Japan’s SORA joins Africa’s $12 billion fight against malaria with AI-powered drones
SORA Technology, a Japanese drone-based solutions and aerial technology provider, is expanding its operations to Nigeria and 14 other African countries in a sweeping push to curb malaria using AI-powered drones. Starting August 25, the firm will deploy fleets of fixed-wing drones across high-risk areas, where they will identify mosquito breeding sites and spray larvicides with precision, an approach it says can reduce chemical use by 70% and cut operational costs in half. The expansion comes amid growing urgency for new disease-fighting tools as Africa continues to bear the brunt of the global malaria crisis. The continent accounts for over 90% of global cases and deaths, costing African economies an estimated $12 billion annually. With climate change expanding mosquito habitats and resistance to traditional treatments increasing, SORA’s drone-based Larval Source Management (LSM) model offers a more targeted, tech-driven alternative to wide-area spraying campaigns. With this rollout, SORA will increase its presence in Africa from 6 to 15 countries, including Sierra Leone, Ghana, Benin Republic, Niger Republic, DR Congo, Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, Nigeria, Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Togo. Each country will receive about 100 drones. The move positions the company to tap into the continent’s growing drone spraying market, valued at around $100 million. It will also bring SORA into direct competition with Zipline Africa, which operates the largest drone service on the continent. But SORA CEO Yosuke Kaneko insists the two companies are more collaborators than competitors. Zipline, with strong operations in countries like Rwanda and Ghana, specialises in rapid, long-range delivery of medical supplies via fixed-wing drones from centralized hubs. SORA’s approach is broader, covering a range of public health efforts, such as mosquito spraying, disease surveillance, and medical deliveries, often integrated into local health campaigns across Africa and Asia. Though malaria control is a key priority, SORA also targets agriculture, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors. Its drones are designed for tasks like crop monitoring, pesticide spraying, irrigation, and logistics support. SORA flies fixed-wing drones with AI cameras that scan mosquito breeding areas like swamps, farms, and riverbanks before spraying them. The AI then analyses the images to identify and map high-risk breeding sites. Larvicides—chemicals or biological agents used to kill mosquito larvae— are sprayed with drones only in those specific areas. “We use two types of AI,” said Kaneko. “Imaging AI helps us find and map mosquito breeding sites, while deep learning helps us rank which ones pose the highest risk.” This method, known as Larval Source Management (LSM), has already been deployed in countries like Ghana and Sierra Leone. It reduces insecticide usage by up to 70% and cuts labour and operational costs by around 50%, according to Kaneko, while working with local health ministries, community leaders, and trained residents for local impact and acceptance. Launched in 2018 after early groundwork in 2015, SORA raised $4.8 million in seed funding in March 2025, from investors including Nissay Capital, SMBC Venture Capital, DRONE FUND, and Rheos Capital Partners. The new capital will support the growth of drone operations, improve AI-based disease forecasting, and hire key talent. SORA is also preparing to sell a malaria-focused drone starting in August, and has plans to build an assembly plant in Africa. By year-end, the company aims to reach 100,000 people across the continent. “They’ve always shown interest in drone technology,” Kaneko said of African governments. “But never had the means to implement it. That’s the gap we are helping to close.” Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
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Atsur is solving African art’s provenance problem with blockchain
Art—how we create, store, buy, and distribute it—has taken different forms across several centuries. In 2020, as a rare global pandemic sent the world indoors and forced them to stay digitally connected, blockchain, an emerging technology, powered new obsessions. Among its boldest cultural experiments were non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a technology many believed would forever change how art was owned, valued, and distributed. We saw the headlines: NFT artworks minted millionaires globally. OpenSea, launched in 2017, became the leading NFT marketplace in the US and achieved unicorn status in 2021. Soon, attention turned to Yuga Labs, the company behind “Bored Ape Yacht Club,” which helped define the aesthetics and economics of early NFT culture. But for all the headlines NFT art attracted, it did little to address the problems that have long plagued the African art ecosystem: provenance, protection, and payment. Adaobi Orajiaku, founder of Nigerian art-tech startup Atsur, which launched in 2024 as an NFT marketplace for physical art pieces, saw a way to use blockchain technology to archive physical African art. “Art in Africa is centuries old, but how we manage and protect it hasn’t caught up,” she said. “Unless a Western gallery or collector discovers you, your work can disappear into history, even if it’s great.” Worse, when we fail to preserve these prehistoric works and the oeuvre of remarkable talents, we open the door to an age-old problem: fake artworks become rampant in the market. “Your artwork is a fake” Today, Nigerian art arguably enjoys wider global appeal. Acclaimed 20th century artists and sculptors like Ben Enwonwu, whose bronze sculpture, Atlas, fetched over $500,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in 2021, are finally receiving the international recognition they deserve. Works by Bruce Onobrakpeya, the late Yusuf Grillo, and Peju Alatise have become staples in African modern art sales. But with this soaring demand comes heightened risk; forgery lurks as a Trojan horse, with fake art peddlers standing to profit from the bubble. It doesn’t help that Nigeria’s art and creative sector—which contributed between 0.2% and 2.5% annually to its gross domestic product (GDP) in the last four years since the negative all-time low (-3%) in 2020—is incredibly opaque. Provenance—the documented history of an artwork’s ownership—is often kept informally, sometimes only by memory. In many local galleries, artworks are tracked through handwritten receipts, unverified certificates, and photos saved on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets on desktops. Forgeries can slip through easily without a standard provenance, especially when artworks are resold by auctioneers abroad. In South Africa, where the market is larger and slightly more regulated, specialists estimate forgeries are a bi-weekly occurrence. Nigeria, lacking even that level of oversight, may be worse. This is the problem Atsur wants to solve. “We ask artists and galleries to verify and register works with us. We issue certificates of authenticity and track ownership using blockchain,” Orajiaku explained. “That way, even if the art travels from Lagos to London, the records follow it.” How artwork progresses on Atsur’s platform/Image Source: Atsur/TechCabal The startup is building a system where each artwork’s ownership, sale, and resale history is stored immutably on a decentralised ledger. Galleries can plug into this via Atsur’s web platform, issuing invoices, receiving payments, and embedding commission rules and royalties in smart contracts. For artists, it means no more being cut out of future profits. For collectors, it means confidence that what they are buying is real. Building a business from provenance Atsur is not trying to reinvent how art is made or sold. Instead, it offers a discreet but powerful infrastructure layer beneath existing operations. It works directly with galleries, brokers, and art distributors—the players already shaping Nigeria’s art economy. “We started as a sort of NFT marketplace for physical artworks,” Orajiaku said. “But experienced artists were already tied to galleries. And galleries said they loved our verification system but didn’t want to switch platforms or share collector data. So we pivoted to enabling them instead.” The company operates a business-to-business (B2B) model. When a gallery or broker signs on, they can register artworks through Atsur’s platform built on the Polygon blockchain—with plans to build on Linear next—where each piece is verified. This involves a kind of Know Your Client (KYC) check for buyers and sellers, along with authenticity and provenance verification for artworks. This helps validate the identity, origin, and ownership of the piece. Once the artwork is verified, a certificate of authenticity is issued and stored on the blockchain. Mock design of a Certificate of Authenticity issued on Atsur/Image Source: Atsur From there, the platform facilitates sales by issuing invoices, converting payments into stablecoin on the backend, and distributing funds through smart contracts. These contracts automatically assign and distribute commissions to everyone with a stake in the transaction—from artists to brokers to gallery owners. This resale infrastructure is central to Atsur’s value. When an artwork is resold, royalties and commissions are automatically enforced and tracked. This guarantees that artists and other rights-holders continue to benefit financially each time their work changes hands. Revenue model The company earns its revenue through these commission structures. Each transaction processed on the platform includes a fee that supports Atsur’s operations. Additional income comes from issuing certificates of authenticity, a service that individual artists or collectors can access even if they are not currently selling the work. Transactions are backed on Polygon due to the blockchain’s low cost and high interoperability. “A lot of our fees are mainly via commissions,” Orajiaku said. “We are enforcing resale royalties, we’re enforcing all these sales. We are enforcing tracking of the artwork such that if you wanted to resell it, you have records to resell it.” While Atsur plans to support direct-to-collector services in the future, it initially chose the B2B route for two reasons: it offers better scale and more effectively supports provenance tracking. Second, working with galleries, the natural gatekeepers in art sales, means Atsur can onboard multiple artworks in one go and reliably document ownership transitions. “We are building soft infrastructure,” Orajiaku said. “It may not look sexy
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Canal+ gets approval for MultiChoice takeover
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy pre-TGIF. Our editor made a comment about the Canal+ and MultiChoice conditional deal which rocked the internet yesterday. He compared it to Rupert Murdoch acquiring CNN; it’s big big. This has been a long, patient play in the making, and finally, Canal+, the Vivendi-owned French streaming giant, now has the opening it has been looking for since 2020. What does this mean for Africa’s pay-TV content? Guess we’ll find out. Let’s get into today’s dispatch. Canal+ gets conditional approval for $2 billion MultiChoice takeover BasiGo is testing Kenya’s first intercity electric matatus Safaricom adds PayPal mini app to M-PESA’s super app MTN Nigeria introduces 12-week Cloud Accelerator World Wide Web 3 Events M&A Canal+ gets conditional approval for $2 billion MultiChoice takeover Image Source: Canal+ French media giant Canal+has received conditional approval from South Africa’s Competition Tribunal, to acquire the remaining shares of MultiChoice, Africa’s largest satellite TV provider. Why does it matter? Canal’s approved $2 billion takeover offer for MultiChoice is the largest media merger in African history. It will give Canal+ control over major content platforms, including DStv, Showmax, and SuperSport. The Tribunal’s approval will allow Canal+ to move towards full ownership. A third of Canal+’s global subscribers already come from Africa. The deal gives Canal+ a unique opportunity to expand beyond Francophone Africa into Anglophone Africa, where MultiChoice already has 19.3 million subscribers. ICYMI: Canal+ initially got a 6.5% stake in 2020 and steadily increased it to 41.6% by April 2024. According to South African rules, exceeding the 35% threshold meant that the French media company had to make a mandatory offer to buy all the shares it didn’t already own. By December 2024, it made an offer of R125 ($7.14) per share for Multichoice. The deal had received an approval recommendation from the Competition Commission in May 2025, but was now subject to approval by the Competition Tribunal. State of play: The tribunal’s approval is subject to some key conditions: a R26bn ($1.48 million) package that supports the participation of firms managed by Historically Disadvantaged Persons (HDP) and SMEs in South Africa’s audio-visual industry for the next three years. MultiChoice Group will also establish a new domestic unit called LicenceCo to meet a regulatory requirement that prohibits foreign entities from owning more than 20% of a South African broadcasting licence. Big picture: Canal+‘s acquisition of MultiChoice plays into its broader strategy to increase its subscriber base and position itself as a global media contender by expanding across Africa and Asia markets. For MultiChoice, this acquisition could bring essential capital to boost some of its ventures and local innovation needed to ensure its continued success in an increasingly competitive environment. Paying 2% or more on every transaction adds up fast. For businesses in e-commerce, logistics, travel, fintech, and more, every naira counts. Fincra helps you save more with 1% NGN fees capped at ₦300. Ideal for high-value or high-volume transactions. Get started for free with just your email address! Mobile money Safaricom adds PayPal mini app to M-PESA’s super app Image Source: M-PESA Safaricom wants to make it easier for freelancers and remote workers to access their money. The company has introduced a PayPal mini app inside the M-PESA super app to allow easier access to funds earned abroad. But make no mistake, Safaricom is eyeing a larger share of Kenya’s fast-growing digital freelance economy. Before now, withdrawing from PayPal to M-PESA was slow and clunky. Users had to bounce through a separate web portal with multiple logins and browser redirects. Now? A few taps on the app, and your funds are in, often within two hours. But the speed comes at a cost. To access this new service, users will pay a 3% withdrawal fee, a 4% top-up fee and currency conversion charges. M-PESA also caps single transactions at $1,938 and has an account balance limit of $3,875. If you compare that with Equity Bank’s PayPal withdrawal service, which handles up to $10,000 per transaction, M-PESA’s convenience looks a bit pricey. Although Kenyans have also turned to Wise and Payoneer to receive international payments, citing better exchange rates and fewer restrictions, PayPal remains dominant. Maybe it will come down to exchange rates, transaction volumes, or how desperate Kenyans are for liquidity. Zoom out: By bringing PayPal into the M-PESA app, Safaricom is meeting foreign currency earners right at the source, offering a faster way to cash out, and positioning itself to lock in more transaction volume. At a time when the mobile money market is shifting, if Safaricom becomes the go-to for cross-border payments, it might just be where its next revenue bump comes from. Paga Engine powers the boldest ideas in Africa “Across various use cases and industries, Paga Engine provides reliable rails for your business needs to run smoothly and grow sustainably.” – Tayo Oviosu. Read the full article. Mobility BasiGo is testing Kenya’s first intercity electric matatus 4NTE Sacco chairman Wilfred Kimotho (left) and Basigo Managing Director, Moses Nderitu charge an electric minivan at Nyahururu bus station in Laikipia County/Image Source: BasiGo BasiGo is hitting the throttle on Kenya’s clean transport future. The Nairobi-based electric mobility startup has launched Kenya’s first electric matatu pilot programme on inter-city routes. Matatus are vibrant, music-blaring minibuses that are central to public transportation in Kenya. This pilot may be powered by BasiGo’s recent $41.5 million fundraise in October 2024, which aimed to expand local EV assembly and operations. BasiGo is betting on the success of this pilot program to scale its operations and achieve its dream of supplying over 1,000 across Kenya. How will this work? BasiGo will partner with two transport Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (Saccos)—4NTE and Manchester Travellers Coach— to deploy three e-vans (types). These e-vans, which have a 300km range on a single charge and a 90-minute recharge time, will ply three popular corridors outside the country’s capital. The vans will be powered by BasiGo’s “Pay-As-You-Drive” lease model, which lowers the
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Top 12 logistics and mobility startup raises of H1 2025
In the first half of 2025, Africa’s broader tech ecosystem saw deal flows—including fundraises, acquisitions, and exits—hit $1.4 billion, per Africa: The Big Deal. This marks a 78% surge over H1 2024. Of these deals, logistics and mobility startups secured $115 million. Africa’s logistics and mobility startups have ridden a dramatic funding rollercoaster in recent years. After investment in the sector plunged from a $346 million peak in H1 2022 to just $82 million in H1 2023. It rebounded to $217 million during the same period in 2024, thanks in large part to Moove’s $110 million raise. This year’s H1 funding is less than the previous year’s, but it marks the sector’s third most active deal period since 2019, underscoring continued confidence in Africa’s mobility and logistics sector. Below, we highlight the top 12 equity rounds from H1 2025, each startup raising at least $5 million. Gozem – $30 million Gozem is a Francophone African “super app” that offers ride-hailing, delivery, vehicle financing, and digital banking services across Togo, Benin, Gabon, and Cameroon. The company successfully raised $30 million in a Series B round, split equally between $15 million in equity and $15 million in debt. This investment was led by SAS Shipping Agencies Services (MSC Group) and Al Mada Ventures. The funds will be used to finance vehicle acquisition, particularly for drivers, facilitate expansion into new markets, and bolster Gozem Money, its growing fintech offering. Sylndr – $15.7 million Sylndr, a Cairo-based startup, secured $15.7 million in a Series A funding round to further digitise and expand its used car marketplace in Egypt. The funding, co-led by DPI’s Nclude Fund and Partech, will be used to enhance Sylndr’s platform, which offers buying, selling, financing, and servicing of used vehicles. This brings the company’s total funding to over $30 million since its launch in 2021. Peach Cars – $11 million Peach Cars is a Kenya-based digital marketplace for used cars, founded by entrepreneurs with Japanese and Kenyan backgrounds. The company secured $11 million in Series A funding, with Suzuki Global Ventures leading the round. Other participants included Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Gogin Capital, and UTEC. The capital will be deployed for expansion across Kenya and into other East and Sub-Saharan African markets, establishing regional inspection hubs, and enhancing the technology used for vehicle verification. Peach Cars offers inspection systems, real-time appraisals, and embedded auto-financing to build trust and transparency in Africa’s used car market, which is often affected by fraud and unreliable reporting. It has raised a total of $16 million in funding across two rounds, according to Tracxn. MyNextCar – $10 million MyNextCar is a South African fleet leasing provider and a crucial vehicle supplier for Bolt’s ride-hailing service. The company successfully closed its first institutional funding round, raising $10 million. This round was led by Emso Asset Management, with additional participation from Bolt, Assemble Capital, and E2 Investments. The funds are earmarked to add 1,500 vehicles to their fleet, expand the Bolt Lite low-cost ride-hailing category, and enhance both driver supply and earning opportunities. Kofa – $8.1 million Kofa is a Ghana-based clean energy technology company specialising in AI-powered battery swapping for electric motorcycles, homes, and microbusinesses. The company raised $8.1 million in a pre-Series A funding round. This total comprised $3.25 million in equity, $590,000 in grants, and $4.32 million in debt. The round was led by E3 Capital and Injaro Investment Advisors, with participation from Shell Foundation and several UK and European investors. The capital will facilitate expansion into additional cities in Ghana and Kenya. Taager – $6.75 million Taager is a social e-commerce platform that originated in Egypt and is now based in Saudi Arabia. It provides comprehensive infrastructure for online merchants, including storage, shipping, payment processing, and product catalogues. The company raised $6.75 million in a pre-Series B round. This funding was led by Norrsken22 and saw continued participation from existing investors such as 4DX Ventures, Raed Ventures, BECO Capital, Breyer Capital, Endeavour Catalyst, and Beltone VC. The capital will be used to accelerate Taager’s expansion across the MENA region, enhance its AI-driven sales tools, and strengthen operations in its major markets, which currently include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iraq. Future Rent – $5.7 million FutureRent, a Cape Town-based car subscription company, secured R100 million ($5.7 million) in its first major funding round from a German family office. The company says the funding will enable it add over 450 vehicles to its fleet and meet rising demand for flexible, all-in-one vehicle access. The company seeks to replace car ownership with subscription services, including insurance and maintenance. Zero Carbon Charge – $5.5 million Zero Carbon Charge is a South African clean mobility infrastructure startup dedicated to building a network of off-grid, solar-powered ultra-fast electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. The company secured a $5.6 million equity investment from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). These funds will be used to finance the rollout of ultra-fast charging stations every 150km along national roads. Each site will be solar-powered with its own battery storage, operating off-grid and supporting net-zero transport goals. This decentralised model offers reliable, climate-friendly infrastructure that is independent of the struggling national grid, with landowners hosting stations receiving a revenue share. This deal highlights the increasing institutional confidence in scalable, green transport infrastructure solutions. Arc Ride – $5 million Arc Ride is a Kenyan e-mobility platform that focuses on battery swapping and e-motorcycle leasing, primarily targeting “boda boda” (motorcycle taxi) riders. The company raised $5 million from the UK’s British International Investment (BII). The funds will be used for the deployment of 5,000 electric motorcycles and the large-scale expansion of their automated battery-swapping network in Nairobi and throughout East Africa. Arc Ride aims to reduce costs and downtime for riders and establish itself as a sector leader in battery-as-a-service for motorcycles. This funding will enable the roll-out of a battery-swapping network. Leta – $5 million Leta is a Nairobi-based SaaS company that optimises freight and delivery logistics by providing AI-powered route
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Cheaper and cleaner: In UNILAG, electric buses are changing how students move
Abigail Adekunle, a geophysics student at the University of Lagos, is standing in line waiting for a bus; one of a score of electric buses shuttling students and faculty from one end of the campus to the other. Since the deployment of the electric buses, the familiar line of students waiting for cabs at the campus gate has quietly disappeared. “It is affordable, and its last bus stop is closer to my faculty,” Adekunle says. “Although I wish they could provide more buses to eliminate the long queues.” Once a bus arrives, Adekunle will pay ₦100 in cash or with a Cowry card and board the bus which will launch out quietly, leaving no trail of smoke. In December, 2024, Chart Eco Global Services, a sustainability organisation, in partnership with Ogata Global Resources, launched ten electric buses on campus to reduce transportation fares by 50% and lower carbon emissions. Both Henry Eke (Chairman, Ogata Global Resources) and Itunuoluwa Okusami (CEO, Chart Eco Global Services) are former students of the university. Six months since the deployment, the buses are changing the ways students’ commute around campus. Before the deployment of the EV buses, cabs were the primary mode of transportation within the campus. Fares were fixed at ₦50 but jumped to ₦200 after then newly elected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government removed fuel subsidies. The electric buses have now become the dominant choice. The electric shuttle system launched with ten buses, which has since doubled. Okusanmi, who currently manages the buses’ campus operations, noted that they will acquire an additional ten buses this year to eradicate queues and adequately cater for all commuters. Students say that the electric buses are more comfortable and convenient than the cramped back seats of regular cabs. Law student Olajumoke Akinmusere said she preferred the electric buses because they cost less than the campus cabs. “Although I still take cabs whenever I am in a hurry for classes to avoid the queues.” However, preference for commuters with Cowry cards over those with cash remains a conundrum. “I don’t understand why. There can be a long queue, and you feel excited to board the long-awaited bus, only for them to prioritise people with a Cowry card and leave others in the line regardless of the position they arrive,” Akinmusere said. Launched by University Lagos alumni and a sustainability organisation, the campus electric buses offer more comfort and protect the environment at cheaper rates. Image Source: Azeezat Olatunde Before EVs Before the electric buses, students primarily commuted via cabs managed by the Unique Transport Association. In addition, there were campus shuttles (yellow Danfo buses) that transported students from the Yaba and Bariga areas to campus. Occasionally, these shuttles would also pick up students within campus boundaries en route to their designated station at the Centre for Information and Technology Systems (CITS) bus stop. In May 2023, President Tinubu announced the removal of Nigeria’s long-standing fuel subsidy. This policy shift caused petrol prices to surge from ₦185 per litre in early 2023 to as high as ₦1,025 in 2024, though prices varied slightly across regions. As fuel costs soared, campus cab fares also climbed steadily, rising from ₦50 to ₦70 in mid-2023, then to ₦100 and ₦150 over the following months, before reaching ₦200 by December 2024. These increases strained students’ pockets and altered their commuting habits. “I was initially happy about getting a room at Kofo hostel because it’s big,” said Ameerah Junaid, a 300-level mass communication student. “But when transport fares became expensive, I stopped going back to my hostel during class breaks. If I couldn’t afford to wait in line when there’s a long queue in the evening, I’d just walk or stay around my department until there was no queue.” According to Ganiu Hassan, vice chairman of the cab operators’ union, about 150 registered cars operate on campus. There is always a queue and long wait times during the peak hours of 8:00 a.m. and after lectures, leaving many students to either walk or delay their movement entirely. While there is no official data on the number of commuters they get, he acknowledged a noticeable decline in patronage since the launch of the electric buses in December 2024. How it is operated Oluwaseun Oluwafemi, the field supervisor of the EV shuttle system, explained that they have two types of buses. One can operate for up to three hours on a full charge, while the other lasts approximately five hours. Out of the twenty buses on campus, twelve are deployed daily, each completing an average of 60 trips between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. The buses transport an average of 6,000 students daily. The morning rush peaks at the campus gate, while evenings are busiest at the campus station, reflecting the flow of students heading to classes and returning to their hostels. UNILAG’s charging station, located in the engineering department, contributed to it being the ideal place to start the EV bus operation. “We initially planned on charging our EV buses there,” he disclosed. However, the institution provided a space in the Academic Publishing Centre for them to establish a charging station and park their EV buses. Giving back Okusanmi, an alumni, frequents the University of Lagos campus, and on one occasion, noticed that cab fares had increased to ₦200. This worried him; indigent students may find it hard to move around for their school tasks, a concern that was validated by the number of students he observed walking to and from lectures halls and department buildings. “Once you identify a problem, instead of going to sleep, you develop innovations. That’s exactly what we did,” Okusanmi said. His two-year-old Lagos-based company, Chart Eco Global Services, audits carbon emissions for organisations of all sizes, providing them with the tools to measure, manage, and reduce their carbon footprint. “When we identify a problem, we partner with technology providers to achieve our aim. In this instance, we collaborated with Ogata Resources to provide the electric buses, while ours is to
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Cross-border payments as the next frontier for harnessing Africa’s potential
Not long ago, physical cash was the only viable payment method across Africa. Today, the continent is transforming how money moves, driven by local innovation, growing digital infrastructure, and a new generation of businesses building solutions that connect markets and create opportunity. Africa isn’t just catching up in digital payments; it’s leading in it. Mobile money, which has expanded financial access to millions globally, is rooted in Africa. In 2024, the continent was home to 1.1 billion out of the world’s 2.1 billion registered mobile money accounts, contributing to over 65% of the total $1.68 trillion transaction value. We’ve also seen rapid growth in Instant Payment Systems (IPS). In 2017, Africa had just two IPS networks. By 2024, this number increased to fourteen, processing more than a trillion dollars in transactions in 2023 alone. These are impressive milestones. But despite this progress, our payment landscape remains fragmented. The very innovation that powers local ecosystems is also creating disconnected systems, especially when it comes to cross-border access. Financial access still tends to cluster in urban centres, leaving rural and peri-urban populations underserved. Rather than expanding access, we risk deepening access for those already included. Making cross-border payments seamless, affordable, and secure is still a work in progress. Much of Africa’s digital payment success stems from strong local or regional systems, but many don’t talk to each other. This lack of interoperability is a major barrier to scaling intra-African trade and enabling broader economic participation. Cross-border payment interoperability is the next frontier. It’s the foundation needed to power the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and other regional harmonisation efforts. When done right, it allows buyers and sellers across borders to transact as easily as if they were in the same market. So, what’s holding us back? Africa’s financial landscape is diverse and complex, with 54 countries, over 40 currencies, and hundreds of payment methods. For global businesses, this often results in friction, such as operational delays, liquidity challenges, and regulatory uncertainty. Even with strong platforms like ours at Flutterwave, where we operate in 35+ countries and engage with a wide range of partners, there are still foundational issues to solve. One of the most critical is identity. Knowing who is sending or receiving money isn’t just a regulatory requirement; it’s essential to building trust and securing transactions. Without widespread access to digital identity systems, we cannot deliver scalable, inclusive financial solutions. Equally important is liquidity, especially in cross-border B2B payments. African businesses often struggle with currency mismatches, dollar shortages, and delayed settlements. Embracing new technologies such as stablecoins and blockchain infrastructure through industry efforts like the Circle Payment Network can unlock faster settlements and greater predictability. This isn’t just about merchants, it’s about everyday people, too. Think of the diaspora sending money home with lower fees and faster delivery. That’s real impact. Credit data is another essential pillar requiring urgent attention, especially for small and medium-sized businesses, who will benefit the most from convenient capital access to grow their business. The absence of comprehensive and accessible credit information often limits their ability to secure loans and expand their operations. Of course, none of this works without the right regulatory environment. The positive news is that many African regulators are leaning into exploring and, in some cases, guiding the development of blockchain and other emerging tools. However, the lack of harmonised regulation across countries remains a hurdle. For businesses, this leads to higher compliance costs and slower expansion. Ultimately, no single player can solve this alone. The future of digital finance in Africa lies in collaboration between fintechs, banks, regulators, telecom operators, and global networks. We need a “network of networks” model where platforms interoperate, not compete for control. This is how we drive practical innovation, scale adoption of tools like stablecoins, and most importantly, serve the real needs of people and businesses across Africa. _________ Omosalewa Adeyemi is the seasoned EVP of Global Expansion & Payment Partnerships at Flutterwave. With over a decade of leadership, she’s spearheaded expansion into 20+ countries, securing 30+ financial partnerships and 50+ payment integrations. Her expertise in financial analysis, risk management, and process optimization drives Flutterwave’s global growth and seamless financial inclusion. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
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My Life in Tech: Frederick Abila is building Ghana’s AI future from a dorm room in Tarkwa
It’s a rainy evening in Lagos. I am speaking with 21-year-old Ghanaian innovator Frederick Abila, a second-year student of computer science and engineering at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) in Ghana’s Western Region. He has just returned to his room after launching a hackathon for over 70 young Ghanaians, challenging them to create software applications that address specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The hackathon will end in mid-August. At 21, Abila has created three AI-powered platforms: Buzz Chat, Study Graph, and Legalyse, each tackling a problem he believes to be overlooked or misunderstood. “I’ve sacrificed a lot of my time, my youth and almost everything for this,” he says. “I’ve never had the luxury of having fun and constantly hanging out with peers and living a normal life. I’m always trying to think about how tech can make everyone’s lives better.” From fiction to function Before the products and the code, Abila was a curious 14-year-old in Accra trying to publish short stories. He grew up in the Ghanaian capital, with roots in the Central Region. His first love was storytelling. As a teenager, he wrote fiction and spent hours online trying to figure out how to share his work with the world. “I was constantly on Google and started wondering what was behind the search engine,” he recalls. “I’d search for something and immediately get results. I wanted to know what made that happen.” It was this curiosity that pulled him into the world of technology. Using free online resources, he taught himself how to code. In 2019, whilst still in boarding school, he built an e-commerce platform for local vendors. But it stalled when he tried to integrate payments. “I needed to add a payment system and couldn’t find Ghana on PayPal’s list of supported countries,” he says. “That’s when it dawned on me; almost every tech product we use in Africa is made by someone who isn’t African.” The project eventually shut down because he couldn’t manage it remotely from school. But the experience planted a seed: What if tech in Africa wasn’t built elsewhere? “If PayPal can block us from using their service, what stops Facebook or Instagram from doing the same?” he wondered. That realisation would later inspire his most ambitious project. My Life in Tech: I’m a blind journalist. Tech has changed my life, but there’s room for more inclusivity Buzz Chat: More than social media Buzz Chat began as Abila’s response to the idea that foreign-owned platforms could arbitrarily exclude African users. But when AI tools gained momentum in 2022, he saw an opportunity to build something deeper. “The very first AI I added was Charles, a chatbot that mimics real human conversations,” he explains. “People didn’t even realise it was AI; they thought it was a real person.” Charles was soon followed by Ember, a mental health chatbot designed to offer emotional support rather than amplify the comparison and toxicity that often define social media. “I realised how social media usually causes mental health issues,” he says. “I wanted to turn that around and make it positive.” Buzz Chat now has over 13,000 users, mostly students and young professionals in Ghana, according to Abila. For many, it offers more than a social platform but a digital ecosystem that serves need beyond social connections. “I looked at Facebook and realised how many jobs a social platform could create,” he says. “I want Buzz Chat to do that for Ghana.” Mapping my AI brain Study Graph and Legalyse: Personalised learning, simulated justice Abila’s second project, Study Graph, addresses a challenge he’s experienced firsthand: a rigid education system that doesn’t cater to different learning styles. “Sometimes I struggle in school; not because I’m not smart, but because the teaching style doesn’t work for me,” he says. “Study Graph adapts to how each person learns.” Unlike traditional e-learning platforms, Study Graph analyses a student’s learning history. Users upload transcripts, and the platform tailors study materials to their preferred style: visual summaries, audio lectures, or interactive quizzes. “I’d call it a co-pilot for students,” he says. “It understands every bit of a student’s learning life and offers tools to help them progress.” Then there’s Legalyse, an AI-powered legal training platform. Inspired by conversations with law students frustrated by the lack of practical experience, Legalyse lets users simulate real legal cases without needing a license. “With Legalyse, they pick a case, choose to be the prosecutor or defender, and go through an entire trial simulation with a virtual judge,” Abila explains. The platform, like many AI applications, is built on large language models, trained with jurisdiction-specific data, and designed to make legal education immersive and hands-on. Togolese developer, Martino Yovo, wants to pull down language barriers for francophone techies The hidden cost of innovation Abila’s parents were initially unsure about his path. His mother, who once hoped he’d become a doctor, struggled to understand why her son was always in front of a laptop. “She never said she hated what I was doing, but I could tell she wasn’t happy,” he says. “They didn’t understand why I’d sit in front of my laptop for hours.” Even at university, most of his lecturers don’t know the full scope of his work. “They know the name, but they don’t know the person behind it,” he says quietly. It has taken an emotional toll. But what keeps him going, he says, is the shared sense of purpose he finds in solving real-world problems. “I feel most alive when I discover a problem others also face and decide to solve it.” Despite the traction his solutions have gained, Abila has faced rejections in his bid to scale his ideas and products. He’s applied four times to the Y Combinator accelerator program without securing a spot. “I see people doing lesser things in the US and getting into YC,” he says, frustration creeping into his voice. The bias isn’t just institutional, he says. “At one point, people assumed Buzz Chat
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BasiGo launches Kenya’s first electric Matatu pilot on intercity routes
Kenyan electric mobility startup BasiGo has launched the country’s first pilot programme for electric matatus (public transport minivans) on inter-city routes, a small but symbolic step in the country’s push to decarbonise public transport. Two transport Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (Saccos)—4NTE and Manchester Travellers Coach—will partake in the trial. One van each will ply the Nyahururu–Nyeri, Nyahururu–Nakuru, and Thika–Nairobi routes, all popular corridors about 100-250km outside the capital. The initiative extends BasiGo’s electric mobility vision from Nairobi’s congested urban centres to longer-distance transport corridors used daily by thousands of commuters. Each of the new vans has a range of 300 kilometres on a single charge and takes 90 minutes to recharge. BasiGo has installed charging stations in Thika and Nyahururu to support the trial. The vehicles will be offered under the company’s “Pay-As-You-Drive” model, a lease-to-own scheme aimed at matatu operators who can’t afford the steep upfront cost of new vehicles. “We are delighted to extend electric mobility beyond Nairobi, and electrify an iconic part of Kenya’s history — the matatu,” said Moses Nderitu, BasiGo Managing Director. “By partnering with SACCOs like 4NTE and Manchester, we’re showing that electric mobility is not only possible, but practical for intercity and inter-county transit.” Wilfred Kimotho, chairman of 4NTE Sacco, which runs vehicles between Nyahururu, Nakuru, and Nyeri, called the partnership a “step into the future,” adding that the sector can’t afford to be left behind as the rest of the world transitions to cleaner energy. The electric matatu, though, has plenty to prove. Kenya’s matatu network is informal, heavily diesel-dependent, and notoriously hard to regulate. Operators are often sceptical of change, and many lack the capital or trust in new technology to make the switch. Charging infrastructure also remains thin outside of major cities, and questions remain about how EVs will hold up on rougher rural roads and during peak demand. If the pilot succeeds, BasiGo says it will scale up quickly. The company, which launched in 2021, is targeting more than 1,000 electric vans across Kenya in the next few years. Like its electric buses, the vans will eventually be assembled locally. In 2024, it raised $41.5 million to expand its assembly line in Nairobi. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
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Weeks after Copia’s collapse, co-founder, top executives quietly registered new startup
One month after Kenya’s Copia Global collapsed in May 2024 under the weight of operational debt and failure to raise fresh funding, its top executives quietly returned to the e-commerce scene with a new startup. Tim Steel, Copia’s former chief executive; Michael King, its former chief technology officer; and co-founder and executive chairperson Tracey Turner have launched Stahili, a new e-commerce platform that promises cashback, discounts, and mobile data rewards for user engagement. Corporate filings seen by TechCabal show the company was registered in June 2024, barely a month after Copia was placed under administration. The company is already operational in Kenya, with a live website offering deals on its products. The launch comes at a sensitive time for Copia’s creditors, employees, and investors, many of whom are still struggling with the aftermath of one of Kenya’s most high-profile startup collapses. Filings at the Business Registration Service (BRS) show Stahili is wholly owned by Copia Holding Company, a US-registered entity linked to Turner and previously associated with the now-defunct Copia Global. While Copia shut down its operations in Kenya and Uganda by September 2024, the holding company appears to have survived and is now the corporate parent of the new platform. Turner and Steel did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication. In January 2025, Turner started Olverra, a US-registered entity that helps African artisans sell handmade products abroad. Her LinkedIn profile shows Turner serves as the executive chair, and Vijay Otieno, a Kenyan data engineer, is the CEO. According to a short description on Turner’s LinkedIn page, Stahili draws inspiration from early Groupon in the US and Coupang in South Korea, promising to empower lower-income African consumers by rewarding them for participating in surveys and offering feedback to brands. Founded in 2012, Copia had built its model on serving rural and peri-urban households using an agent-driven last-mile delivery system. For years, it was heralded as one of Africa’s most promising tech-for-good stories. Backed by DOB Equity, Goodwell Investments, Enza Capital, Lightrock, and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the startup raised over $123 million (KES15.8 billion) across seven rounds. Its final raise, a $20 million injection in December 2023, came just months before the company’s abrupt collapse. Despite the deep investor pool, Copia never turned a profit in its 12-year existence. Its strategy—typical of venture-backed startups—focused on growth before profitability, betting that rapid market capture would eventually justify the burn. Despite its lofty ambitions, Copia never turned a profit. By early 2024, operational costs had spiralled, margins were under pressure, and the company failed to secure a sustainable lifeline after its final $20 million funding round in December 2023. In May 2024, the company filed for voluntary administration. It was wound down by September, with administrators moving to liquidate its remaining assets to pay creditors. It is still unclear whether Stahili will seek new funding and from which investors. If it is Copia’s spiritual successor, it faces the same challenge that collapsed its predecessor: delivering value to rural consumers at scale, without burning through capital faster than revenues can catch up. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
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Safaricom adds PayPal withdrawals to M-PESA app to woo Kenya’s remote workers
Safaricom has added PayPal withdrawals to the M-PESA super app, making it easier for Kenyan users, particularly freelancers and remote workers, to access funds earned abroad. The move aims to capture a larger share of Kenya’s fast-growing digital freelance economy, where many rely on PayPal to receive payments from international clients. The new feature, introduced as a mini app within M-PESA, eliminates the need to use a separate web portal to transfer PayPal funds, a process long criticized for delays and clunky user experience. This marks the first time users can withdraw directly from PayPal via the app, bypassing multiple logins and browser redirects. The feature complements Equity Bank’s PayPal withdrawal service, Kenya’s only instant bank-linked option. With M-PESA’s transaction volumes and user engagement at all-time highs, Safaricom is doubling down on embedding financial tools that deepen user stickiness and expand revenue from its mobile money platform. The update comes as M-PESA’s role in Safaricom’s business expands. Mobile money revenue for the company rose 15.2% year-on-year to KES 161.1 billion ($1.25 billion) in the year ended March 2025, according to Safaricom’s financial statements. That growth was driven by a 20.3% rise in chargeable transactions per active user, now at 37.92 monthly, and a 10.5% increase in one-month active customers, which reached 35.82 million. Average revenue per M-PESA user grew 9.4% to KES 395.22 ($3.06), while the number of agents in the network rose 14.1% to nearly 299,000, helping Safaricom sustain broad physical access to cash-in and cash-out services. The M-PESA app has been downloaded 13.7 million times and now supports 4.7 million customers. In 2024, Safaricom processed KES 2.3 trillion ($17.83 billion) through the app. M-PESA wallets support balances of up to KES 500,000 ($3,875), with a single transaction cap of KSh 250,000 ($1,938) and a daily transaction limit set at KES 500,000. While Equity Bank remains the go-to option for larger PayPal withdrawals—supporting up to $10,000 per transaction—the app-based route offers a faster, bank-free alternative for users moving smaller sums or seeking more direct control. Kenyan users have also turned to alternatives like Wise and Payoneer to receive international payments, citing better FX rates and fewer restrictions. Still, PayPal remains a dominant channel, and integrating it into the M-PESA app could help Safaricom lock in more transaction volume and deepen user engagement at a time when the mobile money market is shifting. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
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