Renew Capital has announced the launch of the Renew Venture Lab: The EmFi Series, a new program aimed at identifying and supporting African tech founders building the next generation of financial solutions across the continent. The program was unveiled during GITEX Africa. Applications are now open, with founders able to apply through the Venture Lab portal. Early consideration is available for submissions made by April 30. The EmFi Series has a strong focus on embedded finance. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up about 90% of all private sector businesses in Africa. Even with this said, most of them remain…
Author: John Nyabuto
Kulipa, a Paris-based stablecoin card issuing infrastructure platform, has raised $6.2 million in seed funding. The company aims to connect blockchain settlement systems with the world of everyday financial transactions. If you have a startup you want featured on TechArena, let us know through this contact form here. The round was co-led by Flourish Ventures and 1kx. It also had additional participation from White Star Capital and Fabric Ventures. Kulipa is positioning itself as a solution to this problem. The company provides fintech platforms with the ability to issue globally accepted payment cards funded directly from stablecoin balances. Its infrastructure targets a wide…
Wingu Africa has launched a new private cloud platform, Wingu Cloud Exchange (WCX), in Ethiopia. The company is known for its carrier-neutral, Tier III-standard data centres across East Africa and says the new platform is designed to give Ethiopian businesses access to secure, scalable and locally compliant cloud services without relying heavily on international providers. WCX addresses one of Africa’s biggest cloud adoption challenges: where data is stored and how much it costs to manage it. By enabling organisations to keep their data within Ethiopia, WCX ensures compliance with local regulations while also reducing latency and improving performance for critical…
Paymentology has announced a new strategic partnership with South Africa’s digital-first bank Bank Zero. The partnership positions Bank Zero as a gateway for fintechs, retailers, SMEs and digital platforms looking to launch financial services, while leveraging Paymentology’s global card issuing and processing infrastructure. This partnership makes it easier for businesses to roll out tailored financial products that would have previously involved heavy lifting, mostly associated with the banking infrastructure. This includes faster onboarding for partners, scalable, cloud-native processing and improved customer experience through digital-first systems. Paymentology will provide the underlying infrastructure, while Bank Zero contributes its modern, app-driven banking framework…
Moroccan electric mobility startup GoSwap has secured its first seed funding round from Azur Innovation Fund. GoSwap is building a battery-as-a-service (BaaS) model designed to address two of the biggest barriers to electric vehicle (EV) adoption, high upfront costs and range anxiety. If you have a startup you want featured on TechArena, let us know through this contact form here. GoSwap makes it possible for users to buy a battery-free electric scooter and access power through GoSwap’s network of smart swapping stations. Riders can exchange depleted batteries for fully charged ones in under 10 seconds. This eliminates charging delays and downtime. The startup…
M-Pesa has introduced a new Tap-to-Pay feature in Tanzania, allowing users to make contactless payments directly from their smartphones at Visa-enabled terminals worldwide. The rollout was delivered in partnership with Paymentology, Vodacom Tanzania Plc, M-Pesa Africa and Visa. The feature is now available through the M-Pesa SuperApp on Android devices. “At Paymentology, we believe innovations like Tap-to-Pay accelerate financial inclusion by making everyday transactions simpler and safer for everyone,” said Anna Porra, Chief Revenue Officer at Paymentology. With the new functionality, users can pay by simply tapping their smartphones at contactless point-of-sale terminals. This eliminates the need for a physical…
TikTok has convened government officials, regulators, online safety organisations and industry leaders in Nairobi for the third annual Sub-Saharan Africa Safer Internet Summit. The two-day summit was held under the theme “#SaferTogether: Innovation and Safety,” brought together policymakers, creators and technology stakeholders to discuss evolving online safety challenges across the region. Speaking during the summit, Tokunbo Ibrahim, Head of Government Relations and Public Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa at TikTok, said the gathering aims to foster collaboration among stakeholders working to improve the digital ecosystem. “Our mission is to share learnings, tackle common challenges, and collaboratively advance actionable solutions that protect…
Telenor has picked Red Hat’s cloud-native and AI platforms to power a sovereign AI Factory in Norway. This is aimed at delivering secure, in-region AI infrastructure for enterprise and public sector customers. The Telenor AI Factory is built on Red Hat OpenShift AI and powered by NVIDIA GPUs. It is designed to support large-scale AI model training, inference, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and agentic AI workloads. The platform enables organisations to process sensitive data within national borders, addressing growing European requirements around data residency and digital sovereignty. Telenor’s infrastructure spans two Norwegian sites and runs on renewable energy. It also supports…
The Central African Republic (CAR) has officially launched Dûnîa, a fully digital platform that modernizes the Ministry of Economy, Planning and International Cooperation (MEPCI). The launch was presided over by President Faustin Archange Touadera under the framework of the country’s National Development Plan 2024–2028 (NDP). Developed in partnership with local technology company EDEN TiiiT, led by Cédric PIDJOU, Dûnîa digitizes all ministry operations, including HR, budget management, project tracking, and document workflows. The platform uses a modular open-source microservices architecture, with encrypted data structures, API interoperability, and a claimed system availability of 99.8%. According to Minister Richard Filakota, Dûnîa is…
Onafriq has partnered with The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) to pilot the continent’s first wallet-based outbound payments from Nigeria to Ghana – fully in Naira and instant, without relying on hard currency conversion, in partnership with Banks and Mobile Money Operators. The pilot service, approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), enables cross-border intra-Africa payments for individuals, merchants, and traders. In particular, the service will benefit SMEs, the real engine of intra-African trade; all now have access to a faster, cheaper way to reach customers and suppliers across the border. By reducing barriers to cross-border trade, the…