Author: Kaluka wanjala

The President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, recently visited the Konza Technopolis and highlighted its international significance as a key component of Kenya’s Vision 2030. A statement from Konza reads, “Konza Technopolis team presented the overview of the smart city to His Excellency Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco Embaló, President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau. The president who was on a familiarization tour of the Technopolis was accompanied by Cabinet Secretary for Youth, Creative Economy and Sports Salim Mvurya.” The Konza Technopolis has been referred to as Africa’s Silicon Savannah and seeks to develop smart city services, promote innovation, green energy and foster…

Insight Terra is proud to announce the successful close of its series A extension funding round of $5.7 million to rapidly scale its AI-driven greenhouse gas (GHG) and environmental risk platform. Alastair Bovim, Co-Founder and CEO of Insight Terra says the investment shows a strong commitment to tech-enabled solutions to address climate change and a significant investment into innovation, safety, and emerging climate-tech for extractive industries and beyond. Insight Terra addresses major climate change-driven challenges in both geotechnical/environmental risk management and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions monitoring. Bovim says the investment by E3 Capital, Fireball Capital, Atlantic Bridge, Globalive, and JLR Star will…

 NTT DATA has launched its next-generation Smart AI Agent. This advanced AI tool is a cornerstone of the company’s strategy to accelerate the adoption of Generative AI, with an estimated $2 billion in revenue that we aim to achieve from Smart AI Agent – related business by 2027. The Smart AI Agent autonomously extracts, organizes, and executes tasks in response to user instructions, complementing existing workforces and streamlining time-consuming processes. By enhancing efficiency across industries, the Smart AI Agent enables businesses to rapidly evaluate and deploy Generative AI applications, optimizing workflows and driving greater productivity. Yutaka Sasaki, President and CEO, NTT DATA,…

HOSTAFRICA has announced the acquisition of GO54 (formerly known as WhoGoHost). GO54 is one of Nigeria’s most prominent web hosting companies with a domain market share of over 20%. This marks a significant milestone in HOSTAFRICA’s strategic expansion across the continent. It solidifies its commitment to empowering African businesses through cutting-edge technology. HOSTAFRICA entered the Nigerian market in 2021 under the brand DomainKing.ng. It introduced hosting solutions designed for Nigerian businesses. The acquisition of GO54 which manages over 100,000 domains strengthens HOSTAFRICA’s position as a market leader in Nigeria’s tech sector. GO54’s local expertise and infrastructure will integrate into HOSTAFRICA’s…

Kenyan e-commerce startup Kapu has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A funding round. The funding round was led by BlackWood and other existing investors and will be used to scale its operations across Africa. Kapu is a B2C e-commerce platform that offers essential products through a community of agents. This helps the company address the challenges of fragmented retail and logistical complexities in the region. The company says it has delivered $1 million in savings and serves 100,000 households per month while processing 2 million customer orders annually. The pre-series A round also saw the participation of Giant…

Datacentrix has achieved Cisco Internet of Things (IoT) Specialisation. This certification underscores Datacentrix’s expertise in the deployment of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions, empowering industries – such as manufacturing, automotive, energy, oil and gas and critical infrastructure clients – to accelerate their digital transformation journeys. According to Statistica, the African IIoT market is anticipated to maintain a robust annual growth rate of 15.33 percent between 2024 and 2029, culminating in a market value of US$8.14 billion by 2029. However, with this growth and widespread adoption of smarter technologies comes an expanding attack surface for cyberthreats. “As the industrial sector increasingly…

Equity Bank has received dual ISO certifications – ISO 27001:2023 for Information Security Management and ISO 20000-1:2018 for Service Management. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a globally recognized, independent organization that sets and publishes international standards. ISO certification is a vital benchmark for any organization, validating adherence to best international practices across various fields, including quality management, information security, environmental sustainability, and more. The ISO 27001:2023 and ISO 20000-1:2018 certifications are particularly significant in ensuring that an organization meets the rigorous standards of security and service management. The ISO 27001:2023 certification reinforces Equity Bank’s comprehensive and systematic approach to…

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) has selected Nokia to deliver advanced network protection capabilities against DDoS threats and attacks. With Nokia Deepfield DDoS security, LINX becomes the first UK-based IXP to offer advanced DDoS protection with trusted performance, scale and mitigation granularity, ensuring minimal impact on member connectivity and services.  DDoS is malicious traffic that aims to deny access, degrade services or stop connectivity for individual users, internet hosts and service provider network infrastructure. The Nokia Threat Intelligence Report, released in October 2024, found that the number and frequency of DDoS attacks have grown from one or two a day to…

Investing in Innovation Africa (i3) is calling for innovators to join its 3rd cohort. Funded by the Gates Foundation, MSD, Cencora, Endless Foundation, HELP  Logistics–a subsidiary of the Kühne Foundation, Sanofi’s Global Health Unit and Chemonics, i3 will offer select startups 3 critical resources to prepare themselves for expansion: flexible grants, introductions to potential customers and tailored counsel to close partnership deals.  i3 is selecting a total of 15 leading startups for this cohort: Early-stage startups will receive a $50K grant and growth-stage startups will receive a $225K grant to unlock major partnerships that can expand patient access across the continent.…

SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s innovation, fintech investment and ventures arm, and Yabx Technologies have signed a set of shareholder and technology collaboration agreements to formalise their joint investment in Furaha. SC Ventures has invested $ 7 million, while Yabx BV has contributed through technology transfer, resulting in a combined investment of $10 million in Furaha. Incubated by SC Ventures, and co-founded by Yustus Aribariho and Ian Fernandes, Furaha is a purpose-driven lending platform aiming to make finance accessible across sub-Saharan Africa, with its first offering being in the education financing space. Furaha is headquartered in UAE’s Dubai International Financial Centre…