Author: Kaluka wanjala

LemFi has announced the acquisition of Pillar, a UK-based fintech focused on credit access for immigrants. As a result of this acquisition, LemFi will launch specialised credit cards designed especially for immigrant communities.  If you have a startup you want featured on TechArena, let us know through this contact form here.  In 2022, Pillar raised £13M ($16.9M) in pre-seed to develop a platform for immigrants to access credit products when they move to a new country. LemFi will inherit this tech as part of the acquisition, becoming the first major remittance platform to offer credit as a core product. The deal,…

Verto has today announced the launch of Verto Reserve. This is a new feature for businesses to earn interest on their holdings in G10 and African currencies, regardless of their country of incorporation. Verto Reserve is being offered in partnership with financial institutions that are licensed to provide deposit-taking services in Kenya and Nigeria.  Customers can now fully utilize idle funds sitting in various currency wallets and accounts, achieving interest earnings of up to 10% and offering a unique opportunity for businesses to optimize their treasury management. With Verto Reserve, customers can seamlessly open interest-earning accounts in Nigerian Naira (NGN),…

Pesapal has partnered with RACK, a local startup building tailored software for African SMEs. The two are rolling out a fully-integrated Point of Sale (POS) solution designed to digitize sales, payments, inventory, tax compliance, and customer management. This is all done in a single plug-and-play device. If you have a startup you want featured on TechArena, let us know through this contact form here.  This solution will be available to businesses in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. It offers a much-needed alternative to the outdated, manual systems still widely used by small businesses in the region. “This partnership is about powering Africa’s…

Khazna Data Centers has partnered with NVIDIA to build AI data centers across the Middle East and Africa, with Kenya named among the key markets. If you have a startup you want featured on TechArena, let us know through this contact form here.  As part of the partnership, NVIDIA has certified Khazna’s upcoming data center designs to support its cutting-edge Blackwell GPU architecture. These are optimised for high-performance AI workloads. Khazna’s ongoing and upcoming infrastructure developments will feature NVIDIA-ready blueprints as standard, ensuring full compatibility with the latest GPU-accelerated workloads. The company plans to design most of its future data halls…

Kenyan electric bus manufacturer BasiGo has announced it now assembles up to 20 electric buses per month. This is double its previous monthly output of 10 buses. This production upgrade comes after the company’s successful Ksh 5.4 billion funding raise last year. According to CEO Moses Nderitu, most of the funding has been allocated to capital expenditures such as purchasing assembly kits, tools, and setting up new charging depots. The remaining part has gone into hiring skilled workers to scale its production capacity. “Assembly has increased. When we first started, it was taking a very long time. Now, we deliver…

Roam has officially launched the Generation 2 Roam Air, a next-generation electric motorcycle designed with extensive input from boda boda riders. The upgraded model includes over 40 practical enhancements and has been rigorously tested across both urban and rural terrains. Designed and engineered entirely in-house by Roam, the Generation 2 Roam Air reflects a deep commitment to local innovation and manufacturing. With Kenya’s more than 3 million boda boda riders sustaining an estimated 5 million livelihoods nationwide (UN data), the new model directly addresses the economic and practical needs of this vital sector. Key Improvements Roam has increased local production…

Bolt has officially launched ‘Bolt Comfort’ in Kenya today, a new ride category designed for passengers seeking a higher-quality experience with more comfort, space, and reliability. The service is already available in select areas of Nairobi as part of its Phase 1 rollout. According to Bolt, over 1,000 drivers have already been onboarded under this new category. The second phase is expected to expand Bolt Comfort to Kiambu County by December 2025. The company says this ride option is specifically tailored to serve Nairobi’s growing professional and middle-income class. To qualify for Bolt Comfort, drivers must use vehicles manufactured in…

For the first time ever, Kenyan startups have a direct line to one of the world’s most competitive and prestigious pitch events, the Startup World Cup. In early June, ten promising Kenyan startups pitched live at the Kenya Startup Festival, the local qualifier for the Startup World Cup, a global competition run by Pegasus Tech Ventures (the VC firm backing global giants like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Airbnb). The event, hosted in Nairobi and powered by Silicon Xchange, KeNIA, and NaiBAN, saw mobility tech platform BuuPass emerge as the winner. The startup will now represent Kenya at the global finals in…

Binance continues to work closely with Kenyan policymakers and the Virtual Assets Chamber (VAC) to support the development of a balanced, innovation-friendly regulatory environment for digital assets. As part of this ongoing collaboration, Binance’s Head of Legal for Africa, Larry Cooke, will join VAC Director Allan Kakai in a featured fireside chat at the upcoming Kenya Blockchain & Crypto Conference on 12 June 2025. The discussion will focus on the proposed Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Bill, 2025 and the Digital Asset Tax (DAT), two landmark policy instruments currently under review by Parliament. Cooke and Kakai will unpack the progress…

 Salus Cloud has closed a $3.7 million Seed round to advance its mission of accelerating access to secure software delivery across Africa, the Middle East, and other growth markets. If you have a startup you want featured on TechArena, let us know through this contact form here.  The round was co-led by two of Africa’s leading investors in transformative technologies, Atlantica Ventures and P1 Ventures, with additional backing from respected pan-African venture capital firms LoftyInc Capital, Zedcrest Capital, and Everywhere Ventures, alongside angel investor Tim Chen, a world-class DevSecOp expert and General Partner at Essence VC, who joined the round independently. The funding will enable Salus to accelerate product…