Retrieve lost content from deleted websites 2023
The internet is an ever-evolving landscape, where websites can emerge and disappear in the blink of an eye and even your hosting platforms may not be able help you. However, thanks to the marvels of web archiving, valuable digital content need not be lost forever when a website goes offline. Internet archives have become the digital libraries of the modern era, allowing users to access and explore content from deleted websites. Here you’ll learn how to retrieve lost content from hacked or deleted websites through select notable internet archives that serve as virtual time machines for the online world. 1. The Wayback Machine Perhaps the most renowned internet archive, the Wayback Machine by Archive.org has been capturing snapshots of websites since the late 1990s. Users can simply enter a URL to view archived versions of a website dating back years and see/retrieve lost content from hacked or deleted websites. Its vast collection makes it a treasure trove for historians, researchers, and anyone curious about the evolution of the internet. 2. Google Cache While primarily a search engine, Google also caches versions of web pages. If you search for a specific URL and click on the dropdown arrow next to the result, you may find a cached version. This can provide access to some content even after a website has been deleted or hacked, and importantly, help you retrieve lost data from them. 3. WebCite Focusing on preserving academic content, WebCite allows users to create snapshots of online resources, ensuring that references remain valid even if the original source is deleted. This is particularly useful for researchers who need to cite web-based information in their work. 4. Archive.is This service captures and stores snapshots of web pages, allowing users to create permanent archives of online content. Archive.is is known for its ability to capture not just text and images, but also the entire layout and functionality of a webpage. This makes it a very reliable platform to retrieve lost content from hacked or deleted websites. 5. Memento Time Travel Memento enables users to see what a web page looked like on a specific date. By entering a URL and a date, users can retrieve an archived version of the page as it appeared at that time. 6. Use Perma.cc to retrieve lost content from deleted websites Targeting the legal community, Perma.cc allows users to create permanent links to web pages which makes it easy to regain data from those pages in case they are deleted or hacked. This is particularly important for legal references, as the content cited in legal documents needs to remain accessible regardless of changes to the original site. 7. Use Archive.today to retrieve lost content from deleted websites Similar to Archive.is, this service captures and stores snapshots of web pages. Users can save copies of online content for future reference, even if the original site is no longer available. Final thoughts on how to retrieve lost content from hacked or deleted websites In a world where digital information can vanish as quickly as it appears, internet archives play a critical role in preserving the history and knowledge stored online. These archives empower users to revisit deleted websites, access valuable content, and track the evolution of online platforms. Whether you’re a researcher, historian, or simply curious about the past, these internet archives offer a glimpse into the ever-changing landscape of the World Wide Web.
Read MoreLemFi raises $33 million to bring free remittance payments for global migrants
On the back of successfully serving African migrants in Canada and the UK, LemFi has raised $33 million in Series A funding to simplify remittance payments for immigrants globally. The round was led by Left Lane Capital. Other investors included Y-Combinator, Zrosk, Global Founders Capital, and Olive Tree. LemFi’s $33 million Series A means it has received just shy of $34 million since it was founded in 2019. Every year thousands of migrants move to Europe, Canada and the United States to work, study or reside permanently. In 2019 for example, Canada (pop. 37 million at the time) welcomed 341,000 new permanent residents. It was the fifth time in the country’s history that more than 300,000 people moved there in a single year. The previous highs for immigration to Canada were the years from 1911 to 1913, and 2018. Since then more people have come to Canada each year compared to the last. With the exception of 2020 when immigration to Canada fell to 184,000, the lowest since 1989. Most immigrants to Canada come from Asia. In the 2019 example mentioned earlier about 86,000 of the 341,000 were Indians. Less than 20,000 immigrants were Africans from Nigeria and Eritrea. The numbers are similar for people who are moving to Europe. Regardless of the country they come from, immigrants face several common problems. One prominent problem is that newcomers feel worried and overwhelmed by the banking systems of their new homes. And sending money back home is a part of where they struggle. In 2022, migrant remittances reached $626 billion globally. For many African countries, these remittances are an important source of foreign exchange. Some countries even encourage their citizens to find work overseas so they can send money back home. But this several hundred billion dollar migrant remittance market is a broken sphere. Local and large international banks sit on one side with global transfer messaging systems like SWIFT. Traditional money transfer services like Moneygram occupy another side of the table. Informal transfer operators (popularly known as the Hawala system) dominate the black market portion of the global money transfer table. Navigating this array of systems is conflicting and expensive. Especially for Africans. Making Lemonades In 2020, the year when global migration contracted due to the pandemic, Ridwan Olalere (age) and Rian Cochran (age) decided it was time to launch their mobile remittance service. Initially called Lemonade Finance, now shortened to LemFi, the service would offer instant international transfers to the African diaspora community in Canada. Prior to LemFi, sending money back home meant stitching together different payment or money transfer services with fees eating up to 8% of the transaction. To receive money from home was even harder and more convoluted. “In 2020, set out to begin to stake our claim and the area of global financial services. For immigrants starting with Africans first and got our first authorization in Canada,” Cochran tells TechCabal. “As a money service business we began by offering remittance services and then just slowly built out the footprint,” he adds. LemFi cofounded and CEO, Ridwan Olalere helped build one of Flutterwave’s key payment products and once led Uber’s Nigeria business. Cochran on his part had worked his way up in Opera Software AS from 2008 to 2020, rising to the position of Senior Finance Director as the company’s payment product, OPay grew rapidly in Nigeria. Both men met while working on OPay where Olalere also once led the development of payment products at the company. From Canada, Lemonade Finance grew quickly and by 2021, the company had expanded to the UK. About 2.5% (1.4 million) of the population of England and Wales are estimated to be of African origin, according to the UK government’s ethnicity facts and figures research. At the same time, the company was working to add more African countries where users could send money to or from. By the end of 2021, it had added 10 new African remittance corridors. Now LemFi wants to bring simpler zero-fee money transfers to migrants from emerging market countries. Instead, the company makes money from narrow FX spreads. Because LemFi’s UK licence only permits creating wallets and holding user funds, the company does not offer lending (to earn interest on user deposits) in the same way a bank would. Migrant workers everywhere, rise! The company does serve intra-African transfers unlike some of its peers. “We’re really focusing first and foremost on immigrants who now have residency in North America and Europe,” Cochran says. That is good news for African governments currently battling rapidly drying foreign exchange reserves. Some like Egypt are debating asking fintechs for help after initiatives to promote formal remittances through banks failed to generate significant adoption. Earlier this year, LemFi announced that it had received an International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) license from the Central Bank of Nigeria. The IMTO license means LemFi users can send funds directly to Nigerian bank accounts without the need for intermediaries. This is yet another contrast to other remittance fintechs which enable cross-payments using stablecoins (crypto versions of fiat currency). “There’s money to be made in Africa. But for what we were trying to do, we didn’t feel like what we wanted to do was already being done in North American Europe. Whereas what we wanted to do, there was already a lot of competition for that in Africa,” Cochran explains. There are a lot of parallels that exist for emerging market migrants now living in North America and Europe, so the company wants to be known as the remittance service devoted to migrants from the Global South working and living in the Global North. “We looked from a global perspective and said, ‘Look, there’s still a lot of opportunity to build something, either for Africans now living abroad, or really just generally speaking immigrant communities that are similar to do those Africans living abroad that need the same products and services.’” Cochran says. The company is now preparing to acquire EU licenses to bring
Read MoreTikTok to set up a Kenyan office and employ more Kenyans for content moderation
TikTok has agreed to set up a Kenyan office for better content moderation and African operations. Despite existing legal troubles around content moderation in Kenya, the president’s statement about the meeting ignores TikTok’s involvement with one of the key parties, Majorel. After meeting with President Ruto William, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has agreed to set up a TikTok office in Kenya to coordinate its operations on the continent. The meeting was held on Thursday, August 24, 2023; it was a timely conversation given the recent debate about banning the platform due to explicit content posted by users. President William Ruto said the move will ensure that content on the platform is moderated to fit community standards. There are many difficulties around content moderation, and earlier this year, former content moderators sued Meta and Majorel for wrongful dismissal. A court ruled that Meta can be held liable for labor rights violations despite the moderators being employed by third-party contractors like Majorel. As the lawsuit gained attention, an internal TikTok document leaked, showing that the company was preparing for investigations into its treatment of outsourced content moderators in Kenya. The president’s statement about the meeting also says nothing about improving Kenya’s monetisation of the platform. When announcing the meeting the day before, President Ruto said he would talk with Mr. Chew about extending monetisation channels to Kenyans. Currently, no African country can earn money directly from the platform, only through influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, or the marketing of their goods and services. Ruto said he had previously interacted with social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter concerning monetisation strategies. However, it remains unclear if those conversations influenced the decisions of YouTube and Facebook to enable monetisation in Kenya. While he claims that his talks with YouTube have led to the East African country is one of the only four African countries that gained access to the platform’s monetisation program last year, news reports dating back to 2015 show that Kenya and several other African countries have had access to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) for nearly a decade. YPP offers creators enhanced access to monetisation features, which are presently accessible to 12 African countries, contrary to President Ruto’s claims that only four countries have access to them. Kenya is among the four African countries— Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa— that can monetise content through Facebook’s Ad Breaks feature, allowing video creators to earn revenue from advertisements. However, they gained access to it in 2019—when President Ruto was deputy president to Uhuru Kenyatta. It’s uncertain if he or the Kenyan government influenced the selection of these countries. In the first quarter of the year, Facebook announced the feature was now available to Kenya, the country ranked fourth among African countries for citizens’ social media usage, suggesting that the decision could have been data-driven. President Ruto wants a similar monetisation arrangement between Kenyan content creators. There are direct monetisation channels such as Livestream gifts and the Creator fund, but they are not available in any African country. Africans on TikTok currently earn through influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, and possibly advertising their products or services.
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – A 20% cut
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy pre-Friday Elon Musk might not be fighting Mark Zuckerberg, but he’s definitely fighting to ensure everyone finds X, and stays on X. The Twitter X owner has confirmed that the site plans to remove headlines from links and news articles posted on the site. When a link is posted, all that will appear is the feature image and the URL. The reason? It’ll “greatly improve the esthetics [sic],” says Musk. It’s definitely not a bad idea for a platform that says it wants to fight disinformation. As the saying goes, beauty before brains, always. In today’s edition Cellulant to lay off 20% of its employees Flutterwave gets a nod in Kenya China to lessen the load in South Africa SA sets new rules for social media The World Wide Web3 Event: NTICE Expo 2023 Opportunities Layoffs Cellulant to lay off 20% of its employees Ashkay Grover, Cellulant CEO Cellulant is restructuring. The payments platform is parting ways with 20% of its workforce. The exact number of employees wasn’t disclosed, but Cellulant has about 634 employees on LinkedIn which means close to 126 employees will be affected. The company cited “organisational restructuring” as the basis for the layoff. According to a statement seen by TechCabal, the layoffs will be implemented in the coming days. Affected employees will be offered exit packages alongside extended medical cover for themselves and their families. “Our goal is to treat our impacted colleagues with dignity and respect. As such, we provide comprehensive separation packages and extended medical coverage for every impacted employee and their families in every country,” Cellulant added. Zoom out: This is Cellulant’s second round of layoffs, following a reduction in early 2023. While the economic downturn might have played a major role in the layoffs, Cellulant cites that it has been honing its business over the last two years which has led to consolidating some roles and creating new ones in the process. Get a working card from Moniepoint With the Moniepoint personal banking app, you get reliable payments every time and a card that always works. Enjoy seamless payments powered by the infrastructure that 1.5 million businesses trust. Download the app. Fintech Flutterwave gets a nod in Kenya Things are looking up for Flutterwave in East Africa. A year after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) accused the Nigerian fintech of operating without a permit in Kenya, the fintech has taken the first step to remedy its position. This week, CEO Olugbenga Agboola revealed, in an interview with Bloomberg, that the company has been given the approval to apply for a money remittance licence in the country. Per Agboola, Flutterwave has also registered its name in Kenta. Flutterwave CEO, Olugbenga Agboola While the money remittance licence is yet to be approved, the CEO expects that it will be issued soon. Moving forward with IPO plans: The company is also moving forward with its plans to go public which were stalled by the string of accusations it faced from regulators last year. “There’s some kind of customers we’ll attract when we are public,” said Agboola. “The large global clients who need you to have the same level of compliance and level of global view that they have.” By attaining these licenses, the company looks to relay to clients that Flutterwave is “the most reliable platform to use”. Electricity China donates $9 million of power equipment to South Africa Image Source: Zikoko Memes South Africans are about to get load shedding lifted off their shoulders. The country shared that China is donating power equipment worth R167 million ($9 million) to about 500 public places in South Africa, ensuring these locations have a backup power supply without any interruptions. Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, the minister of electricity, revealed this information while formalising a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with eight Chinese organisations. What are the donations? The contribution consists of generators, power supply vehicles, and off-grid PV energy storage supply systems. Furthermore, approximately R500 million ($27 million) is being granted to support development efforts. As stated by Ramokgopa, the power equipment’s capacity varies from 6kW to 200kW. This 200kW capacity is substantial enough to sustain both a clinic and a medium-sized hospital, providing significant relief to the people of South Africa. So far, the South African government has taken steps to prevent around 76 hospitals from experiencing load shedding. Efforts are also in progress to safeguard at least 46 additional hospitals from the rotating power cuts that are currently being enforced across the nation. Zoom out: As of May this year, the primary provider of electric power in South Africa, Eskom, cautioned about the possibility of implementing more severe stages of load shedding to cope with the rising demand during the winter season. In June, Telkom, the country’s major mobile network operator, reported a significant 76.6% decrease in profits, attributing this decline to factors including load shedding. Even the prominent South African retail conglomerate, Mr Price, experienced a negative impact, with the company’s June revenue dropping by R1 billion ($54 million) due to load shedding. Social media SA set new rules for sharing content on Facebook and WhatsApp Image Source: Zikoko Memes The South African regulatory body for film, the Film and Publication Board (FPB), has published a new draft of industry codes and guidelines aimed at preventing online harm and providing guidance for peer-to-peer content sharing in the country. The new codes and guidelines were published in three parts. These parts span classifying harmful content, preventing online harm, and guidelines for peer-to-peer video sharing. Why? The FBP said it is obligated to improve how it regulates prohibited and harmful content, “due to the proliferation of child sexual abuse material cases” it deals with daily. The proposed regulations include forcing online platforms to implement mechanisms to lessen online harm. A must: The regulatory body also published draft guidelines for peer-to-peer video sharing in South Africa to guide consumers on how to share
Read MoreModi calls for BRICS cooperation in space exploration as India lands on the moon
India has urged other BRICS member states to cooperate in space exploration programs. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has urged BRICS member countries to form a “space research consortium” to deepen cooperation in space. He spoke at the plenary session of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. BRICS is a grouping of the world economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa formed by the 2010 addition of South Africa to the predecessor BRIC. The theme for this year’s summit, to be held from 23-25 August, is “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for mutually accelerated growth, sustainable development and inclusive multilateralism.” “We are already working on the BRICS satellite constellation, but to move a step further, we should think about establishing a BRICS space exploration consortium,” Modi said. Additionally, the Indian head of state also pitched cooperation in the education, skill development, and technology sectors “in order to make BRICS a future-ready organisation”. Interestingly, on the same day that Modi made the pledge, 385,000 kilometres away, Indian spacecraft, Chandrayaan-3 landed on the southern polar region of the moon. The craft is set to begin exploring an area of the moon that has yet to be visited. The landing makes India the first country to ever reach this part of the lunar surface in one piece—and only the fourth country ever to land on the moon. Despite currently not having an active space programme, South Africa has in the past launched missions to the stars. In the 1980s, work on the development of a launcher and a satellite had been in progress but was discontinued after 1994. In 1999, South Africa launched its first satellite, SUNSAT from Vandenberg Air Force Base in the US. A second satellite, SumbandilaSat, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in 2009.
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IHS Towers records 9% decline in revenue, blames naira devaluation
IHS Towers, the world’s fifth-largest independent TowerCo, said the naira’s devaluation in June this year cost it $31 million. The company has revised the expected revenue for the year downwards but will not change how much it plans to spend. After four consecutive quarters of revenue growth, IHS Towers recorded a 9.4% decline compared to Q1 2023. IHS says the decline in revenue, which put it $46 million below the last quarter’s revenue was due to the naira’s devaluation. “Our expectation for revenue would have otherwise increased by $31 million had the average FX rates previously assumed in our guidance remained unchanged,” Sam Darwish, IHS Chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “We are encouraged by the recent policy changes implemented in Nigeria that are intended to put the country on a better economic path. In the near-term, however, these changes will cause some anticipated friction, including the significant devaluation of the Nigerian Naira that occurred in mid-June,” the statement read in part. 67% of IHS Towers’ revenue in the second quarter of 2023 came from Nigeria, the largest market of the telco infrastructure company, which also operates in 10 other countries, including Brazil, South Africa, Zambia, Egypt and Kuwait, its Middle Eastern foothold. In June, Nigeria’s new president, Bola Tinubu, instituted reforms that sent bank stocks and local prices soaring. The decision to loosen controls on exchange rates hit several firms operating in Nigeria, which reported lower revenues on the back of having to restate numbers in line with the newly managed floating naira-dollar rates. IHS Towers’ biggest customer in its biggest market, MTN Nigeria, also reported a foreign exchange loss in its 2023 second-quarter report which dragged profits for the period down by 64%. IHS Towers and MTN Group are locked in a boardroom fight over MTN’s request for more control of the tower company. MTN Group holds 26% of IHS Towers but only controls 20% of the voting share. Why IHS Towers is facing a shareholder revolt However, the naira’s devaluation was not all bad news for IHS Towers as it reduced its debt by $155 million. On the other hand, the company’s cash balance was reduced by $19 million due to the devaluation. IHS reviews and resets exchange rates quarterly. The company expects to have a clearer picture of the naira’s devaluation by the end of the year.
Read MoreExclusive: Cellulant to lay off 20% of its employees in organisational restructuring
Cellulant is parting ways with 20% of its headcount as it focuses on becoming a product-driven company. Cellulant is undergoing a restructuring exercise that will impact a fifth of its workforce. In a statement to TechCabal, Cellulant, which operates across 19 markets, disclosed that these changes will be implemented in the coming days as the company focuses on a product-led approach that ideally creates user-centric products for growth. The company has clarified that this strategic shift has been in development for some time and has come to mutual agreements with affected employees. While Cellulant has declined to disclose the exact number of employees leaving the company, Cellulant has 634 employees per LinkedIn. “Cellulant is moving towards a product-focused strategy which will, unfortunately, see approximately 20% of our pan-African team transitioning out of the company. We are committed to supporting our employees as we transition and cannot comment on their separation,” Cellulant said. The affected workers will be served with exit packages, alongside extended medical cover for themselves and their families. “Our goal is to treat our impacted colleagues with dignity and respect. As such, we provide comprehensive separation packages and extended medical coverage for every impacted employee and their families in every country,” Cellulant added. Admittedly, the market has been challenging for African startups and the rest of the world. Other than that, Cellulant says it has been honing its business in the last two years to become “a merchant-focused payments business led by the productisation of its services and a complete revamp of its technology stack.” According to the company, these changes have led to the expansion of its customer network and 100% year-on-year revenue growth in its core offerings. Our next phase of growth required a shift to an agile product-driven organisation,” Cellulant shared. Cellulant is consolidating some roles and creating new ones in the process. However, it has not closed any departments; instead, the payments company has “resized and reorganised for leaner efficient operations.” This marks the Cellulant’s second round of layoffs, following a trimming in early 2023. While rumours circulated about substantial workforce cuts in specific markets, Cellulant has re-confirmed its presence across all markets. For instance, it highlights Nigeria as a key market, where it serves as the payment partner for various businesses such as airlines, QSR, e-commerce, ride-hailing, retail, and remittances. Cellulant has also clarified that it did not lay off 30% of its workforce earlier this year. Instead, 27 employees left the company, with only four coming from Nigeria. Full company statement Leading Pan African payments firm, Cellulant, has announced adopting a product-led structure as its anchor for increased growth across the continent. This is part of its new organizational strategy that will see the company enhance its service offerings to evolving customer needs across the 19 countries it operates in. The fintech, which powers payments for over 1,500 global, regional and local businesses across the continent, said the new strategy is informed by emerging market dynamics, investments in automation, and the recent consolidation of their product offerings in four already successful categories that are anchored by its robust banking, card, and MoMo wallet solutions on its payments platform. “We remain cognizant of the ever-dynamic operating environment, influenced by many factors not limited to technological changes, consumer needs and market dynamics,” said Akshay Grover, Chief Executive Officer. “We’re therefore pursuing a leaner product-led strategy to support our scale and increase customer base. We also aim to drive operational efficiency measures to support our growth and operations in multiple geographies.” Cellulant started operations in Kenya in 2003 and has since grown to become one of the largest pan-African payments companies offering both online and offline payments, with businesses across various sectors such as oil and gas, ride-hailing, e-commerce, travel, logistics, retail, airlines, and fast-moving consumer goods, in its client list. Grover said the new implementation of the strategy business shift would entail consolidating essential functions and creating new roles. “Cellulant has come a long way to become a leader in the pan-African payments space. Innovation, efficiency, and agility will underpin our narrative over the next few years, and these are the first of critical steps,” he said.
Read MoreExperts predict CBN will raise interest rates ahead of MPC meeting
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will likely raise interest rates to tame at this week’s MPC meeting. The CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will hold its next meeting on September 24-25 to deliberate on interest rates. Experts who spoke to TechCabal predict that surging prices may force the apex bank to raise the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) from 18.75% to 20%. Mayowa Badejo, a partner at 213 Capital Ltd, predicts that the CBN will raise the MPR to 20%. “I said 20% because I see inflation going higher till the end of the year coupled with the forex crisis. Already, I believe the current inflation is hugely discounted anyway. By the time fiscal spending and palliatives start, inflation will skyrocket and investors will demand for higher returns on investments,” he told TechCabal. Central Banks usually raise interest rates as a means to control inflation. Per Bloomberg, the MPC has raised rates by 700 basis points since May 2022. Yet, inflation has not slowed. While a few industry watchers believe a higher interest rate may not solve the problem, the acting CBN governor, Folashodun Shonubi, disagrees. At the last MPC meeting where interest rates were hiked by 25 basis points, Shonubi said the bank is concerned with hiking the interest rates, reducing liquidity, and curtailing inflation. The rising inflation rate is a worrying concern Oise Ajayi, the head of investment research at Achoria asset management, said a hike of the interest rates was imminent since the Central Bank governor had publicly admitted it. He said the rate was hiked by 25 basis at the last meeting due to a slower rate of inflation. “Now that the inflation rate is 24%, at the very minimum, the basis point would be hiked between 25-50 basis points and above ,” he told TechCabal. Samuel Oyekanmi, a research analyst, begged to disagree. He said the CBN would continue to maintain a cautious hawkish approach towards its monetary policy, which means that they would not likely raise above 50 basis points and could consider maintaining rates depending on what Q2’23 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures indicate. Nonetheless, he believes the rising inflation rate is a phenomenon that would not abate. “The rising rate of inflation does not look like something that will slow in the short term, considering the continuous impact of fuel subsidy removal, exchange rate unification and other inflationary policies,” he told TechCabal.
Read MoreAfricArena and FMO Ventures to host a series of events to support Africa’s tech ecosystem
AfricArena and FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, have announced that they are extending their partnership through the FMO Ventures Programme to support Africa’s fast-growing tech ecosystem. FMO Ventures Programme is extending its partnership with AfricArena to support the following events from August 2023 to December 2024: the AfricArena VC Unconference, the AfricArena Founders’ Bootcamp, the AfricArena Learning Expedition, and the AfricArena Summit. This comes after an initial year of partnering in 2022 on AfricArena’s Tour across the continent. The FMO Ventures Programme is supported by the FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, a leading impact investor that supports sustainable private sector growth in frontier and growth markets. The FMO ventures programme is a €200 million ($217 million) investment programme that supports early-stage, tech-enabled startups in Africa and the European neighbourhood. The programme also provides technical assistance to help startups improve their business operations and invest in inclusive business models, with a focus on fintech, energy access, and agriTech, and invests in direct investments and generic funds. According to FMO Ventures’ programme manager, Marieke Roestenberg, this is a “thrilling time for investors to be looking at Africa as an investment destination, as many of the continent’s tech startups are coming forward with investment-worthy innovative solutions for global challenges”. AfricArena is a platform that connects African startups with investors and partners. It was launched in 2017 and has helped its community raise over $500 million. The platform consists of a series of events, including an investor unconference, a founders’ boot camp, and a summit. “We are very excited about this expanded partnership which supports the ecosystem development of AfricArena through its well-known events across Africa,” said AfricArena CEO Christophe Viarnaud, in a statement seen by TechCabal. “This partnership will contribute significantly to the development of the African VC industry through its VC unconferences, and the development of open source investment tools for the African tech industry, with the support of the Digital Collective Africa, a community for investors.” Per a Statista report, Africa has over 640 technology hubs, forming the essential foundation of its swiftly expanding tech landscape. This ecosystem has become a magnet for investment, drawing both local and global investors, including angel investors, venture capitalists, venture funds, corporate funds, development finance institutions, and startups in what Africa’s tech ecosystem has to offer. “Our partnership with AfricArena is a good fit with FMO Ventures Programme’s broader strategy to support the development of entrepreneurial tech ecosystems across Africa. By bringing together tech startups, corporations, angel investors, venture capitalists and other institutional investors we aim to foster co-investment and collaboration that benefits the underserved on the African continent,” Roestenberg concluded.
Read MoreHow crypto gaming in Africa can reach its full potential
Moonshot by TechCabal is the conference that will bring together Africa’s tech ecosystem in person to network, collaborate, share insights and celebrate innovation. Join us in Lagos on October 11 and 12. In this article built around the conference, Ganiu Oloruntade writes that crypto gaming in Africa has immense potential for growth and adoption, but game developers must prioritise improving the gaming experience. Like the rest of the world, the African gaming space fell in love with crypto. In Africa, gaming is often viewed as a sign of unproductivity, but crypto came with the promise of helping players get rewarded while playing. The 2021 crypto bull run saw play-to-earn (P2E) games—blockchain-based video games that allow players to earn crypto or non-fungible tokens (NFTs)—dominate the global gaming market, and Africa hasn’t been an exemption. In September 2022, Metaverse Magna (MVM), an African gaming community incubated by the Nigerian crypto startup Nestcoin, raised $3.2 million in funding. But in the past year, the global crypto industry has taken a beating, with prices crashing and startups struggling. The buzz around GameFi, which merges the best parts of gaming and decentralised finance, has dwindled. According to a recent report, GameFi adoption is down over 30% since October 2022. MVM’s creator, Nestcoin, which held investor funds in the collapsed FTX, had to lay off staff last year. Hence, the big question on the minds of African crypto gamers and players in the space is what lies ahead for crypto gaming on the continent. “The truth is, although there is still significant value in the market, the level of enthusiasm is not as high as it was before. The past year has been challenging for everyone, with projects laying off employees and shutting down. The signs are clear: it is tough out here,” Tony Emeka, co-founder of CrytoTvPlus, a cryptocurrency and blockchain-focused media firm, told TechCabal. Despite the current challenges, some are still bullish on crypto gaming in Africa. In this piece, Binance noted that with the combination of Africa’s increasing tech-savvy young people in the gaming industry and the increasing adoption of digital currencies and blockchain technology, Africa is set to lead the blockchain gaming revolution. The problem with crypto gaming in Africa Venn Oputa, co-founder of the NFT collection Afrobubble, said crypto gaming in Africa is struggling due to various factors, including the overall poor state of crypto gaming globally and the slow adoption of cryptocurrencies on the continent. “There’s a huge potentially large future in it. But at the moment, due to the present situation and market conditions, it’s largely nonexistent,” he told TechCabal. While mobile gaming is on the rise in Africa, thanks to the increase in the number of smartphone users, the continent is yet to hit the highest levels of crypto adoption. According to a report by Newzoo and Carry1st, the number of gamers in sub-Saharan Africa rose to 186 million in 2021, while a total of 5.9 million gamers own cryptocurrencies across Africa and the Middle East. Oputa further said that many game developers focus too much on monetary benefits rather than providing an enjoyable gaming experience. To improve this situation, game developers should prioritise creating exciting games and then integrate cryptocurrency features as an added bonus. He told TechCabal, “The thinking should be, how do I integrate crypto transactions or crypto elements or blockchain-based elements that also amplify the experience of this game?” Chike Okonkwo, the co-founder of Gamic, a community for gamers, creators, and blockchain enthusiasts, shared a similar view about the need to improve the gaming experience. He added that now is the best time for gamers to be intentional about playing crypto games and learning from experienced individuals in the field who can guide them. “Because during the bull season, it’s difficult to track who really knows what crypto is talking about. It’s difficult to track who really understands and knows the right games to play,” he told TechCabal. What lies ahead? The crypto-gaming revolution is here to stay, and Africa can’t afford to be left out. According to a report by markets and intelligence firm Grand View Research, the global blockchain gaming market is expected to be worth $300 billion by 2030. Last month, Google Play updated its policy to allow video game publishers to reward gamers with NFTs. Emeka believes that the crypto gaming industry in Africa has a lot of potential, though there are significant obstacles. “Power and internet connection are major challenges. If anyone could find a way to overcome these hurdles, they will capture a good piece of the market. Developers should consider creating games that don’t require an internet connection while playing, allowing players to accumulate points which can be synchronised with the game’s server online to collect real crypto,” he told TechCabal. Okonkwo said that, going forward, there will be a lot of strategic partnerships between traditional game developers and crypto players, although it comes with regulatory concerns. “We all know that the moment the big dogs begin to come in, they come with regulation because regulators understand the traditional space well unlike emerging technologies like blockchain and AI. So, stakeholders mustn’t stay on the sidelines and be ready to engage regulators,” he said. Did you enjoy this article? Then click this link to get your tickets to Moonshot, and check out our fast-growing list of speakers coming to the conference!
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