kenya. At least six African countries including Nigeria, Mauritius, Rwanda, and Mozambique, now have the satellite internet service. The service is set to launch in 17 more African countries in 2023, including Zambia and Angola.

Meanwhile, the service may see some competition in Kenya where telecoms Safaricom has partnered with AST SpaceMobile to launch its own satellite internet services.

5. Telecoms: Airtel Africa and MTN Nigeria record losses

Nigeria’s shaky forex market is eating into telecoms profits.

In July, Airtel Africa revealed it recorded a $151 million loss in Q1 2023. The telecom blamed the loss on currency devaluation and foreign exchange issues in Nigeria.

While another telecom, MTN Nigeria, did not record a loss per se, it did record a decrease in its profits for H1. It recorded ₦128 billion ($165 million) in profit for H1 2023, 29.14% shy of the ₦181 billion ($234 million) it recorded in H1 2022.

6. Internet ban: Senegal blocks internet access again, Ethiopia ends ban

Senegal shut down its internet again in July. Per the government, the shutdown was enforced to reduce hateful messages circulating online following protests over the arrest of Ousmane Sonko who ran for president in Senegal’s 2019 election.

This follows events in June where the government shut down the internet twice for the same reason. 

Ethiopia, however, ended its five-month social media ban which it put in place after planned protests erupted across the country. 

7. Mergers, Acquisitions and Expansions: Access Bank acquires Stanchart, Safaricom expands to Asia

In big moves, British multinational bank Standard Chartered (StanChart) revealed, in July, that it had completed negotiations to have all its sub-Saharan African assets acquired by Nigeria’s Access Bank.

The deal, which is set for competition in 2024, will see StanChart sell its subsidiaries in Angola, Cameroon, Gambia, and Sierra Leone, with the exception of StanChart’s Nigerian subsidy.

Safaricom, on the other hand, is planning an expansion into Asia with a partnership that will allow M-PESA customers send and receive money to over 200 million individuals in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

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8. Venture Capital: Safaricom incorporates two new subsidiaries

In more news about Safaricom, the telecom is pushing deeper into Kenya’s venture capital space with the launch of two new subsidiaries.

In July, it set up two new entities that will invest in startups: one in seed-stage startups, and another in growth-stage startups.  The seed-stage subsidiary will complement Safaricom’s already existing million-dollar fund, Spark Fund, while the growth-stage subsidiary will invest in well-established startups that will be key to accelerating Safaricom’s journey toward becoming a “purpose-led tech company by 2025,” as per the telco’s CEO. 

9. Layoffs: Medsaf and Copia Global shave numbers off

Last month, TechCabal revealed that Nigerian healthtech Medsaf had laid off all its full-time employees—about 30

people—in March 2023. The company is also reportedly owing staff salaries. 

Kenyan e-commerce startup Copia Global also enforced its third round of layoffs, cutting off 25% of its staff—350 members of its workforce. 

10. Economy: Nigeria pledges $164 million to MSMEs and startups

To close the month off, Nigeria’s new president announced that the country had earmarked ₦125 billion ($164 million) to “energise” the informal sector, especially micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

About 1,300 MSMEs across the country will receive grants of ₦50,000 ($65) each while 100,000 MSMEs and startups will share a ₦75 billion fund ($98.6 million) from which they can apply for ₦500,000 ($657) to ₦1 million ($1,315) loans at a competitive interest rate of 9% per annum.

In June 2023, African tech startups raised $126.2 million from 25 fully disclosed* raises. 

The numbers show a 70% decrease compared to June 2022 where African startups raised $426.2 million. It’s also a 79% decrease from May 2023 when the total amount raised was $621.8 million.

Per region, West African tech startups took the lead by a mile, accounting for 72%—$89.9 million—of the total disclosed funding. Year on year, raises by West African startups have increased by 13%.

Per sector, cleantech startups took the lead for the first time with 41% of the total amount raised—$52.3 million. Healthtech, logistics and fintech follow with $34.3 million, $11.5 million, and $10.6 million, respectively, in raises. 

The top 5 disclosed deals of the month are:

1. Senegalese cleantech Africa REN’s $35 million syndicated debt raise. 
2. Nigerian fintech Helium Health’s $30 million Series B raise.
3. South African cleantech Yellow Africa’s $14 million Series B raise.
4. Nigerian fintech Fairmoney’s $5.4 million raise.
5. Kenyan logistics startup Peach Cars $5 million seed raise.  

*Note: This data is inclusive only of funding deals announced in June 2023. Raises are often announced later than when the deals are actually made. This data also excludes estimated grants from accelerators. This means that it also excludes a combined $4.3 million in grants received by 43 African startups: the 25 African startups who received the Google Black Founders Fund, the 12 edtech startups from the CcHub-Mastercard Edtech Fellowship, and the 6 African startups from Norrsken Accelerator Batch 2023.

2. Telecoms: Safaricom receives $257 million

In big telecoms moves, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced in June that it would invest Ksh21.8 billion ($156.9 million) in Safaricom, in exchange for 7.25% of the company’s equity. 

IFC will also loan Safaricom a further Ksh13.9 billion ($100 million).

In Ethiopia, where Safaricom has generated over $4 million since its October 2022 launch, CEO Anwar Soussa will be stepping down in July. He will be replaced by Wim Vanhelleputte who has served as CEO of MTN Uganda and MTN Côte d’Ivoire. 

3. Fintech: Palmpay crosses 25 million users

In June, superapp Palmpay reached its 25 million users milestone in Nigeria. 

The company announced the milestone at the end of the month, noting that it has an extensive network of 500,000 mobile money agents and 300,000 merchants in its payments ecosystem.

4. Legislation: Kenya passes Finance Bill

Kenya’s Finance Bill is now law.  June ended with President William Ruto signing in the new law which started taking effect from July 1.

The bill has intense ramifications for Kenya’s tech ecosystem via taxation. Content creators, for example, will not have to pay a 1.5% tax for any form of payment they receive—including sponsorship, or earnings. There’s also a 3% tax on the transfer of any digital assets—crypto. 

Finally,  digital lenders will remit a 20% excise duty on each loan interest that they charge.

5. Layoffs: Mara, Chipper Cash, Smile Identity, Eyowo and Twiga prune their staff

It’s been a full year of layoffs in the African tech ecosystem. What started off with layoffs at Swvl in May 2022 has continued to sweep across the continent.

In June, five African startups revealed that they had laid off over 238 employees. Twiga, a Kenyan agritech, laid off 211 employees—including its entire sales team—in a “cost-cutting” move in 2022. Fintech Eyowo, which announced a pivot to a D2C model, also laid off 13 employees, while Smile Identity, a KYC startup that raised $20 million in February 2023, laid off 8 employees for similar reasons: macroeconomic conditions.

Fintech Chipper Cash executed its third round of layoffs, an undisclosed number which saw the exit of global chief operating officer Alicia Levine and Kenyan country director Leon Kiptum. Finally, sources at Web3 startup Mara, which raised $23 million in 2022, revealed that the startup laid off six people in May. 

6. Big Deals: Flutterwave signs five-year deal with Microsoft

Meanwhile, fintech unicorn Flutterwave experienced a month of ups and downs.

On a good note, the fintech signed a five-year deal with Microsoft, which will see the company build a new generation of payment services on Microsoft Azure, powering payments infrastructure across the African continent. The company also confirmed, in June, that it’s looking to deepen its presence on the continent as it moves towards an IPO. 

On the downside, the fintech’s problems in Kenya resurfaced as a Kenyan court froze 45 of its bank accounts and 10 mobile money wallets. The freeze came after 2,468 Nigerians sued Flutterwave for allegedly being the medium through which they were defrauded of Ksh1.6 billion ($12.04 million).

7. Load-shedding: South African companies blame Eskom for profit drop

As load-shedding in South Africa worsens, South African companies are blaming their profit declines on the electricity shortage.

Earlier in June, streaming company MultiChoice recorded a 200% profit decline, going from a R2.8 billion ($150 million) profit in the last financial year to a R2.9 billion($155 million) loss. At the same time, telecom Telkom’s annual results showed a 76.6% profit loss which the company claims were due to load-shedding. 

Finally, retail giant Mr Price reportedly lost R1 billion ($54 million) in revenue which the company says is an indirect impact of load-shedding. 

These companies follow MTN and Vodacom, telecoms which earlier this year blamed their profit declines on South Africa’s electricity crisis.

8. Crime: Tingo Group accused of fraud

June kicked off with a report from US-based investment research firm Hindenburg Research which accused Tingo Group, a Nigerian company, and its founder Dozy Mmuobuosi of fraud and misrepresentation. 

Per the report, Tingo’s claim that its telecoms arm generated $128 million in revenue in Q1 2023 is false. Hindenburg also debunked Tingo’s claim that its agricultural export business, Tingo DMCC, was on track to deliver over $1.34 billion in 9 months. The report also showed that photos of Tingo’s airline business, Tingo Airlines, were photoshopped. 

Days later, Tingo denied all accusations and announced that it would undergo independent research with transnational law firm White & Case LLP at the helm of its investigation.

9. Economy: Somalia launches QR code

In June, the Central Bank of Somalia launched a Quick Response Code (QR code) standard—the SOMQR—to facilitate cashless payment across the country. The move may not drive financial inclusion in the country though, as internet and smartphone penetration in the country are less than 13% and 8.6% respectively.

This move comes a month after Kenya launched its own QR Code.

10. Internet: Senegal blocks its internet again

In June, Senegal shut down its internet again. 

Starting from June 1, several social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube, faced serious access restrictions in Senegal. This blockage came after violent protests began when an opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, was sentenced to two years in prison for rape.

By June 2, interior minister Antoine Diome acknowledged the blockages, citing “the dissemination of hateful and subversive messages on social networks”. Although access was restored after two days, the occurrence marked Senegal’s second internet shutdown in three years.

11. Mobility: E-hailing drivers in Nigeria strike 

June saw Nigeria’s tech economy battle with the effects of fuel subsidy removal.

On the mobility side, several logistics companies announced price hikes. E-hailing companies—Bolt and Uber—slightly reviewed their prices upwards, but the drivers, led by the Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transport Workers of Nigeria (AUATWON) rejected the pricing. 

The drivers, who are threatening an indefinite strike, have requested a reduction in the companies’ 20% commission, along with a minimum 200% fare increase by ride-hailing companies.

12. Cybersecurity: Showmax hacked and Heritage Bank’s insider fraud

Two South African companies were hacked in June. 

First, hackers reportedly broke into MultiChoice’s streaming platform Showmax and made public over 27,000 usernames and passwords of people who use the platform, a claim Showmax denied. 
In Nigeria, meanwhile, commercial bank Heritage Bank reportedly suffered an insider hack where the bank’s Head of IT made off with ₦49 billion ($83 million) in customer funds, a claim the bank refuted. Another Nigerian bank, Globus Bank, revealed that it suffered a hack in 2022 in which hackers took advantage of a USSD glitch to withdraw over ₦1.75 billion ($2.9 million) in customer funds.

In May 2023, African startups raised $621.8 million from 34 fully disclosed* raises. 

Compared to May 2022 where African startups raised $437.1 million, this shows a 42% year-on-year increase. The number is also a significant increase from April 2023 where the total amount raised was $129.8 million, a whopping 379% increase!

Per region, East African startups led the way with the majority of the funding—about $414.7 million representing 64.6% of the total funding. These figures are led by fintech M-Kopa’s $255 million raise, and Sun King’s recent $130 million raise. 

Per sector, the top from May 2023 are fintech, cleantech and mobility/logistics. Fintech leads with $442 million (68.9%), cleantech with $130 million (20.3%), and mobility/logistics with $39 million (6.1%).

The top 5 disclosed deals of the month are:

1. Kenyan asset financing startup M-Kopa’s combined $255 million debt-and-equity financing round.
2. Kenyan cleantech SunKing’s $130 million securisation deal.
3. South African digital bank TymeBank’s $77.8 million pre-Series C round.  
4. South African fintech E4’s $52 million acquisition led by Infinite Partners.
5. Nigerian Logistics startup Sabi’s $38 million Series B funding.  

*Note: This data is inclusive only of funding deals announced in May 2023. Raises are often announced later than when the deals are actually made. This data also excludes estimated grants from accelerators like Techstars or Y Combinator.

2. Big deals: Ghana secures $3 billion from IMF, MTN gets $320 million

Topping the big non-startup deals of May 2023, Ghana secured a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The approved funding will serve to replenish Ghana’s foreign-exchange reserves, which have seen a significant decline of nearly 50% since their peak in August 2021.

Meanwhile, MTN is sticking to its “everywhere you go” mantra with a $320 million deal. The deal, which comes as part of a partnership with development fund Africa50, will see the creation of a fibre optic network between 10 African countries by 2025.

3. Regulations: Nigeria’s new ICT bill resurfaces amidst pushback 

Amendments to the regulatory act of Nigeria’s ICT agency, NITDA, made a stir in May. 

Last month, the Senate Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity also recommended that the Senate pass the new National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Act. 

The recommendation comes as the bill faces intense opposition from ICT leaders who have labelled the bill a “bundle of chaos”. Nigerian telecoms also wrote to the National Assembly, requesting exclusion from the bill that could bring double taxation and regulation to their doorsteps. 

4. Fintech: Kenyan government launches unified QR code system 

In East Africa, May saw the Kenyan government implanting financial interoperability with the launch of a unified QR code system. 

The Kenya Quick Response Code Standard 2023, or the “KE-QR Code Standard 2023”, will offer all payment service providers regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) the ability to process payments using QR codes.

5. Crypto: Zimbabwe launches digital currency, sells $39 million worth 

Zimbabwe kicked off its digital currency early in May. 

Post-launch, the country faced criticism from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) who cautioned that the gold-backed currency would not solve its fiat currency devaluation problems, and could deplete the country’s gold reserves.

Despite this, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RSV) reportedly sold 14 billion Zimbabwean dollars’ worth of gold-backed digital tokens—worth around $39 million. 

6. Acquisitions: Safaricom buys M-Pesa Holdings for $1 

In the deal of the month, Vodafone sold the trust company M-Pesa Holding Company Limited (MPHCL) to Safaricom for $1.

The holding company presently has €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) in customer funds which Safaricom could invest in short-term securities. 

Safaricom will need the money after acquiring a $150 million licence to operate mobile money services in Ethiopia. 

7. Regulations: Nigeria suspends licences of 179 microfinance banks

While April may have seen Nigeria approving licences for loan apps to operate in the country, May meets the country revoking licences in other sectors.

Last month, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revoked the licences of 179 microfinance banks (MFBs), four primary mortgage banks, and three finance companies. The licences were revoked because the institutions didn’t comply with regulatory requirements or carried out unauthorised businesses.

Part of the affected MFBs included Eyowo, a Nigerian digital bank whose customers are finding creative ways to withdraw money after the bank suspended all withdrawals pending its licence re-approval. 

8. Africa + Big Tech: Kenya rules against Sama again, Bolt opens engagement centre in Nairobi 

Continuing the trend from previous months where Kenyan courts have ruled that they have the jurisdiction to hear cases against big tech companies like Meta, Kenya once again—in May—held the tech behemoth accountable.

Last month, Kenya’s Employment and Labour Relations Court ordered the content moderation service Sama to pay its employees. This comes after Sama, Meta’s outsourcing partner, refused to pay its content moderators their salaries due to the moderators’ court case against them.

Meanwhile, in contrast, could Bolt be finally taking its Kenyan drivers’ complaints seriously with the launch of its Nairobi engagement centre?

9. Telecom: Mozambique joins the 5G gang

In May, East Africa’s Mozambique became the newest African country to launch 5G.

Early in the month, telecom Vodacom announced the launch at selected sites in Maputo, Matola; the central area of Nampula; downtown Nacala, Munhava, Maquinino, and Chipanga neighbourhoods; Beira; and Tete.

So far, at least a dozen African countries have launched 5G commercially while many more are reportedly running trials across their respective countries.

10. Economy: IMF says Nigeria’s e-naira is failing

Contrary to claims by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) governor, Nigeria’s digital currency might be a bust.

In May, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revealed that 98.5% of e-naira 14 million wallets have not been used even once, two years after its launch. 

According to the IMF, the total number of retail e-naira wallets amounted to about 860,000, which is equivalent to just 0.8% of Nigeria’s active bank accounts.

A brutally sluggish month for African startups, the continent squares up to Big Tech and layoffs continue to be a drag—April could not end sooner for some in the tech ecosystem. 

It wasn’t all grey clouds though; Kenya saw some positive investment news, bagging $390 million in April, while South Africa’s $250 million on top of Amazon’s plan to invest $1.8 billion until 2029, could lift the country’s mood.

A lot happened in East Africa in April, where Kenya has taken a step in the right direction by reversing its 30% ownership law. This, after President William Ruto vetoed the rule, choosing to encourage investors. Meanwhile, the East Africa country also launched its first operational earth observation satellite, onboard a SpaceX rocket. Let’s dig in!

1. Funding: Q2 is off to a slow start

In April 2023, there were 23 fully disclosed* raises made by African startups, totalling $129.8 million. 

Compared to April 2022, this shows a 68% decline. Looks like Q2 is off to an even slower start. It is however a significant increase from March 2023 where the total amount raised was $66 million. 

The top three sectors from April are fintech, cleantech and agritech. Fintech leads with $45.5 million (30.4%), cleantech with $37.9 million (25.3%), and agritech with $37.6 million (25.1%). 

Per region, South Africa led April’s deals with 49.1% of the total deals, about $63.7 million. East Africa comes second with 31.3% of the deals while Central Africa makes an appearance for third place with 13.9% of the deals, all of which come from Altech Group’s $18 million debt financing round.

The top 5 disclosed deals of the month are:

1. Kenyan agritech Victory Farms’ $35 million raise.
2. South African fintech Peach Payments’ $31 million Series A raise.
3. DRC cleantech Altech Group’s $18 million raise.
4. South African fintech PayMeNow’s $14 million raise.
5. South African fintech Decentral Energy’s $12.1 million raise.

*Note: This data is inclusive only of funding deals announced in April 2023. Raises are often announced later than when the deals are actually made. This data also excludes estimated grants from accelerators like Techstars or Y-Combinator. 

2. Crypto: Zimbabwe goes after gold 

April found Zimbabwe announcing plans to launch a gold-backed digital currency. The country needs $100 million worth of gold to kickstart the project which it believes will save its declining currency.

Meanwhile, in East Africa, Kenya is considering enforcing a new regulation that will force all crypto platforms in its regions to pay a 1.5% duty on every transaction they process. There’s already a pending 20% excise tax on crypto transactions in Kenya, and if both pass, it could mean double trouble taxing for Kenya.

3. Africa + Big Tech: Kenya pushes against Meta

Big tech companies got an earful in cases heard in Kenyan courts. 

Last month alone, Meta lost two separate cases in Kenya. In the first, a court dismissed its claim that Kenya had no jurisdiction to hear cases against Meta. That court also prohibited the tech company from using any third-party content moderators. 

In the second, a court granted two Ethiopians leave to sue Meta outside Kenya in a case that could cost Meta $1.8 billion. 

4. Regulations: Kenya reverses 30% rule

Early in April, President William Ruto reversed a rule that mandates that foreign companies must have at least 30% Kenyan ownership to operate in the country. The rule was implemented in 2020 to encourage Kenyan participation in the ICT and science and technology sector through equity ownership. Per Ruto, the rule is slowing down investments in Kenya’s ecosystem.

5. Acquisitions: Autocheck acquires Autotager

Nigerian automotive company Autochek completed its sixth acquisition in two years in April 2023.

In an undisclosed deal, the company acquired a majority stake in AutoTager, an Egyptian automotive technology company, as part of its expansion into Egypt.

6. Layoffs/Shutdowns: Copia Global and Lazerpay

Layoffs continued globally into April 2023 and Africa was not left out.

Nigerian crypto startup Lazerpay announced it was shutting down after months of failing to raise the funds it needed to stay afloat. 

Meanwhile, Kenyan e-commerce company shut down its Ugandan operations in a scaledown move. The company, which raised $50 million in January 2022, also laid off 350 employees.

7. Investments: South Africa gets $1.8 billion from Amazon; Kenya gets $390 million for tech

Startups may not be getting as much funding, but tech ecosystems are certainly getting a boost.

In April, two sizeable investment announcements targeted at South Africa were made. First, Amazon announced plans to invest $1.8 billion in its cloud services in the country by 2029. Cassava Technologies also pledged a total of $250 million in investment in South Africa through its business units—Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Africa Data Centres, and Distributed Power Africa.

The World Bank Group announced a whopping $390 million investment to help Kenya finance its Digital Economy Acceleration Project.

8. Cybersecurity: Flutterwave hacked twice; Navias suffers hack

In April, sources revealed to TechCabal that fintech Flutterwave was hacked twice. In this second set of hack allegations, culprits transferred a total ₦550 million ($1.2 million) from the company’s accounts. The sources alleged that, much like the first incident on February 5, the perpetrators used monies fraudulently obtained from Flutterwave accounts to buy USDT on the crypto platform Binance.

Kenya’s biggest online retailer Naivas, meanwhile, suffered a ransomware attack in April from cyber criminals who are now threatening to leak some of its data. 

9. Space: Kenya launches first operational satellite

April also saw Kenya launch Taifa-1—its first operational satellite.

Launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in California, the satellite—tested and developed by Kenyan engineers—will reportedly be used to provide data on areas like agriculture and food security for Kenya, a country suffering a severe drought that’s affecting over 5 million people.

10. Global: CashApp founder murdered in the US

In sombre news, CashApp founder Bob Lee was murdered in California, US, on the morning of April 3. 

Another tech founder and friend to Lee, Nima Momeni, was arrested, arraigned and charged with the murder days later.

1. Kenya became the first African country to teach coding as a subject in schools

In August, former Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta, announced the addition of computer programming as a subject in its primary and secondary schools curricula. This announcement was well received because computer programming teaches children to experiment and gives them the confidence to be creative. It’s also seen as a move to ensure that Kenya continues to maintain its place as one of the hotbeds for digital innovation on the continent. 

The South African Department of Education made a similar announcement earlier in the year about introducing coding and robotics to schools.

2. Nigeria and DRC Congo now have startup acts

Across Africa regulation is seen as an essential tool required to foster innovation. This has led to a clamour for supporting regulation for the tech ecosystem through startup acts. A startup act is a legal and institutional framework for the advancement of startups in a country. It helps to create an environment that encourages the formation, growth, and operation of startups within a country.

In December 2019, Senegal became the second African nation to enact a national startup act, following Tunisia’s landmark bill that passed in April 2018.  This year Nigeria and DRC joined that list of African countries that have startup acts.

Over 10 African countries, including Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, and Ethiopia, are still in the process of drafting their startup bills.  

3. The Central African Republic became the first African country to make bitcoin legal tender

Bitcoin has gained worldwide popularity and use in the past decade—with global adoption growing by 2,300% since 2019 and 103 countries allowing crypto trading. (Governments and regulators worldwide are still debating its safety.) 

In April, the Central African Republic (CAR) became the first African country to make bitcoin legal tender, and the second country in the world after El Salvador. This means that bitcoin must be accepted as payment alongside the Central African CFA franc.

Closely related to this, South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), through the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act, in October declared that cryptocurrency assets are classified as financial products, allowing them to be regulated.

These two African countries are outliers, compared to many African countries that have banned crypto or restricted its use. Four African countries—Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia—have banned all forms of crypto trading, while seven including Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon, have some forms of prohibition regarding crypto trading. These governments have cited numerous reasons for the bans, from fraud and money laundering to tax evasion and terrorist financing. 

4. A massive wave of layoffs

Layoffs are a common occurrence during an economic downturn and African startup employees weren’t exempt from experiencing them this year. 

Data from layoffs.fyi, a crowdsourced database of tech layoffs, shows that 1,495 tech companies have sacked 246,267 employees since the onset of COVID-19. Over 50,000 of such layoffs happened in 2022, with at least over 1,000 tech workers in Africa laid off. 

The layoffs started with Egyptian mobility startup Swvl laying off about 400 people in May. Startups such as Twiga foods, Quidax, Vendease, 54 Gene, Sendy and many more also carried out a similar exercise, attributing it to the economic downturn.

5. Nigerian fintech companies battled with fraud allegations in Kenya

Nigerian startups were under scrutiny by Kenyan Government agencies, particularly the Central Bank of Kenya and its Asset Recovery Agency (ARA), over allegations of card fraud and international money laundering.

Flutterwave Payment Technology Limited, Boxtrip Travel and Tours Limited, Bagtrip Travel Limited, Elivalat Fintech Limited, Adguru Technology Limited, Hupesi Solutions, Cruz Ride Auto Limited, Korapay, and one Simon Ngige were all accused of money laundering. 

A number of these fintech companies such as Flutterwave, Kora Pay and Kandon have been cleared of these fraud charges.

6. Over $4 billion raised in venture capital funding

The jury is still out on how much exactly African startups raised in 2022, but from all indicators, it’s close to what was raised last year. Over $4 billion has been raised so far in 2022 according to the Big Deal.

While there was no unicorn minted this year, a number of notable investment deals were made. Tanzanian startup, Ramani, raised a $32 million Series A, the largest Series A ever from the country; Wasoko (formerly Sokowatch), closed a $125 million Series B at a $625 million valuation;  Algerian Yassir raised $150m Series B;  Nigerian Fintech TeamApt raised $50 million; and Congo-based crypto startup Jambo raised $37.5 million cumulatively this year.

7. African companies embraced the Metaverse

In the past 12 months, the popularity of the Metaverse has soared with many companies making a play into the space through patents or experiments carried out.

In February, after its rebrand Africa’s largest telco MTN bought 144 plots of digital land in the Africarare metaverse Ubuntuland for an undisclosed sum, becoming the first African company to do so. Later in the year, Nedbank and South African retail Game, also followed suit.

8. 5G is here to stay, with more African countries getting access to this technology 

For long 5G has been touted to revolutionise the connectivity space; some analysts predict that 5G will add an additional $2.2 trillion to Africa’s economy by 2034.  This has led many African countries to begin trials with Gabon starting as early as 2019, but few have commercially launched 5G. This can be largely attributed to challenges around spectrum regulation clarity, commercial viability, and deployment deadlines.

This year MTN launched its 5G services across Nigeria and Zambia in the fourth quarter. Orange also launched 5G in Botswana. These commercial launches are a positive step forward as the continent battles with low citizen purchasing power of 5G-enabled smartphones and expensive internet.

9. Global tech companies set up African offices 

A physical presence speaks volumes of an organisation’s commitment to a country. This year a number of global tech companies set up their first African offices.

In March, Microsoft opened a new African Development Centre at Ikoyi, Lagos. The centre, which is a $100 million investment by the multi-billion dollar firm, is where software engineering solutions are expected to be provided to Africa. 

In April, Google announced its first African development centre in Nairobi. The centre is expected to help create transformative products and services for people in Africa.

In April, Visa opened its first African innovation studio in Kenya. This facility will serve the sub-Saharan Africa region and joins a network of innovation centres operated by Visa since 2016, in cities including London, Dubai, and Singapore. The Nairobi studio is the first in Africa and sixth globally.

In July, Bolt launched its first African headquarters in Nairobi, a regional hub for the seven African countries in which Bolt is operational—Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Tunisia.

10. Techstars Accelerator programme returned to Africa after five years

In April, Techstars announced the launch of the ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator Programme focused on helping fintech and proptech startups with products that serve an African audience.

The announcement signified a break from the five-year hiatus the accelerator with over $500 million assets under management (AUM) had taken in Africa. Techstars earlier ran an accelerator programme in South Africa from 2016 to 2017, in partnership with Barclays Bank where they invested in 21 startups, out of which three have been acquired, five have gone out of business, and 13 are still running. 

11. Swvl became the first African company to get listed via SPAC  

Egypt-born and Dubai-headquartered mobility startup, Swvl, merged with Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital in April at a valuation of $1.5 billion, becoming the first African startup to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

Since getting listed, however, Swvl’s valuation has crashed, and the startup is now valued at less than $40 million. 

12. The race for African data centres and cloud continues

At the start of the year, Oracle, the world’s largest database management company, opened its first cloud region (a cluster of data centres) in Africa. Other global cloud and database service providers followed suit later in the year.

In October, Google declared its intention to establish the first African Google Cloud region in South Africa. Amazon Web Services (AWS) in November opened its first office in Lagos, Nigeria, five years after its first office in Johannesburg was opened in 2017. In December, Liquid Intelligent Technologies officially launched operations in Nigeria, having earlier expanded to Zambia in August.

13. Amazon Prime Video became more pronounced in Nigeria

Amazon’s Prime Video has been strategically expanding its Nigerian content offering in the last few years, but this year pushed more aggressively with marketing and offering Nigerians the opportunity to pay for the service in local currency, the naira. Prime Video was previously unavailable to Nigerians, as many had to use VPNs to access it.

In January, the company struck a multi-year exclusive licensing deal with Anthill Studios, a Lagos-based company behind a couple of well-received movies including Elevator Baby and Day of Destiny. A year ago, it closed a similar deal with Inkblot Studios which produced the commercially successful The Wedding Party films. 

In June, Amazon Prime Video commissioned Nollywood’s Nemsia Films, makers of God Calling (2018) and Journey of an African Colony (2019), to produce three films.

Recently, Nigerian Highlife singer, Flavour, was reported to have signed an exclusive deal with the streamers for the release of a biopic. 

With these moves, Amazon Prime Video joined Africa’s video-on-demand (VOD)  streaming war.

14. Vodacom pulled the plug on its video streaming service

The entry of new players to the African VOD scene also means there were some exits. Video Play, a video streaming service launched by Vodacom in August 2015, was shut down in July 2022.

The services had over 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store alone and was made recently free. The company had in 2019 secured the rights to live-stream the English FA Cup on the service as well as securing rights to broadcast American film production studio company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)’s content in 2020.

The streaming service joins a lengthy list of South African streaming services by mobile network operators to be discontinued, as competition in the on-demand content streaming space continues to get tougher.

15. Google’s Africa internet cable arrives in Africa

Equiano, a subsea internet cable running through Portugal to South Africa, arrived in Africa in 2022. The cable runs through Togo, Nigeria, Namibia, and South Africa. It’s expected to become operational this month. 

This project marks a milestone in Google’s plan to provide affordable internet access in Africa by building global infrastructure to help bring faster internet to more people and lower connectivity costs.

The project, which is named after Nigerian-born writer and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano, is expected to help support further digital transformation on the continent and accelerate economic growth with GDPs of Nigeria expected to rise by $10.1 billion, South Africa $7 billion and $260 million in Namibia.

Closely related to that, Elon Musk’s Starlink received approval to provide internet service in Nigeria and Mozambique.

16. Meta-backed 2Africa Subsea Cable internet lands in Africa

At 45,000km, 2Africa Pearls is the world’s largest subsea internet cable and is set to connect 33 locations at 46 locations across Africa, Europe, and Asia once it’s complete. In December, the cable landed in Cape Town. The 2Africa project aims to provide Africa with better internet access.

Launched by Meta in May 2020, the 2Africa project is done in collaboration with MTN, Orange, Vodafone, and China Mobile. Unlike Equiano, the 2Africa cable will eventually encircle the entire African continent, with the first part of the system scheduled to go live next year.

17. Meta quietly shuts down its low-cost internet programme across Africa

After more than five years in operation, Meta shut down Express Wi-Fi, a programme designed to provide low-cost internet in developing countries through partnerships with local communities, mobile operators, and businesses. The Express Wi-Fi program was operational in countries such as  Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia, Cameroon, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, South Africa, and Uganda.

18. Workplace culture issues and scandals

In addition to layoffs and the economic downturn, scandals rocked the booming African tech ecosystem in 2022.

This year saw a number of tech startup CEOs being challenged for misconduct. 

In March 2022, the alleged toxic behaviour of Ebunoluwa Okunbanjo, Bento Africa CEO, was exposed after a series of interviews with former and current employees. In light of these revelations, Okunbanjo was asked to step aside from the company for a few months by the board of directors. He later returned to the helm of the company as CEO.

In April, Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola was in the spotlight for a myriad of allegations ranging from harassment to insider trading, based on different revelations. Flutterwave has denied these allegations. Other notable startups that faced scandals include Egyptian B2B e-commerce Capiter, Kloud Commerce, Risevest, and Healthlane.

19. A wave of acquisitions 

There’s been a rise in acquisition deals happening on the continent this year. In the first half of 2022, TechCabal tracked 26 acquisitions; meanwhile, in Q3 2022, we tracked 17. Some of these acquisitions are: 

B2B marketplace TradeDepot’s acquired Accra-based GreenLion;  Silvertree’s $12.3 million acquired South African meal kit delivery startup Ucook; MFS Africa’s $34 million bought Global Technology Partners; Liquid Intelligent Technologies acquired of Israeli Telrad; Belgium-based Dstyn’s purchased Egyptian Tactful AI; Nigerian home concierge startup Eden life acquired Kenyan-based Lynk; UK-based power company Bboxx acquired West Africa-based solar energy provider Peg; Moroccan B2B e-commerce Chari acquired Ivorian B2B e-commerce startup Diago;  and mPharma acquired a majority stake in HealthPlus. 

20.  A South African was charged in the largest fraud scheme involving bitcoin

In July, 2022, the U.S Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged South African resident Cornelius Johannes Steynberg in a bitcoin fraud scheme case totalling $1.7 billion. Sternberg was recently detained in Brazil on an Interpol arrest warrant. 

21.  Zanzibar launched Silicon Zanzibar 

Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous island in East Africa, launched its plan to be Africa’s leading tech hub, through its Silicon Zanzibar project.

Led by the Zanzibar Ministry of Investment and Economic Development alongside several African tech companies, Silicon Zanzibar aims to attract technology firms and workers from across Africa and beyond. To lure tech companies, Zanzibar is dishing out work visas for relocating tech workers, something that has been problematic in mature markets like Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa.

Other incentives in the Zanzibar Free Economic Zone include exemption from corporate tax for 10 years.

22. MTN exits the Middle East

In November, Africa’s largest wireless carrier, MTN Group announced that it sold its Afghanistan business to Beirut-based M1 New Ventures for $35 million as it continues to reduce its presence outside the continent. 

This move is in line with MTN’s strategic priority, since 2020, of narrowing focus on its home continent. The group has earlier abandoned its Syrian business and transferred its Yemen unit to a partner. MTN remains present in Iran.