Author: John Nyabuto

TLG Capital announces the second close of Africa-focused private credit fund, AGIF II. It raised $120 million from 22 institutional investors to expand financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the continent. The milestone comes just 12 months after the fund’s first close and points to a growing institutional interest in Africa’s private credit market, an asset class that is increasingly being viewed as an alternative to traditional venture capital and commercial bank lending. Unlike equity investments where businesses have to give up ownership, private credit provides companies with debt financing. This makes it particularly attractive to established SMEs…

Pan-African EdTech startup Craydel has announced its expansion into Ghana. The expansion gives Craydel access to one of West Africa’s largest outbound student markets. Ghana becomes the fifth new market the company has entered since late 2024. With the latest launch, Craydel now operates in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Tanzania and Ghana. “Ghana has one of Africa’s strongest traditions of investing in education and global talent. We have seen tremendous demand from Ghanaian students looking for trusted, technology-driven guidance as they explore study opportunities abroad,” said Manish Sardana, Co-founder and CEO of Craydel. Founded in 2021 by Manish…

The Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association (KIFWA), in partnership with several insurance providers and technology partners, has officially launched the Digital Marine Cargo Insurance (DMCI) Platform. The platform is designed to simplify how importers, clearing and forwarding agents obtain marine cargo insurance certificates while improving compliance with government regulations. Participating insurers include APA General Insurance Company, Britam General Insurance, CIC General Insurance, Old Mutual General Insurance, Pacis Insurance and Dynamique. The platform is also integrated with eCitizen. According to KIFWA, the Digital Marine Cargo Insurance Platform offers an end-to-end digital process for issuing insurance certificates through an integrated ecosystem…

African fintech startup Daya has raised $2.4 million in pre-seed funding to accelerate the development of its platform designed to simplify cross-border payments for businesses across the continent. The funding round was led by Hivemind Capital, with participation from Alliance, Lattice, Globelink Holding and Aptos Foundation. If you have a startup you want featured on TechArena, let us know through this contact form here. Daya is building what it describes as a financial operating layer for businesses, freelancers and companies that receive international payments or move money across borders. Its platform enables users to collect payments locally, convert currencies, and settle funds globally…

Binance launched bStocks, tokenized 1:1 U.S. securities that trade 24/7, convert instantly for free, and can be withdrawn to a self-custody crypto wallet. In 15 days, bStocks holdings on the platform have crossed $100 million in assets, an 18× jump from $5.6 million on Day 1. What the data shows, taken together, is that demand for tokenized securities runs deeper than expected – global, active, and indifferent to Wall Street’s hours. Read on for the full breakdown. $100 Million in Assets in Two Weeks When bStocks launched, the assumption might have been that early adopters would cluster in a handful…

Yellow Card has secured Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulatory affiliation in Switzerland. The affiliation positions Yellow Card as a supervised financial intermediary, enabling it to serve banking partners, institutional investors and corporate clients seeking compliant and efficient access to emerging markets through stablecoins. If you have a startup you want featured on TechArena, let us know through this contact form here. The move is anchored in the company’s Swiss wholly-owned subsidiary, which now provides a single, regulated point of contact for clients looking to tap into Yellow Card’s stablecoin infrastructure across its global footprint. This includes operations spanning Africa, the United States, Latin America…

Nuvion has partnered with Visa Direct to improve real-time global payout capabilities for companies operating in multiple markets. Nuvion will integrate Visa Direct’s global payout network into its financial infrastructure platform. This integration will enable businesses to send funds more quickly to cards, bank accounts and digital wallets globally. This will help improve the speed and reliability of cross-border transactions. By combining Visa Direct’s extensive global reach with Nuvion’s unified platform, businesses will be able to manage global payouts alongside multi-currency accounts, cards, foreign exchange services and stablecoin settlement rails within a single system. The partnership is expected to deliver…

Binance Research, the market research arm of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has recently published a new weekly market commentary titled “Stock Market That Never Sleeps.” The report examined the structural expansion of the tokenized real-world asset market, how it is reaching investors previously excluded from global equity access, and what the data reveals about price discovery in a 24/7 trading environment. According to Binance Research, the tokenized RWA market crossed US$10B in total market capitalization in 2026, up tenfold from under US$1B in early 2024. Weekly traded volume averaged US$735M in 2026, and the asset class demonstrated capacity for institutional-scale flows…

The Kenyan government, through the ICT Authority, has opened applications for the AI Champions Recognition Programme. This is a new initiative aimed at equipping young people with practical artificial intelligence skills while supporting the country’s broader ambition of training 20 million citizens in digital skills by 2032. The programme is being implemented through a partnership between the ICT Authority, Microsoft and Pathways Technologies Limited. According to John Kipchumba Tanui, Principal Secretary for the State Department for ICT and Digital Economy, the initiative forms part of a wider effort to strengthen Kenya’s digital and AI talent pipeline through collaboration between government…

Spiro has announced the successful close of a $270 million funding round. The milestone includes a newly finalized $55 million investment from NewTrails Capital, a Chinese growth-stage investment firm focused on emerging markets, with operations spanning Shanghai, Shenzhen and Nigeria. The fresh capital will fuel Spiro’s expansion across Africa as it builds out an integrated ecosystem combining electric vehicles, battery swapping infrastructure and digital services. The company says it has already deployed over 100,000 electric vehicles and established 2,500 smart battery swap stations across seven markets. Spiro’s latest raise also attracted a mix of global investors, including Impact Fund Denmark,…