Lagos wants to triple its data centre capacity by 2030 as AI demand surges
The Lagos State government plans to increase the city’s data centre capacity to more than 250 megawatts (MW) by 2030, said Olatubosun Alake, commissioner for innovation, science, and technology. Alake said Lagos already hosts nearly three-quarters of Nigeria’s commercial data centre capacity, but the state intends to significantly expand its infrastructure footprint over the next five years. “There are about 146 additional megawatt data centres planned in the pipeline,” he said at the launch of the Kasi Cloud LOS1 data centre facility in Lekki. “We envisage that by 2030, we would have over 250 megawatts of data centre capacity in Lagos, three times the current capacity growth.” The expansion comes as demand for cloud services, AI computing power, and local data storage continues to grow across Nigeria’s digital economy. Lagos is home to one of Africa’s largest startup ecosystems, valued at more than $15 billion. That growth is expected to drive a major increase in data centre investments. According to research firm Arizton Advisory & Intelligence, Nigeria is projected to become Africa’s fastest-growing data centre investment market, with annual investments expected to hit nearly $770 million by 2031. Alake said the Kasi Cloud facility represents Lagos’ entry into “large-scale hyperscale AI infrastructure,” signalling the state’s ambition to evolve beyond being known primarily as a startup hub into a major centre for digital infrastructure and AI computing. “Lagos is no longer simply a startup city,” he said. “It is an infrastructure city.” The Kasi LOS1 facility is designed as a 40MW hyperscale data centre campus, beginning operations with an initial 7.2MW IT load. According to Alake, the facility includes advanced GPU computing infrastructure powered by Nvidia H100 and H200 chips, alongside liquid cooling systems and cloud infrastructure services designed to support AI workloads. The Lagos government believes such infrastructure will become critical as AI adoption accelerates globally. Alake said the state is investing in fibre optic networks, smart city technologies, university innovation programmes, and digital government systems to prepare for the transition. “The AI economy is going to require hundreds [of megawatts],” he said. “The market has already made its decision about where digital infrastructure belongs.” Johnson Agbogun, co-founder and chief executive officer of Kasi Cloud, said the project was built to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on foreign cloud infrastructure and give African businesses more control over how their data and AI systems are developed. “Nigerian enterprises are currently spending $850 million every year on foreign cloud infrastructure,” he said. “Every naira spent abroad on cloud and AI infrastructure helps build capabilities somewhere else.” He added that the facility runs GPU-powered AI workloads from local enterprises and described the Lekki campus as “the beginning of Nigeria’s AI factory.” Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), the manager of Nigeria’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, invested in Kasi Cloud through a US$8 million convertible loan note. “As artificial intelligence reshapes economies globally, the nations that control their own compute infrastructure and data will be the ones positioned to lead,” Kolawole Owodunni, NSIA’s Executive Director and Chief Information Officer, said. But data centre operators still face major challenges, including energy costs that have surged by 64.1% since January 2026, unstable national electricity generation hovering between 3,000MW and 4,000MW, foreign exchange volatility, and cooling systems that consume nearly 40% of total energy costs. Building hyperscale facilities also requires significant long-term capital investments and stable connectivity infrastructure. Despite the hurdles, Lagos officials insist the city is already positioning itself as Africa’s next major digital infrastructure hub. “Lagos is not coming,” Alake said. “It is already here.”
Read MoreEverything announced at the Google I/O 2026
Table of contents 1. AI and Gemini 2. Google Search 3. Google Workspace and Productivity 4. Shopping 5. YouTube 6. Android and Hardware 7. Developer Tools 8. Google Play 9. Google AI Subscription Plan Changes Release Dates at a Glance Google held its annual developer conference, Google I/O 2026, on May 19 and 20 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. The two-day event is where Google shares its biggest product updates and roadmap with developers and the public. This year was almost entirely about AI. From the first minute of the keynote, CEO Sundar Pichai made it clear that Google is now building every product around Gemini, its family of AI models. The theme he kept coming back to: AI that not only answers your questions but also takes action for you. Below is a breakdown of everything Google announced, organised by category, with a table of release dates at the end. What is Google I/O? Google I/O is Google’s annual developer conference. It started in 2008 and has grown into one of the biggest tech events of the year. Google uses it to show off new software, AI models, and hardware previews to developers first, before they reach the general public. This year, the keynote was watched live by tens of thousands of people around the world. Where was it held? Google I/O 2026 took place at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, which is near Google’s main headquarters. The keynote kicked off on May 19 at 1 p.m. ET (6 p.m. BST / 7 p.m. WAT). On-demand sessions and codelabs will become available on May 21. Everything Google announced at I/O 2026 1. AI and Gemini Gemini 3.5 Flash is now the default model Google launched Gemini 3.5 Flash as its new default AI model across the Gemini app and AI Mode in Google Search. According to Google, it runs four times faster than comparable frontier models and costs less than half the price. It is available globally as of May 19, including in Nigeria, at no extra cost on the free tier. Gemini 3.5 Pro is coming next month Google confirmed that Gemini 3.5 Pro is in internal testing and will roll out in June 2026. Gemini Omni: a model that understands text, images, audio, and video Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis introduced Gemini Omni, a new multimodal model that accepts text, images, audio, and video and outputs video. It is available now in the Gemini app, Google Flow, and YouTube Shorts for AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers. Developer API access is coming in the next few weeks. Gemini Spark: your AI that keeps working while your phone is locked Pichai’s biggest announcement was Gemini Spark, a 24/7 personal AI agent that runs on Google Cloud and keeps working even when your phone is locked or your laptop is closed. It can: Parse your credit card statements for hidden subscriptions Monitor your inbox and flag deadlines from school emails Write up meeting notes into a Google Doc and email it out Draft project kickoff emails from a quick voice note It connects to Gmail, Docs, and Workspace at launch. Third-party app support via MCP (a standard for connecting AI to apps) is coming over the summer. Gemini Spark is rolling out to US AI Ultra subscribers ($100/month) as a beta next week. Daily Brief: your morning AI summary A new Gemini agent called Daily Brief creates a personalised morning digest from your Gmail, Calendar, and Tasks. It is rolling out to AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers in the US starting today. The Gemini app gets a full redesign The Gemini app on Android, iOS, and the web has been visually overhauled. Google is calling the new look ‘Neural Expressive.’ The new design includes a pill-shaped prompt box, fluid animations, haptic feedback, and inline images and videos instead of plain text walls. Gemini Live is now inline rather than full-screen. This is rolling out globally now. How usage limits are changing The Gemini app is moving away from daily prompt limits. Going forward, limits will reset every five hours until you hit a weekly cap. Complex prompts, such as videos or code, will use more of your allowance than simple text questions. Project Genie meets Street View Google DeepMind’s Project Genie can now connect to real Google Street View imagery and let you generate an interactive virtual world built around that location. This is available today for AI Ultra subscribers on the $200/month plan, for users aged 18 and above. For now, only US Street View imagery is supported. SynthID watermarking expands Google is bringing AI watermark detection to Google Search and Chrome. You will be able to right-click any image and check whether it was AI-generated. Pichai said SynthID has already watermarked over 100 billion images, videos, and audio files. OpenAI, Kakao, and Eleven Labs are now adopting SynthID too. Gemini for Science A new set of AI research tools that connects Google’s Antigravity platform to over 30 major life-science databases. Available today on GitHub and inside Antigravity as ‘Science Skills.’ Google’s new AI chips: TPU 8t and 8i Google announced its first dual-chip TPU generation. The 8t chip is built for large-scale AI training and delivers nearly three times the raw compute of its predecessor. The 8i chip handles inference. Both deliver up to two times better performance per watt. Google can now distribute AI training across more than one million TPUs globally. 2. Google Search The Search box gets its biggest upgrade in 25 years Google says the redesigned Search box is the biggest upgrade to Search in over 25 years. The box now expands as you type, predicts what you are looking for, and accepts images, files, videos, and Chrome tabs as inputs alongside text. This is live globally today, including in Nigeria. Information agents: Search that monitors topics for you New personalised agents will work in the background around the clock to track news, blogs, social posts, and
Read MoreHe started building in military-era Nigeria. Now he builds AI HR software.
In the 1990s, when most Nigerian businesses still relied on paper files, fax machines, and office memos, Chuma Chukwujama was already convinced software was the future he should pursue. Fresh out of studying electrical and electronics engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, one of Nigeria’s premier universities, in 1996, he had realised something early: he did not want to become a traditional engineer. Nigeria was still under military rule; engineering jobs were limited despite a high employment rate of over 82%, which was mostly informal; and the internet economy, which would later reshape business operations worldwide, was only beginning to take shape. So instead of searching endlessly for employment, Chukwujama started building technology. “If thousands of engineering graduates came out of universities at the time, only a small fraction could find actual engineering jobs,” Chukwujama told TechCabal in an interview. So I started asking myself what else I could do, and that was how I began building technology.” He started his first company, Allied Technologies, in 1996 at a time when businesses globally were beginning to shift from paper-based operations to digital tools. That same year, Microsoft released products that helped make computers and the internet more practical for everyday business use. These included Internet Explorer 3.0, one of Microsoft’s early web browsers that helped popularise internet browsing, and Windows CE 1.0, a lightweight operating system designed for early handheld and portable devices. In November 1996, Microsoft Office 97 introduced Outlook, combining email, calendars, and scheduling into a single workplace application. As businesses slowly adopted these tools, Allied Technologies positioned itself to help Nigerian companies make the transition. The company assisted organisations in setting up computers, connecting office systems, and deploying Microsoft technologies, according to Chukwujama. In 2001, Chukwujama and his co-founder, Duke Obasi, renamed their company AlliedSoft as Nigeria’s telecom sector opened to new operators such as MTN Nigeria and Econet. The company began developing custom software for telecom operators, banks, and other large organisations. AlliedSoft built systems such as SIM registration platforms and other business software to help organisations manage their operations more efficiently. While working with these companies, Chukwujama noticed that many businesses struggled with managing their workforce and employee records. Sensing an opportunity, the company expanded into HR software development in 2004 as an additional service. But building business software at the time came with major limitations. “When we started building technology, there was no cloud computing,” Chukwujama recalled. At the time, deploying software was expensive and technically demanding. In 2004, a mid-range enterprise server such as a Dell PowerEdge or HP ProLiant could cost between $5,000 and $15,000 per unit, excluding the additional cost of server racks, cooling systems, and networking equipment. For many medium-sized businesses, setting up a functional server room often starts at around $30,000. Companies also needed physical servers inside their offices, internal networks connecting branches, and dedicated IT teams just to keep business applications running. The affordability gaps were glaring. Only large corporations could afford enterprise software infrastructure, including physical servers, internal computer networks, databases, internet systems, storage devices, and the IT teams that manage them. Smaller businesses were effectively shut out. “The way software was built then required companies to keep physical servers inside their offices,” Chukwujama explained. “Businesses also needed internal networks, and larger companies had to connect multiple branches through wide area networks. It was expensive and difficult to manage.” That began to change around 2010 with the global launch of Microsoft Azure and the arrival of the MainOne submarine cable in Nigeria, the country’s first privately-owned cable, which improved internet access and made cloud computing more practical for businesses. Companies no longer needed to build expensive, diesel-powered server rooms inside their offices. Instead, they could host their systems in professional data centres such as MDXi and Rack Centre, where businesses shared the cost of industrial cooling, backup power, and internet infrastructure. The shift significantly reduced operating costs, in some cases by as much as 40%, while making software deployment faster and more reliable. By 2015, Chukwujama realised the shift to cloud technology could no longer be ignored. Companies around the world were moving away from traditional client-server systems to cloud-native platforms delivered over the internet, forcing software companies to rethink how they built and delivered products. “That was the conversation happening between 2010 and 2015,” he said. “Everybody had to decide whether to continue building software the old way or move fully into the cloud.” His company chose the latter. The business, which had previously operated as Allied Technologies and later Allied Software, evolved into Xceed365HR Limited in 2015, focused entirely on cloud-native HR software. A decade later, the company restructured again into Talpro Software, a broader software-as-a-service company with Xceed365HR as its flagship product. “We are building the HR ecosystem infrastructure for Africa,” Chukwujama said. That ambition comes as Nigeria’s enterprise software market grows increasingly crowded, with localised enterprise tech investments projected to exceed $2.45 billion by the end of 2023 as digital transformation accelerates. Global giants like SAP and Oracle remain dominant benchmarks for many large organisations, while newer startups continue to emerge across payroll, HR, and workplace management. At home, Xceed365HR is facing competition from Pade and Seamless HR. But Chukwujama believes African businesses still face a deeper problem: most global enterprise tools were not designed for African realities. “The paradigm has always been that technology is agnostic,” he said. “But what works globally does not always work here.” That localisation challenge, he argues, extends beyond language or currency support. Xceed365HR is designed to build around those complexities instead of ignoring them, according to Chukwujama. The company is integrating directly with African fintech infrastructure so businesses can move seamlessly from HR workflows into payroll and payment systems without relying on multiple disconnected platforms, according to Chukwujama. The next leap, however, may come from artificial intelligence. While many software companies are still trying to bolt AI assistants onto existing systems, Chukwujama says Talpro rebuilt its upcoming platform version entirely around AI agents. The “V3” system, which would
Read MoreWhy Kenyan digital bank Cloud9 acquired Mtickets in $773,000 deal
Tesh Mbaabu believes that finance begins in personal life. People wake up thinking about where they want to go, who they want to meet, or what they want to do, and not their banks, he explained. While consumers may not actively think about financial services, money powers almost every decision they make. “That is why I think the intersection of lifestyle and fintech has become very important and interesting,” he told TechCabal in an interview on Thursday, May 14. “It’s not just about moving money; it’s about what you can offer beyond payments infrastructure.” That thinking formed the rationale behind why Cloud9, the Kenyan digital bank Mbaabu founded with Mesongo Sibuti, acquired Kenyan ticketing platform M-Tickets in an all-stock deal valued at roughly KES 100 million ($773,000). The deal comes seven months after the cofounders exited Chpter, the social commerce startup that helps businesses sell and communicate with customers across platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram. The acquisition gives Cloud9 access to a platform that says it has processed more than one million tickets across concerts, transport and sports events since 2014. “On the surface, Mtickets looks like a ticketing platform,” Mbaabu said. “But for us, we see it as a really strong point of contact with the youth, while they’re going about their daily lives.” Mbaabu told TechCabal that Mtickets will continue operating as a standalone brand under CEO and founder Brian Bogonko, adding that Mtickets’ services will be integrated directly into the Cloud9 app. Cloud9 users can buy tickets on Mtickets and on its app. Event organisers and vendors will also be able to receive payments through Cloud9’s business banking infrastructure. He also noted that the acquisition could create lending opportunities for event organisers that need upfront capital before ticket revenues come in. Cloud9 intends to use transaction histories and sales performance data from the platform to assess creditworthiness and extend financing to selected organisers, he said. First announced in October 2025, Cloud9 targets younger African consumers who earn and transact online. The startup offers multicurrency accounts, cross-border payments, virtual cards, savings products and investment tools through partnerships with regulated banks. Users can hold Kenyan shillings, US dollars, euros, Tanzanian shillings and Ugandan shillings within the app, he noted. Cloud9 currently generates revenue through transaction fees and subscription-based account tiers ranging from a free plan to a KES 999 ($7.73) monthly subscription. The paid tiers include features such as cashback and unlimited transfers. The deal pushes Cloud9 into competition with digital banks, fintech startups and ticketing platforms such as TicketSasa and Ticket Yetu. Mbaabu argued that Cloud9’s advantage lies in building financial services around user behaviour. Before Cloud9, Mbaabu and Sibuti co-founded social commerce startup Chpter and retail-tech company MarketForce. Mbaabu said both ventures shaped his understanding of how African consumers and merchants use digital services. “Each experience has built on top of the other in terms of just understanding what the continent needs from an innovation perspective,” he said. “It has made me better positioned to join the dots between how merchants operate and what they really need.” Cloud9 publicly launched in March 2026 after initially operating through a waitlist. The startup said it has thousands of users signed up and is recording hundreds of new registrations daily. Cloud9 plans to launch its business banking product publicly later this month and is exploring consumer credit and buy-now-pay-later products tied to ticket purchases and merchant activity on the platform. Mbaabu said the company remained open to more acquisitions and partnerships as it expands beyond consumer banking into embedded financial services. “The future of fintech won’t be defined by who builds the best banking app. It will be defined by who understands where life happens — and builds there first,” he wrote in his personal blog. “ For us, Mtickets is a step in that direction. Not because we want to be in ticketing. But because we want to be closer to life. And life doesn’t start in banking apps. It never did.”
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MTN’s IHS acquisition could change who controls connectivity in Francophone West Africa
19 mai 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 En février 2026, MTN Group, le plus grand opérateur de téléphonie mobile d’Afrique avec plus de 300 millions d’abonnés, a annoncé le rachat des 75,3 % restants du capital d’IHS Towers qu’il ne détenait pas encore, valorisant ainsi la société à environ 6,2 milliards de dollars. La transaction, financée en grande partie grâce aux quelque 1,1 milliard de dollars de trésorerie disponible chez IHS, complétée par des liquidités et des emprunts de MTN, entraînera la sortie d’IHS de la Bourse de New York (NYSE) et placera l’une des plus grandes sociétés de tours indépendantes au monde sous le contrôle total de MTN. IHS Towers, ce n’est pas n’importe quel actif d’infrastructure. Fondée au Nigeria en 2001, elle exploite près de 29 000 tours dans cinq marchés africains — le Nigeria, la Côte d’Ivoire, le Cameroun, la Zambie et le Rwanda — dont environ 2 678 tours en Côte d’Ivoire et 2 500 au Cameroun. Pendant des décennies, ces tours ont constitué l’épine dorsale des réseaux mobiles à travers l’Afrique francophone et anglophone, fonctionnant comme une infrastructure neutre accessible à tous les opérateurs. Cette ère de neutralité, c’est terminé. 1. Comment les tours sont gérées en Afrique francophone (au-delà d’IHS) Source de l’image : IHS Towers En Afrique francophone, IHS n’a jamais été le seul acteur, même s’il a toujours été le plus grand. En Côte d’Ivoire et au Cameroun, le paysage est plus complexe. IHS y occupe la position dominante, mais Orange, dans le cadre d’un accord de gestion et de licence de location, avait confié à IHS la gestion de plus de 2 000 de ses propres tours dans ces deux marchés pendant 15 ans, tout en restant propriétaire de ces actifs. Par ailleurs, Aktivco, le bras spécialisé dans les services énergétiques de la société française d’infrastructure Camusat, gère des tours dans le cadre de contrats de type ESCO (Energy Services Company), notamment avec Orange en Côte d’Ivoire, au Niger et au Burkina Faso. Au Sénégal, la situation est différente. Helios Towers, la société londonienne de gestion de tours et troisième acteur du continent, est l’opérateur indépendant de référence, avec une équipe locale dédiée et un directeur général basé à Dakar. Al Karama Towers, une towerco sénégalaise soutenue par M&A Capital, est également active : elle a racheté les 625 sites d’Expresso Telecom dans le cadre d’une opération de cession-bail (sale-and-leaseback) et explore une expansion vers d’autres marchés ouest-africains. À l’échelle de la région, Helios Towers est présent au Sénégal, en République Démocratique du Congo (RDC), au Ghana, au Congo-Brazzaville, en Afrique du Sud et à Madagascar, avec plus de 8 000 tours sous gestion, se positionnant comme la principale alternative à IHS dans les marchés subsahariens. Ce tableau révèle un écosystème d’infrastructure fragmenté : les marchés francophones ont historiquement été desservis par une combinaison d’IHS (dominant en Côte d’Ivoire et au Cameroun), de Helios (dominant au Sénégal et en RDC), des actifs conservés par les opérateurs eux-mêmes (notamment Orange), et d’une poignée de petites towercos régionales. L’acquisition par MTN vient concentrer le plus grand bloc de cette infrastructure entre les mains d’un seul opérateur commercial. Le précédent mondial : les leçons de l’Asie et de l’Amérique latine Ce n’est pas la première fois qu’un grand marché émergent vit une telle consolidation de l’infrastructure télécom, et ce qui s’est passé ailleurs donne des signaux importants. L’Inde offre la comparaison la plus parlante. Quand Reliance Jio est entré sur le marché en 2016 avec des données gratuites et une tarification agressive, il a déclenché une vague de consolidation qui a réduit le nombre d’opérateurs majeurs de huit à pratiquement trois. Cela s’est directement répercuté sur le secteur des tours : Bharti Infratel et Indus Towers — cette dernière détenue en partie par Vodacom à l’époque — ont fusionné pour former la deuxième plus grande société de tours au monde hors Chine, gérant plus de 200 000 tours. Parallèlement, Brookfield Infrastructure a acquis environ 135 000 tours auprès de Reliance Jio dans le cadre d’une opération distincte de cession-bail. Résultat : un marché à deux acteurs avec les mêmes trois opérateurs comme clients principaux des deux. Cette concentration a certes généré des économies d’échelle, mais elle a aussi introduit un risque systémique : quand un opérateur ancre rencontre des difficultés financières — comme ce fut le cas pour Vodafone Idea —, tout le système vacille. Pour l’écosystème startup indien, la consolidation a eu un effet indirect mais réel : les coûts des données mobiles ont baissé après le débarquement de Jio, alimentant une croissance explosive dans la fintech, l’edtech et le e-commerce, mais la propriété de l’infrastructure est devenue très concentrée. L’Amérique latine offre une leçon différente. En l’espace d’une décennie à peine, les sociétés de tours indépendantes — menées par American Tower Corporation (ATC) et SBA Communications — en sont venues à posséder plus de 52 % de l’ensemble des tours télécom de la région. Ce mouvement était porté par les opérateurs qui cherchaient à alléger leurs actifs. SBA Communications a racheté 7 000 tours à Millicom ; KKR a acquis 1 100 tours Tigo en Colombie en janvier 2024 ; American Tower a porté son empreinte au Brésil à plus de 17 000 tours. Le modèle latino-américain a préservé la neutralité de l’infrastructure et maintenu des prix de colocation relativement ouverts. Cependant,
Read MoreSpotify now wants listeners to know when AI helped make a song
In late 2025, Papaoutai, a French-language song, exploded across streaming platforms. The song currently has close to 140 million streams on Spotify. What most listeners did not realise was that the viral afro-soul version remix of the 2013 hit by Belgian artist Stromae was created using AI, and with most music platforms lacking clear labelling for AI music, many listeners did not know. AI-generated tracks now account for 44% of all new music uploaded to the platform, according to streaming platform Deezer, and 97% of people it surveyed could not hear any difference between AI- and human-made music. As AI-generated music becomes harder to distinguish from human-created work, streaming platforms are being forced to answer uncomfortable questions about impersonation, fraud, ownership, and authenticity. For Spotify, this means introducing new safeguards to promote AI transparency on its platform. “We believe that to truly unlock the positives and the potential in AI, we need to protect against the worst,” Bryan Johnson, Spotify’s Head of Artist & Industry Partnerships, told TechCabal during a two-day event at the company’s new South African office in Johannesburg on May 14. One of Spotify’s biggest concerns is spam. Johnson said the company removed 75 million spammy tracks from the platform in the past year as AI tools made it easier to mass-produce low-quality or deceptive uploads. In September 2025, Spotify explained that its spam filter was created to identify uploaders and tracks engaging in spam tactics, including mass uploads, duplicates, SEO hacks, artificially short track abuse, and other forms of slop. The system was designed to tag these tracks and stop recommending them. The company is also overhauling its artist verification process to what it describes as a more human-centric system. Previously, artists who signed up for Spotify for Artists automatically received a verification badge. Under the new Verified by Spotify system, artists must now demonstrate sustained listening activity, avoid fraudulent behaviour, and show evidence of real-world artistic activity such as ticket sales, performances, or merchandise sales before receiving verification. “We want regular listening, so sustained listening activity, which I think is at least 10,000 monthly active listeners over three consecutive months,” Johnson said during a panel session. Spotify is also testing what it calls AI credits, a feature that would allow artists and labels to disclose whether AI was used during parts of a song’s creation, including songwriting, instrumentation, or production. The platform is currently working with a few distributors on this. “The information is delivered from the artist or songwriter to the distributor label, and they deliver it to Spotify, and we can surface that on the artist page,” Johnson said. “It is all about giving artists more control over their profile, their presence on the platform in this AI era, and giving listeners more trust.” For now, Spotify insists AI is not a problem. The company has rolled out several AI-powered listener features, including AI DJ, a personalised, AI-powered music guide, which Johnson said has reached about 94 million listeners since launch. “We are leveraging this technology to give the best experience for listeners and to give them more control over the platform,” he said. “On the artist side, we are taking protective measures there too.” Spotify’s changes reflect a wider industry shift. Deezer began tagging AI-generated tracks in June 2025 and says it tagged more than 13.4 million AI tracks on its platform that year alone. As synthetic voices become increasingly indistinguishable from human ones, streaming companies are moving beyond simply hosting music and are beginning to decide what authenticity should look like in the AI era.
Read MoreKenya appoints Adan Mohamed as tax chief amid revenue pressure
Kenya has appointed Adan Abdulla Mohamed as Commissioner General of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), in a major leadership reshuffle as President William Ruto’s government faces growing pressure to raise revenue without deepening public frustration over taxes. Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi appointed Mohamed to a three-year term effective immediately, according to a government gazette on Monday, formalising the leadership change at the country’s tax authority as Kenya struggles with rising debt servicing costs, weaker economic growth and persistent revenue shortfalls. Mohamed replaces Humphrey Wattanga, whose exit in April came abruptly after KRA’s board declined to renew his contract. The authority gave no detailed explanation for the decision beyond thanking him for his service and role in organisational restructuring. The move comes as tax collection has become one of the most politically sensitive parts of Ruto’s economic agenda. The government has leaned heavily on KRA to finance spending plans and narrow budget deficits, even as businesses and households grapple with high living costs and slower consumer demand. Under Wattanga, KRA expanded digital monitoring systems, tightened enforcement and increased scrutiny of businesses and imports in an effort to widen the tax base. Business groups and manufacturers said the measures increased compliance costs in an already weak economy. Mohamed takes over an agency expected to deliver stronger collections while avoiding further strain on economic activity. Parliament is currently debating proposals under the Finance Bill 2026 aimed at widening the tax net and tightening compliance measures. His appointment signals continuity in Kenya’s revenue strategy even after Wattanga’s abrupt exit. Kenya remains under pressure to improve domestic revenue mobilisation as part of broader fiscal reforms backed by lenders, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF). KRA collected KES 2.038 trillion ($15.7 billion) in the nine months through March 2026, missing its KES 2.122 trillion ($17 billion) target but posting 11.4% growth from a year earlier, according to KRA data. The revenue authority attributed the increase to wider digital compliance systems and data-driven tax administration, even as businesses continued to push back against rising enforcement pressure.
Read MoreAfrica Bitcoin Corporation upgrades listing to Johannesburg Stock Exchange Main Board
Africa Bitcoin Corporation (ABC), the South Africa-based Bitcoin treasury and SME financing firm, has applied to transfer its listing from South Africa’s Alternative Exchange (AltX), a board for smaller companies, to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s (JSE) Main Board. The transfer will move all of the company’s share classes, including its ordinary shares and preferred A, B, and C shares, to the JSE Main Board under the exchange’s General Segment classification, the company said in a statement on Monday. The JSE has approved the move set to take effect on Friday, May 22. The move is the latest step in Africa Bitcoin Corporation’s multi-exchange expansion across Africa, as it seeks to bring Bitcoin exposure to institutional investors through publicly traded stock exchanges. Questco Corporate Advisory Proprietary Limited, a South Africa-based advisory firm which previously acted as the company’s designated advisor, will become its JSE sponsor from the transfer date. In March, Africa Bitcoin Corporation completed a 3-for-1 share split and issued up to 22.9 million new ordinary shares to meet the minimum share capital requirements for a Main Board listing and additional international listings. “[Africa Bitcoin Corporation] has strategic ambitions to broaden its exchange footprint, including a potential migration to the JSE Main Board and participation on additional international trading platforms. Increasing the issued Ordinary Share capital will assist the [ABC] in achieving the minimum issued share capital criteria applicable to such exchange and market segments,” the company said in the March 25 filing. Under JSE Main Board listing requirements, companies seeking to list must have at least 25 million issued equity shares in circulation and meet one of two financial thresholds. They must either report a pre-tax profit of at least R15 million ($902,700) in the most recent financial year and hold net assets of at least R50 million ($3 million), or hold net assets of at least R500 million ($30 million). Africa Bitcoin Corporation met the profit threshold in the year ended February 2025, its last released full-year report. It earned R47.9 million ($2.9 million) in total profit. Most of it came from an R86.2 million ($5.2 million) fair value gain tied to its Altvest Credit Opportunities Fund (ACOF), the company’s SME lending arm, rather than from its core operations, according to the report. At the time, the company had 11 million ordinary shares in issue, less than half the JSE’s 25 million minimum for Main Board listings, which required it to issue additional shares. The Main Board listing gives the company more flexibility under JSE rules. Under the General Segment classification, Africa Bitcoin Corporation will not need shareholder approval to issue shares for cash, as long as the issuance stays below 10% of its issued share capital. The company can also repurchase some shares without shareholder approval and is no longer required to publish condensed financial results within three months of its financial year-end, according to the Monday filing. Africa Bitcoin Corporation, which now holds 5 Bitcoins in its reserves, said in 2025 that it planned to raise $210 million to build a Bitcoin treasury reserve, following the model popularised by firms like Strategy in the United States. The company is already listed on the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX), and trades on the OTCQB Ventures Market in the United States. ABC is also listed on German retail trading exchanges, including the Börse Frankfurt Quotation Board, Tradegate, and Lang & Schwarz. In October 2025, Warren Wheatley, ABC’s chief executive officer (CEO) and Stafford Masie, its executive chairman, told TechCabal that the company plans to pursue further listings across Africa, including in Botswana and Kenya, as well as London. As a listed Bitcoin treasury firm, ABC could raise capital through equity issuance, buy Bitcoin with the proceeds, and give investors indirect exposure to the digital asset through publicly traded shares. Public listings also allow ABC to sidestep crypto trading restrictions in some African markets. In countries where retail crypto trading is banned, investors can still gain exposure to Bitcoin by buying shares in the company.
Read MoreMoneyHash hires Hwan Lee as Africa regional director in continental expansion
MoneyHash, a Middle East and Africa-born startup that provides payment orchestration infrastructure for businesses, has appointed Hwan Lee as its Regional Director for Africa as the company plans its expansion across the continent. Lee joins MoneyHash after more than eight years at Ozow, a South African electronic funds transfer (EFT) systems provider, where he most recently served as Head of Partnerships. Earlier in his career at Ozow, Lee also held senior commercial and business development roles focused on expanding merchant relationships and market reach. The appointment aligns with MoneyHash’s ambition of building what it previously described as a fully agnostic payments infrastructure layer capable of aggregating payment Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and technical capabilities across providers and markets, which it could achieve by hiring the right people. “Africa represents one of the most exciting growth opportunities in global payments today,” said Nader Abdelrazik, Chief Executive Officer of MoneyHash. “Hwan’s leadership experience and deep market understanding will be instrumental as we expand across the continent and help businesses scale with greater control, flexibility, and efficiency.” Founded in early 2021 by Abdelrazik and Mustafa Eid, MoneyHash started as a payment orchestration platform focused on emerging markets, where businesses often struggle with fragmented payment systems. The company has since positioned itself as infrastructure that sits between merchants and payment providers, enabling businesses to integrate multiple gateways through one API instead of building separate integrations for each market. It offers smart payment routing, multi-currency payment processing, and a unified dashboard for complete operational control. As Regional Director for Africa, Lee will oversee MoneyHash’s commercial strategy and market development efforts across the continent, which will include strengthening partnerships with payment providers and merchants and driving business growth across priority markets. MoneyHash noted that Lee already played a role in expanding relationships with companies operating in African markets, including Luno, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, Lumepay, a digital payments company, and Moove, the Uber-backed vehicle financing startup. “I’m excited to join MoneyHash and help merchants unlock growth through stronger payment operations and modern infrastructure,” Lee said. The startup raised a $4.5 million seed round in early 2024 and a $5.2 million pre-Series A round in 2025. In its statement, it identified Africa as one of the core pillars of its international growth strategy, citing growth in digital commerce and cross-border payments across the continent.
Read MoreAs DFI money dries up, AFC is doubling down on African VC with $100 million
For nearly two decades, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) wrote cheques for bridges, ports, mines, and subsea cables. Now, the $19 billion Africa-focused development finance institution is doing something its own board initially resisted: betting $100 million on African venture capital. Future Africa, the early-stage venture capital firm, and LightRock Africa, an impact investment firm, have received a combined $40 million anchor commitment from AFC, making them the first firms to raise capital from an unlikely backer of African venture capital. Begna Gebreyes, the head of AFC’s technology division, is leading this pivot into tech investing for one of the largest Africa-focused development financial institutions. Future Africa, the fund led by renowned tech founder and investor Iyin Aboyeji, is getting $15 million, and LightRock Africa will get $25 million as the first deployments from a $100 million fund the AFC has earmarked for African venture capital. While the AFC has previously backed African startups, it is the first time that the AFC is investing directly into an African tech venture capital firm, a pivot from writing cheques for bridges, ports, mines, and subsea cables. The investment comes as funding from development finance institutions (DFIs), historically the largest source of funding for African venture capital, fell to new lows in 2025, with only 27% of total commitments coming from DFIs. Africa-focused fund managers raised just $107 million across six final closes in 2025, an 87% year-on-year drop by value, according to the African Private Capital Association. Established in 2007 and headquartered in Lagos, AFC has total assets of $19 billion. The DFI’s board, as Gebreyes recalls, initially pushed back on the idea of investing in African venture capital firms, telling him they sat on the board of an infrastructure developer, not a VC business. But Gebreyes, an Ethiopian banker who joined AFC 12 years ago as a sector-agnostic private equity product specialist, helped convince them to reconsider their decision. Investing in tech stemmed from an observation Gebreyes and colleagues made around 2021: that what would actually make the continent competitive was digital services such as fintech, e-commerce, e-logistics, e-government, and e-health. Supporting those services would drive traffic onto the subsea cables AFC had financed and content into the data centres it was building. It would prime the pump for the infrastructure that the corporation’s traditional projects were designed to close, while bridging the same infrastructure gaps. In our conversation, Gebreyes explained why AFC waited until now to back early-stage African VC, what AFC looks for in a VC fund manager, and how AFC could reshape how African startups are funded over the next decade. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What was the early limitation on how the AFC could participate in the technology sector? The limitation we faced was the bank’s relatively low risk appetite compared to that of venture capital investors. That meant we were really only focused on very late-stage technology companies. We ended up doing co-investments with some physical equity and VC funds into M-KOPA, Moniepoint, and LulaLend. We did the working capital for Wave. We came close to doing a transaction with MNT-Halan. These were all very well-developed companies. We were only touching the unicorns or the soon-to-be unicorns, companies that were already profitable and had critical mass. What we pointed out to our board and management was that we were not addressing the other 95%, maybe even 98%, of the venture capital ecosystem on the continent. We convinced them that, rather than retooling our whole organisation to be able to address this segment, it made more sense to do the same thing lots of other DFIs are doing, which is using a mixed approach of a fund of funds to address the early stage and then making co-investments where appropriate into the best portfolio companies. Once those companies scale up and enter growth equity or debt fundraising rounds later, we will have already done our diligence on them and developed a direct relationship that puts us in a position to invest. We have been doing the second half of that already — looking at late-stage companies. But we were not involved in getting to know those companies earlier. We have now launched this fund-of-funds programme with an initial envelope of $100 million to invest. We reached an agreement with the first two funds: LightRock Africa II and Future Africa Three. We are looking to close on both within the next month or two and fill the initial envelope with additional funds. At the same time, as a multi-billion-dollar financial institution with extensive relationships in the business community and with the governments of our member countries, we are entering the institutional investor market – foundations, endowments, and pension funds – to crowd in co-investment. These are investors who cannot easily do small fund-by-fund investments in Africa because they do not feel they have the manpower or boots on the ground. We are telling them: come and invest alongside us in proportion with the $100 million commitment we have made. Our objective is to crowd in an additional $300 to $500 million of third-party capital to invest alongside our $100 million. How did the conversations with the general partners of these firms begin? When we first started investing in the VC space, we were looking to make direct investments, not through fund managers. The only companies that really met our criteria were the big multi-hundred-million-dollar valuation tech companies—MNT-Halan, Flutterwave, Moniepoint, and M-KOPA, to name a few. Along the way, as we were talking directly with these companies about making direct investments, we started developing a rapport with a fund manager called LightRock, which was managing funds for LGT, the largest private family office based out of Liechtenstein, owned by the Prince of Liechtenstein and his family. We really liked the way they think and invest. It was no coincidence that their two lead partners both came from what was CDC Group, now British International Investment, and there was a connection in the past between
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