Google Pixel 9a is getting Android 17: Here’s what’s new
Table of contents What is the June 2026 Pixel Drop? New features hitting the Pixel 9a specifically What Android 17 brings to all Pixel phones, including the 9a What the Pixel 9a is not getting yet How to get the Android 17 update on your Pixel 9a Android 17 started rolling out to the Pixel 9a on Tuesday, as part of Google’s June Pixel Drop. This is a major feature update. Your phone is getting new multitasking tools, a smarter screen recorder, better privacy controls, and one genuinely useful perk that only just landed on budget Pixels: sharing files with iPhones. The rollout is happening in phases, so the update may not appear on your device right away. Head to Settings > System > System update, then tap Check for updates to pull it manually. What is the June 2026 Pixel Drop? A Pixel Drop is Google’s way of pushing new features, improvements, and regional expansions to Pixel phones, watches, and tablets throughout the year. Your device gets more capable over time, not just at launch. This month’s Drop is bigger than usual. Google bundled it with the stable release of Android 17 and Wear OS 7 for Pixel Watch. Every officially supported Pixel, from the Pixel 6 through the Pixel 10a, is eligible. The OTA download is around 1.5GB, so connect to Wi-Fi before you start. New features hitting the Pixel 9a specifically Some of what’s in this update is landing on the Pixel 9a for the first time, either because it was previously exclusive to newer Pixel models or because it’s new across the board. 1. AirDrop via Quick Share Your Pixel 9a can now share files with iPhones, iPads, and Macs through Quick Share. Google originally launched this feature on the Pixel 10 series in November 2025, then extended it to the Pixel 9 series in February 2026, and now it’s here for the 9a and 8a globally. A couple of things to know before you use it: The iPhone or iPad user needs to have their AirDrop set to “Everyone for 10 Minutes.” AirDrop’s “Contacts Only” mode does not work across platforms. Your Pixel needs to be in Receive mode or set to discoverable for the transfer to go through. 2. Fake call detection Fake Call Detection is a Phone by Google feature that flags calls where someone is pretending to be a saved contact. When a contact calls you, their device sends a silent, encrypted signal to yours confirming the call is real. If a scammer is spoofing that number, the signal is missing. Your phone then pings your contact’s actual device to double-check, and if that device confirms it is not placing a call, you get an on-screen warning before you even say hello. For this to work, you need: Android 12 or later with Phone by Google, Google Contacts, and Google Messages installed RCS is enabled on your device The person calling you also needs to use Phone by Google. It will not detect spoofing if they use an iPhone or the Samsung dialer. It is on by default. 3. Bubbles Bubbles is Android 17’s main multitasking addition. You can turn any app into a floating window that sits on top of whatever else you’re doing. Long-press any app icon on your home screen, tap the new Bubble option, and the app shrinks into a movable chat-head-style icon. Drag it wherever you want, or swipe it down to close. Google caps it at five active app bubbles at a time. One thing to note: the dedicated Bubble Bar dock is a foldable-only feature. The Pixel 9a gets Bubbles in full, but the bar that organizes them at the bottom of the screen is only for devices like the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. 4. Screen reactions Screen Reactions lets you record your screen and your face simultaneously. Your selfie camera feed overlays the screen recording, so you can react to what you’re showing without needing a separate app. To activate it: Swipe down twice to open Quick Settings Tap the screen record icon Toggle “Show selfie camera,” then tap start You can tap, drag, and resize your selfie feed while recording It only works when screen recording is set to capture the entire screen. What Android 17 brings to all Pixel phones, including the 9a Beyond the features above, Android 17 brings platform-wide upgrades to every supported Pixel phone. 1. Better privacy controls for apps Two new controls limit what apps can access: One-time location access: a new option lets you share your precise location for a single session only. When the app closes, the access expires. You also get a persistent location indicator in your status bar, similar to the camera and microphone indicators, so you always know when an app is using your location. Contacts Picker: instead of granting an app access to your full address book, you can now choose specific contacts to share and only the fields the app actually needs. It is a one-time snapshot, so the app does not get future updates to those contacts. 2. Stronger security if your phone is lost or stolen Find Hub’s Mark as Lost mode now requires biometric authentication in addition to your PIN. A thief who knows your passcode can no longer disable tracking or regain access. Marking the device lost also hides Quick Settings and blocks new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections. Remote Lock and Theft Detection Lock are switched on by default. 3. App memory limits to reduce stuttering Android 17 now enforces per-app memory limits based on your device’s total RAM. This targets memory leaks that cause UI stuttering, faster battery drain, and unexpected app kills. Google says the limits are conservative and most apps should not be affected. 4. Live Updates Live Updates show real-time status directly on your lock screen, Always-On Display, and status bar chip. Useful for tracking a food delivery, following a live score, or watching your ride approach. Android 17 adds a new
Read MoreWhy Nigeria’s AI future depends on breaking government data silos
Eight major government agencies hold some of Nigeria’s most valuable datasets on citizens. But these databases remain siloed, with little interoperability or data sharing. Industry experts say that unless this changes, Nigeria’s push to become a leading artificial intelligence power in Africa could struggle before it truly begins. AI systems need large amounts of high-quality data to work well. When data is stored in separate databases using different formats and standards, it becomes harder to build AI tools that can improve services such as healthcare, education, tax collection, and identity verification. The fragmentation spans some of the country’s most important databases. The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) manages the National Identification Number (NIN) database, while the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) oversees the Bank Verification Number (BVN) system. Other agencies, including the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), maintain separate databases for telecom subscribers, passports, taxes, driver’s licences, business registrations, and voter records. Nigeria has spent nearly two decades trying to solve this problem. The National Identity Management Commission Act of 2007 established the National Identity Management System (NIMS) as a central identity framework designed to connect government databases. The most aggressive push was in 2020 when the government mandated the linkage of SIM cards to National Identification Numbers (NIN), aiming to connect telecom data with verified identities. Yet despite these efforts, institutional rivalries and concerns over data ownership continue to keep many systems running in parallel rather than as part of a unified digital infrastructure. The stakes have become even higher as Nigeria accelerates its AI ambitions. In 2025, the country launched a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy and unveiled N-Atlas, Africa’s first government-backed multilingual large language model. But experts say the challenge is no longer about vision; it is about execution. “Today, we move from policy to progress,” said Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in remarks delivered by Emmanuel Edet, Acting Director of Regulation and Compliance at the AI Summit Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday. “The true measure of success is not the number of policies we publish, but the impact these policies create on the lives of average Nigerians.” Achieving that impact, however, may depend on breaking down data silos across the government. “Artificial intelligence does not run on algorithms alone,” Abdullahi said. “It runs on energy, compute capacity, data, talent, infrastructure, and most of all, trust.” The statement reflects a growing global understanding that AI leadership depends not only on technical capability but also on institutional readiness. Countries leading in AI adoption are not necessarily those building frontier models; they are often those that have succeeded in integrating data and digitising public services. John Edokpolo, Microsoft’s Head of Legal Affairs for Africa, pointed to countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Singapore as examples. “These countries are not necessarily leading in chip design or model development,” he said. “What they have done well is digitise governance and create centralised systems that enable data sharing and AI diffusion.” The problem is not technical According to Edet, government agencies classify and manage data differently, creating inconsistencies that make information exchange difficult. “We carried out a survey and realised that different government agencies classify data in different ways,” he explained. “How do you harmonise this so that once you have a class of data, you know what type of data you expect and how to manage that data across all agencies?” Without standardised classifications, AI systems cannot effectively aggregate information from multiple sources. A healthcare AI platform, for instance, may struggle to combine hospital records if institutions use different formats or standards. To address this, NITDA said it is working through the National Cloud Policy and developing frameworks for data exchange. Yet the process is proving more complex than anticipated. “The challenges are enormous,” Edet admitted during a panel session where he represented himself. “It will take longer than we anticipated.” Government agencies increasingly recognise that data carries value, according to Edet. In some cases, that value translates into institutional relevance, influence, or future monetisation opportunities. “A lot of government agencies understand that data has value,” Edet said. “As far as they are concerned, sharing data is giving up that value.” This creates a paradox. AI systems require integrated datasets to generate insights, yet the very institutions that hold these datasets are often reluctant to share them. “Nobody wants to be irrelevant in any system,” he added. The result is a fragmented digital ecosystem where valuable information remains locked within institutional boundaries. Trust is the currency of AI If data is the fuel of AI, trust may be its currency. AI deployment cannot succeed without public confidence in how data is collected, processed and used. Nigeria’s regulators appear aware of the risks. Babatunde Bamigboye, Head, Legal Enforcement and Regulations Department, at the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) highlighted the importance of lawful, fair and transparent data processing under the Nigeria Data Protection Act. The rise of AI introduces new challenges because AI systems often require vast amounts of data to function effectively. “Collecting a million data points may be permissible,” Bamigboye explained, “but the question is whether the purpose is legitimate in relation to the data subject.” This becomes especially important when dealing with vulnerable populations such as children. Using AI to provide educational tools for underserved communities may align with public interest. Using similar systems to manipulate consumer behaviour, however, may not. The principle, regulators say, is simple: AI innovation must remain human-centred.
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – A Ripple in Flutterwave
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy mid-week Looking for a job in African tech? We’re putting fresh focus on the TechCabal Job Board, where you’ll find active openings from startups, fintechs, telecoms, venture capital firms, and other companies across the continent. We’ll update the board every week with new roles and remove outdated listings to keep opportunities current. Hiring? We’d like to help. Recruiters and hiring managers can submit open roles through this form, and we’ll feature suitable roles on the board for thousands of professionals across Africa’s tech ecosystem. Whether you’re looking to make your next career move or find the right talent for your team, the TechCabal Job Board is built to make those connections easier. Get smarter about Francophone Africa with our newsletter, Francophone Weekly—the startups, tech policies, and institutions building the pipelines for ecosystem growth. Subscribe Chimoney is getting acquired CBN has new rules Flutterwave raises a Series E from US-based Ripple Egypt is building a new data centre World Wide Web 3 Opportunities regulation CBN has new rules for banks and fintechs Image: Tenor Nigeria’s financial institutions have spent the last few years trying to become ‘everything’ apps, i.e., they want to serve customers and merchants, offer payments, banking, lending, and everything possible in the financial ecosystem. Nigeria’s Central Bank (CBN) has had a look at that trend and said not so fast. Here’s what happened: In a circular released on Monday, the regulator outlined new sets of rules on who owns payment companies, where payment data is stored, and how much of the payments ecosystem any one player can control. Tell us who calls the shots: The CBN now wants payment companies to disclose their ultimate beneficial owners—the people who control a business, even when ownership is buried beneath holding companies or some complex corporate structures. Keep payment data at home: From January 2027, payment transaction data generated in Nigeria must be stored on servers located in Nigeria. The goal is visibility and control. If payment data lives abroad, regulators have less oversight over it. Now, that doesn’t mean every company must build its own data centre. Operators can use local cloud providers and data centre facilities run by Rack Centre, MainOne, Open Access Data Centres (OADC), MTN, and other local infrastructure providers. You can’t dominate both sides of payments: This is the rule that could reshape competition. The CBN says any institution controlling more than 25% of the consumer payments market cannot hold more than 15% of the merchant acquiring market, and vice versa. This means that if a financial institution becomes dominant in consumer payments (bank accounts, cards, or wallets), it won’t be allowed to build an equally dominant position in merchant payments, which includes payment gateways and infrastructure or PoS terminals. What’s all this for? Nigeria’s digital payments ecosystem processed ₦1.2 quadrillion ($884.78 billion) in 2025. These rules are CBN’s blueprint for keeping Nigeria’s payments ecosystem from becoming too dependent on foreign infrastructure or difficult to supervise. We Have Secured the Bank of Ghana EPSP Licence. Fincra has officially secured its Enhanced Payment Service Provider licence. This regulatory milestone authorizes Fincra to directly collect, process, and settle payments in Ghanaian Cedis, offering a highly streamlined financial pipeline for businesses operating within the region. Start here. companies Flutterwave raises a Series E from US-based Ripple Image: Tenor Nigerian fintech unicorn, Flutterwave, has raised a Series E round at a $3.25 billion valuation after securing a ‘strategic investment’ from Ripple, the US payments company behind the XRP Ledger and RLUSD stablecoin. The company isn’t disclosing how much Ripple invested, but the deal gives Ripple an equity stake in Flutterwave and bumps up its valuation from the $3 billion it reached during its 2022 Series D round. Are Series E rounds even a thing in Nigeria anymore? Not really. Nigeria’s startup ecosystem hasn’t seen many large late-stage raises in recent years. One of the last headline-grabbing examples was software company Andela’s $200 million raise in 2021. According to data from Briter Intelligence, early-stage deals have dominated African startup funding activity by volume in recent years as investors became more cautious. That’s why Flutterwave raising fresh capital at a higher valuation is notable. What changes with this round? Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin and the XRP Ledger will now plug into Flutterwave’s infrastructure, allowing merchants and customers to send, hold, and convert money using stablecoins. The company expects the partnership to increase stablecoin transaction volumes on its platform. For Flutterwave’s customers, that could mean faster cross-border settlements and easier access to dollar-denominated value. Flutterwave is assembling Stablecoin Avengers: The Ripple deal didn’t come out of nowhere. Over the past year, Flutterwave has been entering stablecoin partnerships. It joined the Circle Payment Network in 2025, integrated Polygon as a settlement layer in October 2025, launched stablecoin wallets with Turnkey and Nuvion in January 2026, and partnered with Tempo for settlement infrastructure in June 2026. Viewed together, Flutterwave appears to be preparing for a future where stablecoins become just another way to move money, like bank transfers and card payments. Naira Life 2026 is here! The theme for this year’s Naira Life Conference by Zikoko is “All About Wealth.”Join 2,000+ in Lagos on August 22 for a day of practical money conversations and workshops designed to move you from simply earning an income to building lasting wealth. Get 15% off early bird tickets. companies Chimoney is getting acquired Image source: Tenor Four weeks ago, Chimoney, a Nigerian-founded fintech that built cross-border payment infrastructure for businesses, announced it was shutting down after four years andunder $1 million raised. On Monday, founder Uchi Uchibeke posted something nobody expected:Chi Technologies, Chimoney’s parent company, has signed an agreement in principle to be acquired by CapitalSage Vantage Limited, a subsidiary of CapitalSage Holdings. Why Chimoney?: Startup shutdowns mostly involve frozen accounts, unanswered emails, and founders who go quiet. Chimoney did the opposite. It notified investors in February, clients in April, published migration guides for developers, and kept refunding
Read MoreEvery Android 17 feature coming to your phone in 2026
Table of contents Ten Android 17 features coming to your phone Which phones get Android 17? Android 17, codenamed Cinnamon Bun, is the biggest Android update in years. Google previewed it at The Android Show on May 12, 2026, and the stable version is expected to start rolling out to Pixel devices in June or July 2026. Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and other brands will follow later in 2026. But here’s what you need to know before getting excited: getting Android 17 on your phone doesn’t automatically mean you’ll get all its best features. Gemini Intelligence, the headline AI upgrade, is locked to 2026 flagship devices with 12GB or more of RAM. The Pixel 9, a 2025 flagship, does not qualify. Neither do most mid-range phones. So what you actually get depends heavily on which device you own. Ten Android 17 features coming to your phone Here is a full breakdown of every major Android 17 feature, what it does, and which devices get it. 1. A new look: Material 3 Expressive The most visible change in Android 17 is a new design language called Material 3 Expressive. The biggest shift is a frosted glass effect across the entire system. When you press the volume button, the slider becomes translucent so your wallpaper shows through. The same treatment applies to the power menu, Quick Settings panel, notification shade, home screen folders, and the widget picker. Google internally calls this effect “blur” and it is tinted by your phone’s Dynamic Color theme so everything feels consistent. Other design changes include: Springier, more natural animations powered by physics-based motion New icon shapes and heavier, bolder typography A per-app dark theme toggle, so you can exempt specific apps that look broken in dark mode Mandatory auto-theming for third-party apps. Google has required all apps on the Play Store to supply themed icons. For apps that do not, Android auto-generates one. TikTok and other holdouts no longer have a choice. A color picker with four presets is also in the works, according to a 9to5Google report from May 12, 2026. The options are Neutral (gray tones), Soft (subtle colors), Bright (more vibrant), and Bold (a mix of colors throughout), plus a slider to set any accent color independent of your wallpaper. These are not confirmed for the first stable Android 17 release and are likely coming in a later quarterly update. Android 17’s frosted glass look has also drawn comparisons to Apple’s iOS 26 Liquid Glass design. Google’s Android ecosystem president Sameer Samat pushed back on this, writing on X on May 5, 2026 in reply to a mockup imagining Liquid Glass on a Pixel 11: “Not happening! Y’all are wild.” Reviewers at 9to5Google and How-To Geek agree Android’s implementation is more restrained than Apple’s, but the visual parallels are there. Who gets this with Android 17: Pixel phones (Pixel 6 and newer) already got Material 3 Expressive via the Android 16 QPR1 update in September 2025. Android 17 is what carries the full design to Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and every other Android brand. 2. Gemini Intelligence: AI that does tasks, not just answers questions Gemini Intelligence is Google’s biggest Android 17 announcement. It is an AI layer built into the operating system that can handle multi-step tasks in the background while you use your phone for something else. Google is framing this as Android evolving from an operating system into an intelligence system. It is not a new app. It runs underneath the OS and brings several features together: Multi-step task automation: You can describe a task, and Gemini handles it across multiple apps. For example, show Gemini your shopping list and ask it to build a delivery cart. It moves between apps, fills in the details, and pauses before anything is purchased so you can confirm. Gemini in Chrome: Starting late June 2026, Gemini can browse across multiple open tabs, compare information, and take actions on your behalf, such as booking a doctor’s appointment or reserving parking. Intelligent Autofill: Fills in forms using context from your connected Google apps like Gmail and Photos. Create My Widget: Lets you describe a home screen widget in plain text, and Gemini builds it for you. Works best with Google’s own services. Rambler: A Gboard voice mode that removes filler words like “um” and “ah” in real time and handles mid-sentence language switching. Hardware requirements: To use Gemini Intelligence, your phone needs Gemini Nano v3 or newer, a flagship-grade processor, and at least 12GB of RAM. This is more demanding than Apple Intelligence, which requires 8GB. Phones that qualify at launch include the Pixel 10 series (not the 10a), the Samsung Galaxy S26 series, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, and the Galaxy Z Flip 8. Phones that get Android 17 but do NOT get Gemini Intelligence include the entire Pixel 9 family, the Pixel 6, 7, and 8 series, the Pixel 9a and 10a, the Samsung Galaxy S25 line, and the Galaxy Z Fold 7. The Pixel 9 Pro has 16GB of RAM and still does not qualify because it runs Gemini Nano v2, not v3. Google has not said whether this is a permanent hardware limitation or something that could change with a future update. Honest caveat: Google has made big AI promises before that took a long time to feel useful in daily use. Gemini Intelligence looks impressive in demos, but the real test comes after the summer 2026 rollout, when people are using it on their actual phones. 3. Desktop mode Android 17 brings a full desktop experience when you connect your phone to an external display. Think of it as Samsung DeX, built into Android itself on every compatible phone. What you get: A taskbar at the bottom of the screen where you can pin your most-used apps Resizable, floating windows you can snap and arrange freely Drag-and-drop between apps (where apps support it) Full mouse and keyboard support Interactive Picture-in-Picture, so you can keep a video call running while you work
Read MoreNigeria’s central bank restricts payment firms from dominating consumers and merchants
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced new market-structure rules that could prevent any single financial institution from dominating both consumer and merchant payments. In a circular issued on Monday, the regulator disclosed that any licenced financial institution that controls more than 25% of the consumer-issuing market will be restricted to a maximum of 15% market share in merchant-acquiring activities. The rule comes as banks and fintechs expand beyond their traditional niches to serve both consumers and merchants. The regulator’s new framework is designed to prevent any single institution from becoming the dominant gateway for cashless transactions, reducing concentration and systemic risk in the payments ecosystem. “Any licenced financial Institution engaged in merchant acquiring activities, whether individually or as part of group of related entities, that holds more than twenty-five percent (25%) market share in merchants acquiring activities within any rolling twelve-month period shall not hold more than fifteen percent (15%) market share in consumer issuing activities during the same period,” the CBN said in its circular. Consumer issuing refers to services that enable consumers to make payments, including bank accounts, payment cards, digital wallets and other payment instruments. Merchant acquiring is the infrastructure that enables businesses to accept payments, including payment gateways, Point-of-Sale (PoS) services, and merchant settlement systems. The rule, which takes effect on December 31, 2026, is designed to prevent excessive concentration in Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital payments ecosystem, which processed ₦1.2 quadrillion ($884.78 billion) in 2025. The move has significant implications for major fintech companies such as Paystack, Flutterwave, and Moniepoint, many of which have spent years building strong merchant-payment businesses and are increasingly expanding into customer-facing banking services. In January, Paystack acquired Ladder Microfinance Bank, and in April, Flutterwave secured an MFB licence after acquiring open banking startup Mono, as fintechs move to convert payment users into banking customers. Traditional banks such as United Bank for Africa could also be affected if they seek to build substantial market share in merchant acquiring while retaining dominant positions in consumer banking. The CBN said the new requirements were introduced in response to concerns around market concentration, operational dependence, and the emergence of operators with substantial market presence across key payment activities. The restrictions will apply not only to individual companies but also to groups of related entities. Financial institutions cannot circumvent the rules by separating consumer and merchant businesses into different subsidiaries while retaining common ownership or control. “All regulated entities shall submit monthly market share returns in accordance with prescribed templates and timelines,” the CBN said in the circular. The market-share limits form part of a broader set of reforms targeting the payments industry. The CBN is also requiring banks and fintechs to disclose the ultimate beneficial owners of significant shareholdings and is pushing operators to use local cloud infrastructure as part of efforts to strengthen oversight and localise critical payments data. The rules show a regulator in favour of a more fragmented market, where competition is maintained on both sides of the payments ecosystem. “The CBN shall monitor compliance with the provisions of this circular and may, where necessary, impose supervisory sanctions in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines,” the regulator added.
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Why Solarbox is building Senegal’s EV ecosystem around the sun
16 juin 2026 Hello , Welcome back to Francophone Weekly by TechCabal, your weekly deep dive into the tech ecosystem across French-speaking Africa. For readers who want to understand Francophone Africa beyond headlines—through markets, startups, and systems. New editions of the newsletter will land directly in your inbox every Tuesday at 12 PM WAT. By default, this newsletter is in French. If you’re reading this in your email inbox, click the “Read in English” button below to switch to the English version. If you’re reading on our website, you can either click the button below or toggle the language selector at the top right-hand side of the page to view the English edition. Read in English Solarbox mène la révolution des véhicules électriques (VE) dans la région de l’Union Économique et Monétaire Ouest-Africaine (UEMOA) avec des motos électriques, des tricycles et des camions légers chargés à l’énergie renouvelable. Mais pour comprendre pourquoi cette affirmation dépasse le simple discours de présentation, il faut commencer non pas par les véhicules — mais par le soleil. Dans un article précédent, nous avons identifié un schéma récurrent à travers l’Afrique francophone : les VE ont du sens économiquement, les économies sur le carburant sont réelles, et la demande existe. Pourtant, l’adoption reste freinée par des obstacles familiers, notamment le faible soutien des politiques publiques, les taxes à l’importation élevées et les options de financement limitées pour les opérateurs du secteur informel. Dans ce contexte, la startup VE sénégalaise Solarbox a adopté une approche différente. Fondée en 2022 par Tijan Watt et incubée au sein de Wuri Ventures, une société de capital-risque (VC) early-stage qui a soutenu des startups comme Carry1st, Kotani Pay et Jetstream. Watt est également co-fondateur et associé directeur de Wuri Ventures. Selon lui, Solarbox n’attend pas que le réseau électrique s’améliore ni que les gouvernements introduisent des incitations. La startup a plutôt intégré l’énergie solaire directement dans son modèle économique. Pour Watt, ce n’est pas une solution provisoire. C’est la vision à long terme. 1. Pourquoi le solaire change la donne au Sénégal Les véhicules stationnés dans un parking du quartier du Plateau à Dakar, au Sénégal. Source de l’image : Bloomberg. Les combustibles fossiles, notamment le gaz et le diesel, restent une source d’énergie dominante au Sénégal. En 2024, le pays a produit 5,48 térawattheures (TWh) d’électricité à partir de produits pétroliers, alimentant environ 65 % de sa population. Watt affirme que le solaire est une ressource sous-exploitée qui pourrait aider le Sénégal à atteindre sa souveraineté énergétique. Contrairement au pétrole, dont le prix est fixé sur les marchés mondiaux des matières premières, l’énergie solaire est locale par nature et largement à l’abri des chocs géopolitiques. Le Sénégal figure parmi les dix premiers pays mondiaux pour le potentiel de production solaire. L’expérience de l’Éthiopie offre une comparaison utile : le pays a augmenté la pénétration des VE de moins de 1 % à 8,3 % en deux ans, portée en grande partie par une hydroélectricité abondante et bon marché. L’exemple illustre comment une énergie domestique abordable peut accélérer la mobilité électrique lorsqu’elle est soutenue par la bonne infrastructure et le bon environnement politique. Pour mieux comprendre la thèse de Solarbox, nous nous sommes entretenus avec son fondateur Watt sur les raisons pour lesquelles il croit que la mobilité alimentée par l’énergie solaire pourrait transformer l’économie des transports au Sénégal et à travers l’Afrique. Le tour de pré-seed d’un million de dollars de Solarbox en 2024 a réuni des investisseurs comme le Digital Energy Facility soutenu par l’Agence Française de Développement (AFD), aux côtés de Launch Africa Ventures, JLL Foundation et Teranga Capital. Lina Kacyem : Le réseau électrique du Sénégal est déjà l’un des plus stables d’Afrique de l’Ouest francophone — moins de dix heures de coupure par an à Dakar et 41 % de pénétration des énergies renouvelables. Cela pourrait faire paraître l’intégration solaire comme quelque chose d’incrémental plutôt que de transformationnel. Comment répondez-vous à ce cadrage ? Tijan Watt : Le Kenya fonctionne déjà à environ 90 % d’énergie renouvelable. Le solaire y est un complément. Pour nous, l’infrastructure VE alimentée par le solaire n’est pas une optimisation des coûts. C’est une voie vers la souveraineté énergétique. Les prix mondiaux du pétrole et du gaz sont fixés au niveau international. Même si le Sénégal produit son propre pétrole, les consommateurs restent exposés à la volatilité des prix mondiaux. La tarification solaire est intrinsèquement locale, à l’abri de la géopolitique et des cycles des matières premières. C’est une forme de souveraineté économique qu’on ne peut pas acheter avec un baril de pétrole. Kacyem : Le Sénégal a récemment découvert du pétrole et du gaz offshore. Est-ce que ça ne change pas la donne, en rendant potentiellement les combustibles fossiles une source d’énergie domestique moins chère ? Watt : Ça ne devrait pas détourner l’attention de l’opportunité solaire. Le Sénégal resterait exposé à la volatilité des prix internationaux même avec une production nationale — les prix mondiaux du pétrole sont fixés au niveau mondial, pas par les pays producteurs. La tarification solaire est locale. Et au-delà des prix, il y a des risques géopolitiques qui accompagnent la richesse pétrolière. Les pays qui découvrent du pétrole attirent des intérêts extérieurs qu’ils n’ont pas sollicités. L’énergie solaire n’a aucun de ces bagages. Le Sénégal figure parmi les dix premiers mondiaux en termes de potentiel de production solaire. C’est sur cette dotation que nous devrions construire. Solarbox a commencé par servir des clients corporates comme DHL, FedEx, Orange et Paps Logistics, précisément parce que gérer une petite flotte organisée est opérationnellement faisable pour une startup. Mais le marché de masse a toujours été la destination. La société a déjà lancé un produit pay-as-you-go (PAYG) sans apport initial : les conducteurs scannent un code QR (quick response) et paient par mobile money. Aucune vérification de crédit, aucun compte bancaire, aucun dépôt. Le modèle reprend l’innovation du crédit téléphonique prépayé qui a transformé les télécommunications à travers l’Afrique — une approche délibérément calibrée sur
Read MoreKenya’s KCB Group fires staff over fraud as cases drop sharply
KCB Group, Kenya’s largest bank by assets, dismissed 60 employees in 2025 over fraud, nearly doubling the number of staff fired in the previous year, even as the lender reported a decline in fraud incidents and losses. The lender said in its 2025 sustainability report that the employees were linked to schemes targeting both the bank and its customers, up from 34 dismissals recorded in 2024. The rise in staff dismissals amid falling fraud cases signals that Kenyan banks are taking a tougher stance on insider crime, using technology and tighter controls to detect misconduct early. According to KCB, fraud and forgery losses fell to KES 760,000 ($5,870) in 2025 from KES 4.5 million ($34,762) a year earlier. Reported fraud incidents declined by more than 40%, from 339 to 201. The value of attempted fraud blocked by the bank also dropped to KES 141.1 million ($1 million) from KES 212.9 million ($1.6 million) in 2024, suggesting improved detection systems and stronger preventive controls. “We have implemented advanced security measures, including biometric authentication, document verification, selfie matching, and enhanced digital onboarding processes,” KCB said in the report. “Real-time monitoring of digital transactions further enhances fraud detection and mitigation.” Kenyan commercial banks have increased investments in technology to fight fraud as internet and digital banking expand, exposing lenders to growing financial and reputational risks. Insider threat KCB’s Kenyan subsidiary accounted for 188 of the 201 reported fraud incidents and 50 of the 60 employees dismissed during the year. The bank prevented attempted fraud worth KES 100.8 million ($778,378), while its Rwanda subsidiary blocked KES 40.3 million ($311, 196). Rwanda recorded the second-highest number of attempted fraud cases at seven. Five employees were dismissed in Rwanda, while Tanzania and South Sudan each recorded two dismissals, and Uganda one. Digital fraud has become one of the banking sector’s biggest operational risks as fraudsters working with insiders target mobile banking, payment cards, and internet banking channels. The trend has forced lenders to invest in fraud detection systems, cybersecurity tools, and insurance cover against operational losses.
Read MoreFlutterwave hits $3.25 billion valuation in Ripple-backed Series E
Flutterwave, Africa’s most valuable fintech company, has raised a Series E round at a $3.25 billion valuation after an investment from Ripple, a United States-based blockchain payments company. Flutterwave declined to disclose how much Ripple invested. “Ripple did invest significantly in Flutterwave, an actual cash investment, so they are now an equity shareholder of the company,” Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, Flutterwave’s founder and chief executive, told TechCabal on a call on Monday. Ripple’s investment marks Flutterwave’s latest move into stablecoins as both companies integrate RLUSD, Ripple’s stablecoin, into Flutterwave’s payment infrastructure, allowing the African payments giant’s merchants and consumers to send, hold, and convert money using stablecoins. Agboola said three factors led Flutterwave to choose Ripple: its technology infrastructure, regulatory credibility, and the ability to move money more cheaply and quickly across borders. Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin and the XRP Ledger will plug into Flutterwave’s payment rails to power cross-border settlement across the continent. For Ripple, it is an entry point into Africa’s fast-growing market for dollar-denominated payments, which Mastercard projects will reach $1.5 trillion by 2030. “Cross-border value movement is one of the most underserved and highest-growth markets globally right now,” Agboola said. “That is where the synergy with Ripple comes in. We bring Africa’s infrastructure at scale. Ripple brings expertise in digital settlement and stablecoins. Together, this helps solve actual customer problems.” Flutterwave is betting that pairing its merchant base and compliance footprint with stablecoin rails will pull a larger share of cross-border volume onto its platform. Agboola forecasted at least a 30% jump in Flutterwave’s total stablecoin volumes from the Ripple deal and described the broader opportunity in cross-border flows as “massive”. The new valuation is a modest step up from the $3 billion Flutterwave reached in February 2022, when it closed a $250 million Series D led by B Capital, a global venture capital firm. Agboola said the round was a primary investment, with the cash going onto Flutterwave’s balance sheet, and that no secondary sale of existing shares had taken place. A secondary is possible later, he said. While a $250 million bump in valuation is a strong outcome for most African startups, for Flutterwave, it is a modest increase, particularly given the licencing wins and acquisition spree the fintech has pursued since it last raised money. For Flutterwave’s existing investors, it also means reduced ownership in the company without a big bump in the value of their stake. “Valuation is useful, but it should not be confused with value,” he said. “A higher valuation can be validating. But valuation is also an opinion at a point in time. What matters is: is the company building sustainably? Are you serving customers well? Valuation, for me, is not the objective. It is a byproduct.” What Ripple adds The investment lands as Flutterwave pulls more of its payments stack in-house and pushes toward a one-stop financial platform. The company acquired a Nigerian microfinance banking licence and the open-banking startup Mono in a January 2026 acquisition, and has rebuilt its Send app into an infrastructure layer for currency wallets and stablecoin balances. “We are now running a multi-product platform. We have banking, we have payments, we have everything, and now we have stablecoins,” Agboola said. “That is in line with our goal to be a one-stop shop for financial services.” “Nobody has our infrastructure at scale right now,” he added. “We do not see competition for this.” Flutterwave has spent years building compliance frameworks and banking rails across multiple markets, infrastructure Agboola called expensive and difficult for rivals to replicate. The RLUSD integration will go live in every country where Flutterwave operates, he said, shaped by the specific requirements of each regulator. How RLUSD fits into the product RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin, launched in December 2024 and has grown into one of the largest US-regulated stablecoins, with a market value of roughly $1.26 billion. It is backed one-to-one by cash and short-term US government securities and runs on both Ethereum and the XRP Ledger. RLUSD becomes one of several stablecoins Flutterwave’s customers can pick at the point of a transaction. Agboola compared it to choosing a bank. “Depending on your preference as a customer, you will be able to choose your preferred stablecoin for the transaction,” he said. “It is the same as choosing a bank. You choose your preferred bank and proceed.” Users will be able to hold RLUSD directly on Flutterwave. The on-ramp and off-ramp, Agboola said, run through a customer’s bank: deposit local currency, go to the platform, choose the currency and the stablecoin, set the exchange rate, and transfer. He said the same flow works in reverse, moving from stablecoin back to fiat. Flutterwave is not tying itself to a single chain or coin. Agboola said the company is agnostic and supports every stablecoin. The Ripple deal joins a stablecoin stack the company has been assembling for over a year: it joined the Circle Payment Network in 2025, named Polygon its default settlement chain in October 2025, launched merchant stablecoin wallets with Turnkey and Nuvion in January 2026, and added Stripe-incubated Tempo as a settlement layer in June 2026. RLUSD and the XRP Ledger now sit inside that multi-rail setup.
Read MoreBeltone taps fintech Telda to bring mutual funds to Egypt’s digital investors
Beltone Asset Management, an Egypt-based investment bank and asset manager, has partnered with fintech Telda to offer its investment products and mutual funds through the Telda app, allowing users to open investment accounts and invest directly from their mobile phones. The deal is the latest sign of how Egypt’s asset managers are increasingly turning to fintech platforms to reach retail investors, as competition intensifies for a growing pool of first-time and digitally native savers. Under the partnership, users will be able to open investment accounts within minutes using only a national ID, without paperwork or branch visits. They will gain access to Beltone products including the Meya Meya fund, Sabayek gold investment fund, B-Secure liquidity fund, and Wafra EGX 33, a Shariah-compliant equity fund. “Our partnership with Telda reflects our commitment to broadening access to investment solutions while evolving how investors engage with financial products in an increasingly digital environment. Through this collaboration, we are extending trusted investment products to a broader segment of users through a seamless and accessible experience,” Khalil El Bawab, CEO of Local and Regional Markets at Beltone Holding, said in a statement on Monday. Established in 2004 in Egypt, Beltone operates across the Middle East and North Africa. The company says it manages investments across more than 20 markets in the region, offering investment solutions to both institutional and individual clients. Investments under the Telda partnership will carry no subscription or commission fees, except for precious metals funds, while redeemed proceeds can be transferred directly to users’ Telda cards, the company said. The partnership comes as Egypt’s financial sector increasingly embraces digital distribution. In 2025, the country’s Financial Regulatory Authority approved the use of fintech across brokerage operations at firms including Telda, Beltone and Thndr, allowing investors to open accounts and access investment services entirely online. That regulatory shift has coincided with rapid growth in retail investing. The number of investor accounts registered on the Egyptian Exchange surged 215% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, according to FRA data. Egypt’s investment-fund market has expanded rapidly over the past year. Net asset value across all investment funds rose to EGP 410.6 billion ($8.148 billion) by the end of the first quarter of 2026, according to FRA data. Over the same period, the number of funds increased to 187, while fund certificates held by investors more than doubled. “This partnership marks an important step toward delivering a more integrated financial experience for our users by bringing together everyday financial services and investment solutions within a single platform,” said Ahmed Sabbah, CEO of Telda. Founded in 2021 and publicly launched in 2022, Telda is licenced by the Central Bank of Egypt and the FRA. The company allows users to send and receive money, pay bills, track spending, and invest in stocks listed on the Egyptian Exchange through a mobile-first platform. The Beltone-Telda partnership joins a growing number of collaborations between fintech platforms and asset managers seeking to broaden access to investment products in Egypt. In 2023, valU, a lifestyle-enabling fintech, partnered with Azimut Egypt, a global asset manager, to launch the AZ valU investment fund. Payments company Fawry teamed up with Misr Capital in 2022 to launch the Fawry Yawmy money market fund. More recently, digital wealth platform Menthum partnered with Beltone Asset Management in April 2025 to expand access to fixed-income investment products.
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Why Africa’s electric mobility is no longer a venture bet
Startups in the sector have raised over $1.28 billion since 2019. A third of the capital now comes as debt, in larger rounds, and from lenders rather than venture investors, a sign the sector is being financed like infrastructure For most of the last decade, investing in an African electric mobility startup was a bet on an unproven market. Our latest analysis of the funding data says that era is closing. Companies building electric two- and three-wheelers, e-buses, battery-swap networks and the financing to put vehicles under riders have raised $1.28 billion across 129 deals between 2019 and early June 2026, according to the TechCabal Insights Deal Tracker. The African Development Bank (AfDB) sees the same shift. According to Wale Shonibare, the director energy financial solutions, policy and regulation: “The Bank’s approach to supporting e-mobility operators is evolving and financing is now contingent on three conditions: scalable, commercially viable business models, predictable revenue streams, and an enabling regulatory environment. To back that transition, AfDB is developing the Green Mobility Facility for Africa (GMFA), a blended finance platform expected to mobilize more than $300 million to unlock commercial lending, support pipeline development and deploy capital through a mix of instruments including guarantees and financial intermediation with commercial banks.” Debt now funds a third of the sector, capital is arriving in larger rounds, and the companies winning it are increasingly looking like infrastructure operators. The climb has not been steady. Annual funding swung from $119 million in 2021 to $260 million in 2024, dipped to $180 million in 2025, then jumped again. In the first half of 2026 alone, the sector raised $313 million, more than all of 2025, on just ten deals. That record carries a caveat worth stating plainly: Spiro, the electric two-wheeler and battery-swap company, accounts for about $272 million of it, so the half-year reflects one company’s scale-up rather than a broad acceleration. Deal activity rose every year through 2025, and since 2021, rounds of $10 million or more have taken at least three-quarters of annual funding. The market now funds build-out, not just experiments. Share of Total Funding by Type (2019– June 2026*) Debt is the signal The clearest signal sits in the kind of capital. Equity still leads at 65% of the total, but debt has climbed to 34% ($437 million), from nothing in 2019, and it overtook equity in 2023. Lenders enter a sector only once its assets can be collateralised and its receivables predicted. “Mobility financing businesses are debt-intensive by nature,” says Dieko Ojo, an investment associate at Novastar Ventures, “and the ability to scale depends heavily on access to affordable and appropriately structured debt.” She points to the constraint that shapes the whole market: these businesses need patient capital, and when debt is expensive, too much operating cash goes to servicing it, slowing how fast operators can reach riders. That debt is largely development-led, from institutions such as Afreximbank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and climate-focused funds, with commercial banks like Absa only beginning to follow. It funds physical, revenue-generating assets: fleets, batteries and swap stations. Spiro frames the logic directly, calling electric mobility and energy infrastructure two sides of the same coin and positioning itself as an energy platform rather than an EV maker, with more than 2,500 swap stations deployed. The proof that this can pay is recent. “We are already cash positive in our two most mature markets,” the company told TechCabal Insights, the kind of cash generation that defines infrastructure, not venture. Capital clusters around a proven few The market’s other defining feature is its narrowness. Four companies hold 82% of all capital, and the top twelve hold 95%, a power-law distribution in which Spiro ($485 million) and Moove ($395 million) alone command 69%. Nigeria and Benin account for 77% of funding, but strip out Moove and Nigeria falls to $104 million, and strip out Spiro and Benin practically disappears. The breadth sits in Kenya, where 39 deals worth $143 million make East Africa the sector’s experimentation base. For riders, it is an economics story For the people the sector serves, the daily economics are the point. Going electric cuts a rider’s biggest running cost. Ampersand, the Rwandan e-motorcycle company, says its bikes cost half as much to power as petrol ones, which by its numbers saves riders around $700 a year and lifts take-home pay by about 45%, while financing models such as Moove’s use alternative credit scoring to bring drivers into vehicle ownership and formal credit, often for the first time. Policy is catching up: more than half of 21 African countries assessed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Africa E-mobility Alliance (AfEMA) have set e-mobility targets and incentives, driven largely by the cost of fuel imports. The AfDB director’s assessment reinforces the point: “Countries that have introduced targeted incentives, such as fiscal exemptions, supportive tariffs and clear EV standards, are already seeing stronger pipelines and investor interest, with Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia leading. The Bank is channelling capital accordingly, backing equity and debt funds including Persistent Africa Climate Venture Builder Fund, Zafiri and FEI across markets with strong policy momentum”. The funding data shows a sector that has begun to attract infrastructure-style capital, not just venture bets. But that shift is narrow. Two companies hold 69% of all capital and 78% of the debt, and only 51 startups have raised at all, so the asset-class case still rests on a handful of bellwethers proving the model. The largest opening sits where the demand is, in commercial two- and three-wheelers, the income-generating fleet that moves most of urban Africa.
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