$1.44 billion raised in the first half of 2026
This article was originally published on TechCabal Insights and was written by Joseph Oloyede, Analyst at TechCabal Insights. The first half of 2026 is officially over, and the numbers show that African startups had it good funding-wise. Startups across the continent raised a total of $1.44 billion. This is a slight increase from the $1.42 billion raised during the first half of 2025. Even with a tough global economy, this steady growth is a clear sign that investors still believe heavily in African innovation. The H1 race This year is a story of resilience. While the total amount of money raised stayed strong at $1.44 billion, the way deals are happening has completely changed. The biggest story of H1 2026 is that although fewer deals are happening, companies are raising much bigger rounds. We tracked only 146 disclosed deals across the first six months of the year, which is a big drop from the 252 deals we saw in H1 2025. The momentum really picked up at the start of June. Pan-African electric mobility startup Spiro announced a massive $215 million mega deal on the very first day of the month. This single deal pushed the ecosystem’s total funding over the line, helping 2026 finish the half-year ahead of 2025. The quarterly mechanics: Equity vs. debt split A closer look at how startups raised money shows that debt has become a huge tool for survival. Funding was split evenly between the two quarters, with $749 million raised in Q1 and $692 million raised in Q2. Over the full six months, startups raised $818M in Equity, $614 million in Debt, and $9 million in Grants. This balanced mix shows that companies are choosing to take on loans instead of giving up company ownership, focusing more on stable businesses that own physical assets like electric vehicles and solar equipment. June’s top deals: Climatetech and big infrastructure stand out The half-year closed with a massive wave of activity, especially across green infrastructure and AI-backed solutions: Spiro is a pan-African electric motorbike manufacturer and clean energy provider that dominated the month by securing a $215 million equity round from Impact Fund Denmark and Equitane, alongside an additional $55 million equity injection from NewTrails Capital. Blnk is an Egyptian digital lending fintech platform that raised a combined $37.1 million ($12.5 million in Series A equity and $24.6 million in debt) to instantly finance point-of-sale customer purchases. AethexAI is an AI-driven services startup developing localised customer support automation for Africa and the Middle East that secured $3 million in pre-seed funding led by 4DX Ventures and Enza Capital. Zimi Charge is a South Africa-based electric vehicle charging infrastructure platform that raised $2.6 million in equity from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and Keyo Ventures. Agenz is a data-driven property valuation proptech platform in Morocco that secured a $5M seed funding round from Breega and Attijariwafa Ventures. Other notable June activities included major catalytic funding awards from Cascador to green and supply chain platforms, including Agriarche ($1.8 million), solar-freezer provider Koolboks ($1.5 million), and IoT-enabled clean cookstove builder Powerstove ($1.3 million) A record half for mergers & acquisitions (M&A) Because getting fresh equity was harder for early-stage startups, many companies chose to buy or merge with each other instead of shutting down. H1 2026 recorded an incredible 63 M&A deals. This is nearly double the 33 deals we tracked in H1 2025, making it the busiest half-year for mergers and acquisitions in African tech history. This wave of M&A is a major milestone: it creates healthier market leaders through consolidation and opens up vital exit opportunities for investors, proving the ecosystem can self-correct and mature during a funding slowdown. We saw mature market leaders buy smaller startups to quickly get licenses or enter new countries: The payments space: Flutterwave acquired banking platform Mono in an all-stock deal valued between $25 million and $40 million, while Paystack took over Brass and integrated Ladder Microfinance Bank. Going global: African startups are expanding outside the continent. Spiro bought UK engineering firm Coexlion, Nigeria’s Nomba acquired a Canadian payment firm, and Yassir bought French ad-tech company Kawarizmi. Big money deals: Major corporate moves made waves across the market, including nCino’s $75 million acquisition of South Africa’s DocFox and MNDR’s $119 million deal to buy insurtech pioneer Bima. The operational reality: Restructuring, shutdowns, and the AI paradox Behind the big funding numbers, day-to-day operations were all about cutting costs and working smarter. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has moved from a buzzword to a core part of how businesses run. We have tracked over 100 different AI use cases across Africa, mostly helping startups with credit scoring, fraud detection, and automated customer support. While AI helps companies work faster and cheaper, it has come with a high human cost. As these tools mature, they are moving from helper tools to replacing specific roles. This shift is clear in the numbers: so far in 2026, we tracked over 1,000+ layoffs across the continent, up from 698 layoffs during the same period in 2025. Companies are now openly citing AI as a reason for downsizing. For example, Jumia cut 200 jobs to integrate AI into its support team, and Zap Africa reduced its team by 44% through AI restructuring. Along with these layoffs, the tough economy caused 13 disclosed shutdowns, but pushed surviving startups to launch 46 product restructurings, 39 market expansions, and 117 company-to-company partnerships to stay afloat. Join the H1 2026 Report Waitlist here, to see the full list of active investors, average check sizes, regional breakdowns, and where venture capital funds are deploying money next. Join the waitlist for our upcoming State of Tech in Africa H1 2026 Report to get it first.
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Google Play to back 10 African game studios with $1 million fund
Google Play, Google’s digital marketplace for Android apps, has launched a $1 million equity-free fund for independent game studios across 32 African countries to help game developers grow their businesses and reach more players globally. The Indie Games Fund will award between $50,000 and $200,000 in capital to each of the 10 selected studios, alongside technical support and mentorship from industry experts. Applications are open until July 31, and the selected studios will be announced in September. Africa’s gaming industry continues to grow despite limited access to funding. According to the 2025 African Game Industry Report, the continent is home to about 250 game studios. Still, only 3% have ever received government funding, and 33.3% of game developers have participated in accelerators or support programmes. While the African gaming market size is estimated at $2.29 billion, many African studios still struggle to secure the capital needed to scale, highlighting a gap between the market’s commercial potential and the financing available to developers. “Bringing this fund to the continent underscores our commitment to unlocking the immense talent of local studios, providing the resources needed to scale businesses, refine creative visions, and share uniquely African stories with a global audience,” said Ben McOwen Wilson, managing director, Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Google Play. Google said the selected studios will also receive hands-on mentorship from industry experts and technical support to optimise their games, strengthen their development frameworks, and improve discoverability on Google Play. Applications are open on Google’s Indie Games Fund portal to privately owned game studios with 50 or fewer employees registered in one of the 32 eligible African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Studios applying must also have already launched a mobile, PC, or console game, commit to publishing their game on Google Play, and participate in the Google Play Pass programme on a non-exclusive basis for two years. Large funding rounds remain a rarity in Africa’s gaming industry, as evidenced by the $27 million raise by South African gaming company Carry1st in 2023. While Google Play’s fund will support only 10 studios, it could help bridge that gap by providing developers with the capital and credibility needed to secure larger investments. True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
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Alaa Hamadto on building through uncertainty and believing in Sudan again
Some people have an uncanny ability to complicate their own lives. Offer them the safe road, and they will somehow find the rougher one. Give them certainty, and they will start wondering what is on the other side of uncertainty. They do not do it because they enjoy suffering, but have a strong conviction that difficult things are worth doing. Alaa Salih Hamadto, the founder and CEO of SolarFoods, a Sudanese agritech startup that preserves agricultural produce using solar-powered drying technology, appears to be one of those people. Last Thursday, we met over Google Meet. She is currently based in Cairo, Egypt’s capital, where she has been living since Sudan’s civil war forced her to flee with her daughters. She tells me about driving back into Sudan while drones flew overhead. About travelling for 36 hours without food or water because the roads were too dangerous to stop. About arriving at her factory only to find that almost everything worth stealing had been stolen. She says all this with remarkable calm. Alaa Hamadto surrounded by debris of her destroyed factory at Khartoum. Image source: Alaa Hamadto It occurs to me that Hamadto has spent much of her adult life walking away from comfortable things. She left dentistry in 2014, a profession many spend years trying to enter, to build a business around solar-powered food dryers. She ignored relatives who thought she had wasted her education. When war came, she escaped like millions of other Sudanese. Five months later, she went back—not because it was safe, but because she could not imagine asking other people to rebuild a country she had abandoned herself. Over the next hour, we talk about inherited purpose, building a company in the middle of a civil war, why farmers have become her greatest teachers, and why she still believes Sudan’s future is worth betting her life on. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You said they call you “Alaa the Brave.” Where did the title come from? When the war in Sudan started in April 2023, I initially fled to Cairo with my daughters. But after five months, I decided to stop running and return to Sudan, even though the war was still raging. Most business owners who left felt the same way; they were already in a safe place and wouldn’t return for any reason. But I decided to go back and reestablish. It was shocking to them. I think I was the first person to enter the industrial area in Khartoum North after the conflict intensified. That area had become a heavy conflict zone. When I entered, I started making videos and documenting what was happening to all the factories and businesses there. I felt a responsibility to bear witness. There was this group I was in with some factory owners, and they made comments like, “Do you feel like you’re more masculine than us?” It was strange and hurtful, especially when I was risking everything. During one of my trips, drones were flying over my head as I was running from one city to another. For 36 hours straight, I couldn’t go to the bathroom or drink water because the cities I was passing through were being hit. People found it strange that I refused to leave. They asked, “Does it really worth it? Why are you risking your life because of money?” But it was never about money. I kept documenting my journey, how they destroyed my factory and other people’s businesses. Eventually, people started saying, “You inspire us—you are Alaa the Brave.” And that name stuck. Alaa Hamadto with her Solar Foods team. Image source: Alaa Hamadto You said your factory was destroyed. What really happened? Yes, the factory was destroyed. I don’t know if it was bombed, but the roof and a large part of it were destroyed. They stole all the machinery, everything they could find inside. They even took all the electric cables and the transformer. Now, it’s very difficult to have electricity again. And it’s not just my factory alone; the majority of factories in that part of Khartoum were affected. To rebuild, you need to find another source of energy, either diesel or solar. I decided to reestablish the factory in another part of the country that is relatively safe. We are now in Kassala, close to the border with Eritrea in eastern Sudan. We built the factory there on rented land. Now that people are returning to the country as things look slightly better, I’m not sure what to do next. We still don’t know whether we will go back to Khartoum or stay. I chose Kassala for multiple reasons. First, it’s relatively safe for my staff, and the living costs aren’t too high. We did a quick mapping and realised we needed to be in a place where we could easily target the organizations that need our dryers. We do training for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that buy our dryers, and we have agro-processing hubs. Also, it’s close to the border, so I can easily travel out, and it’s quite close to the raw materials we use for our products. Alaa Hamadto and her team members. Image source: Alaa Hamadto Talking about where this all started, you saw your father building something like this in the past. As a little girl then, what did you think he was doing? I started out as a dentist. I made this career shift to keep his legacy; at least, that was what I thought. Now, it’s my life mission. Growing up, I didn’t really understand what he was doing. I just admired that he could do all this work, and people admired him and his students. Initially, we thought we could live in the UK and have another nationality, and life would be easier. But I really admire that he believed in his own people. My father was a senior scientist in the UK. He had it all—a prestigious job, status, respect. But in
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How unpaid salaries and vendor debts forced FoodCourt to pause operations
On March 4, 2026, some customers of FoodCourt, a Y Combinator-backed Nigerian cloud kitchen, noticed they could no longer place orders on the app. When they opened it looking to get a meal, they found the same line where the menu used to be: orders cannot be processed at this time. Unknown to customers, the cloud kitchen had stopped delivering orders because the people who cooked the food, supplied it, delivered it, and ran its branch in Lekki, an affluent commercial and residential area of Lagos, had not been paid in months and went on strike, according to documents and internal messages seen by TechCabal. The app was switched off by the startup’s leadership so that customers’ orders would stop coming in, according to internal messages seen by TechCabal. Beyond staff salaries, the company also owed money to vendors. By April 19, the last FoodCourt branch had temporarily shut down after the second Lagos location paused operations, while the startup’s finance department raced to settle outstanding payments in anticipation of new funding by the end of April. “The recent suspension of operations has been a difficult period for everyone connected to the business, including our employees, vendors, riders, customers, investors, and management team,” Henry Nneji, FoodCourt’s chief executive officer, noted in an emailed response to TechCabal. “It’s important to clarify that the decision to pause operations wasn’t driven by one single issue. We reached a point where it became clear that continuing to patch those issues while operating wasn’t the right long-term decision,” Nneji added. “The objective is to build a stronger business than the one that existed before the suspension. We fully intend to bring FoodCourt back,” he said. Founded in 2021 by Nneji and Paul Adokiye Iruene, its chief technology officer, FoodCourt is the consumer app of CoKitchen, a Y-Combinator-backed foodtech company. The startup runs a full-stack cloud kitchen. Instead of listing other restaurants, CoKitchen cooks the food itself under several virtual brands from its kitchens, and customers order through FoodCourt in a business model that is optimised for speed and lower costs. By the end of 2024, Nneji shared on LinkedIn that the startup had raised $1.7 million, delivered over 1 million meals, and achieved $4.3 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). The closure came as a surprise to customers, as FoodCourt had shared that it was profitable in 2024 and opened new branches in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, and another Lagos branch within 18 months. Nneji said the startup was prudent with cash and that being accepted into Y Combinator had taught it discipline in 2024. “It got us to be very strategic about how we use our money, and it got us to also have a very, very deep look at our unit economics and our contribution margins just to make sure that we’re actually operating a sustainable business,” he told journalists at the time. The Cloud Kitchen Scale Trap Tap a scenario or drag the sliders. Watch how quickly high order volumes can turn into massive monthly debt. Quick-Play Scenarios The Reality The VC Dream The Death Spiral Average Order Value (₦) Monthly Orders 20,000 Revenue Breakdown per Order Total Cost: 100% Operating beyond 100% (Loss Making) Food & Packaging 45% Logistics & Delivery 20% Labor & Overhead 25% Marketing & Discounts 15% Per Order Margin 0% ₦0 per order Monthly Cash Flow ₦0 TC Insight: Adjust the sliders to see how the system reacts. FoodCourt’s long road to pausing operations On February 21, 2026, FoodCourt’s human resources manager removed several employees from the company’s WhatsApp group chat, where it ran most of its operations, internal messages seen by TechCabal show. It was the same day Nneji addressed staff directly about “the current salary delay,” saying leadership takes responsibility and ties the delay to “a funding facility that is now in its final stage of completion,” which “took longer than anticipated,” those WhatsApp messages show. Employees were owed salaries across the company’s three branches at the time: two in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, and one in Abuja, the federal capital. It is not clear how many went unpaid or how much they are owed. “We acknowledge that there are outstanding employee compensation obligations arising from this period,” Nneji said in its emailed response to TechCabal. “We remain committed to addressing those obligations as part of the restructuring process. Out of respect for employees and ongoing internal matters, we won’t be commenting on specific figures or employee counts.” By March 2, 2026, kitchen staff decided to stop working over “the current situation”, according to messages sent by the head chef, who manages the kitchens, to the startup’s management team. She advised turning off the app to avoid customer complaints about delays “while we mitigate next steps,” according to internal messages seen by TechCabal. Two days later, the app began displaying the “Oops, orders cannot be processed at this time” line to customers. Internal messages show management was trying to resolve a standoff at the Lekki kitchen, where staff had gone on strike over unpaid salaries. From there, things deteriorated quickly, with Nneji sending a message to department heads and managers saying that “effective immediately, operations across all branches (Obanikoro, Lekki, and Abuja) have been temporarily suspended.” He cited the startup’s ongoing financial difficulties and its mounting debts to staff and vendors and said the suspension was meant to prevent further financial exposure. However, messages seen by TechCabal show the unpaid wages were not spread evenly. A management message said heads of department, managers, and selected team members would continue to be paid. For other employees, the wait for their salaries ran into months. “In the third week of March, I finally got my January salary,” said one former employee who asked not to be identified to avoid retaliation. “I consider myself one of the lucky ones to have received anything.” They added that two further months of pay, for February and March, remain outstanding. “During the restructuring period, a small number of people continued supporting
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CBN revokes 47 microfinance bank licences as Sycamore cites legacy issues
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revoked the operating licence of Sycamore Microfinance Bank, but the fintech says the decision relates to legacy issues tied to the Kano-based tier-2 MFB whose licence it acquired as part of its expansion into banking. Sycamore appeared on the CBN’s list of 46 microfinance banks whose licences were revoked on Wednesday. The company said the regulatory action affects the acquired entity and stems from historical compliance issues that predate the acquisition rather than its current operations. The revocation means Sycamore’s planned expansion beyond digital lending into regulated banking services now faces fresh uncertainty. It comes barely two months after the lender told TechCabal it planned to build a deposit base exceeding ₦40 billion ($29.13 million) in 2026. “Sycamore had acquired the entity as part of its planned expansion into deposit-taking and payments,” the company said in a statement shared with TechCabal on Wednesday. “The company was in the process of establishing its integration into its group and operational infrastructure for the entity when the licence was captured in the CBN’s sector-wide compliance review.” The company added that its existing businesses remain fully operational. Its consumer lending platform continues to operate under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC)’s approval, while Sycamore Investment and Asset Management Limited (SIAML) remains licenced by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “All customer funds and investments are secure and fully accessible. The company will provide further updates as things progress,” the company said. Like several Nigerian fintechs, Sycamore entered banking by acquiring an existing microfinance bank rather than applying for a fresh licence. The strategy allows fintechs to gain access to deposit-taking capabilities, payments infrastructure, and lower-cost funding while avoiding the lengthy licensing process. The CBN did not single out Sycamore in its Wednesday announcement. It has revoked the operating licences of 47 microfinance banks in the last two days. According to the regulator, the affected institutions failed to meet the conditions required to continue operating as licenced financial institutions. The latest action affects a mix of Tier 1, Tier 2, and state microfinance banks spread across more than a dozen states, including Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Ogun, Kaduna, and Rivers. Among the affected institutions are NowNow Digital MFB, Creditville MFB, Safegate MFB, Sycamore MFB, Gold MFB, and Entrepreneur MFB. The central bank said the revocations were triggered by one or more breaches, including “insufficient assets to meet liabilities, closure of operations without the approval of the CBN, inactivity and cessation of financial intermediation, failure to commence operations within 12 months of licence approval, and failure to maintain minimum capital funds unimpaired by losses.” National MFBs must maintain a minimum paid-up capital of ₦5 billion ($3.62 million); state MFBs require ₦1 billion ($724,150); tier 1s require ₦200 million ($145,729); and tier 2s need ₦100 million ($72,865). Goldman Microfinance Bank’s case was more severe. The bank had already entered liquidation and voluntarily applied to be wound up. The CBN also said the lender was critically undercapitalised, lacked enough assets to meet its liabilities, and breached provisions of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA), 2020. The revocation of Goldman’s licence took effect on May 21, while the other 46 revocations became effective on July 1. The sweeping enforcement action comes as the regulator tightens oversight of Nigeria’s banking industry following the completion of commercial banks’ recapitalisation exercise earlier this year. It also underscores that the CBN’s scrutiny extends beyond commercial lenders to microfinance institutions that no longer satisfy licensing requirements. The clean-up could also reshape how fintechs acquire MFBs going forward. As dormant and non-compliant microfinance banks disappear from the market, acquisition targets are likely to become scarcer, raising the premium on compliant institutions while reinforcing the CBN’s willingness to scrutinise licences even after ownership changes. True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
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Why Google is building Africa’s AI future from South Africa
Google, the technology global giant, used its first-ever Cloud Summit on African soil to signal that South Africa is becoming the company’s launchpad for building the continent’s artificial intelligence (AI) economy. Held in Johannesburg on Wednesday, the summit brought together President Cyril Ramaphosa, Google executives, business leaders including Econet founder Strive Masiyiwa, policymakers, startups and investors to showcase how AI, cloud infrastructure and digital public infrastructure are reshaping Africa’s technology landscape. The announcements marked a notable shift in Google’s Africa strategy. Rather than focusing primarily on expanding internet access, a priority that defined much of the past two decades, the company is now investing across the AI value chain, from cloud infrastructure and computing capacity to startup funding, university research, creator tools and workforce development. The strategy reflects a broader change in how global technology companies view the continent. Africa is becoming a market where AI infrastructure, computing power, local talent, and homegrown companies will determine future competitiveness. For Google, South Africa has emerged as the natural base from which that ecosystem can scale across the continent. The summit showcased a series of investments aimed at strengthening that position. Google announced a new South African Digital Exchange point in the Eastern Cape connected to its Umoja subsea cable. The company also launched what it described as Africa’s first applied AI lab, unveiled a new AI-focused accelerator for South African startups and expanded AI education programmes for universities across six African countries. Google also partnered with Akuna Group, the creative media venture founded by British actor Idris Elba, to launch an AI storytelling initiative for creators across sub-Saharan Africa. James Manyika, Google’s senior vice-president for research, labs, technology and society, said Africa risks facing a new form of inequality if it fails to build AI capabilities locally. “The AI opportunity for Africa is significant, and Google is committed to doing our part working with Africans to help Africa realise it,” said Manyika. “Building on our past commitments, we are making new investments in critical areas: infrastructure, African-led innovation, and education and skill building.” Manyika stated that Google had already surpassed its $1 billion commitment to Africa’s digital transformation ahead of schedule and is now directing investment toward the infrastructure and institutions needed to support an AI economy. That includes expanding partnerships with universities such as the University of Pretoria and the University of the Witwatersrand, supporting AI research labs in Kenya and Ghana, and giving more than one million eligible university students across Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe free access to Google’s advanced AI tools. President Cyril Ramaphosa used the summit to position Africa as a continent determined to become a producer of globally competitive AI businesses and intellectual property. “For far too long, Africa has had to play digital catch-up with the world’s leading and most industrialised economies,” Ramaphosa said. “We are now presented with a unique opportunity to be in the driving seat of our own industrialisation and growth.” Speaking via video link, Elba announced a partnership between Google’s philanthropic arm and his Akuna Group to train creators across sub-Saharan Africa using AI, backed by more than $1 million in funding. “Africa is bursting with untold stories. We have creators with raw talent, unique voices, and perspectives that the world desperately needs to see and hear,” he said. “But too often the barrier isn’t a lack of vision, it’s a lack of access.” The movie star said the initiative will equip creators with AI skills and access to Google’s storytelling tools, which Elba said would help transform creative talent into sustainable businesses. True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time. “This is more than just about making content; it’s about delivering real impact. The talent is already here. Now we are giving them the tools to build a real future in storytelling,” he stated.
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How to get the most out of Google’s AI Mode in Search
Google Search doesn’t look the way it did two years ago. Type a question into the search bar today, and you may not get a page of blue links at all. What you might get instead is a conversational, fully reasoned answer with sources attached, an interactive comparison tool, or even a mini-app built on the spot. That’s AI Mode, and if you’re not using it deliberately yet, you’re leaving a lot of Search’s capability on the table. A screenshot of the AI mode feature in Google Search. Image source: TechCabal Here’s a practical guide to what AI Mode actually is, how it works, and how to use it well. What is Google’s AI Mode? Screenshot of the AI Mode user interface. Image source: TechCabal AI Mode is a conversational search experience built into Google Search and powered by Gemini 3, a Gemini model. Rather than returning a single set of results when you search, it uses a query fan-out technique. This enables it to run multiple related searches across subtopics and data sources at the same time and synthesise the findings into one coherent response. AI Mode is different from AI Overviews — the AI-generated summaries that already appear within standard search results. Screenshot of the AI Overview in Google search. Image source: TechCabal AI Mode is a deeper experience for questions that would normally take several searches to answer properly: comparing products, planning a trip, or working through a topic you don’t yet have the vocabulary for. Google began rolling out AI Mode in May 2025, and it has grown fast since. The company announced at Google I/O 2026 that AI Mode had passed one billion monthly users. Google extended AI Mode and AI Overviews to Yorùbá and Hausa, as part of a wider expansion that brought AI-powered Search to 13 African languages in total, including Kiswahili, isiZulu, Afrikaans and Wolof. How to access AI Mode On desktop, go to google.com, and you’ll find an “AI Mode” tab sitting alongside the usual All, Images, Videos, and News tabs. On mobile, open the Google app on Android or iOS and tap into AI Mode from within the search experience. Screenshot of the AI Mode, taken on an Android mobile. Image source: TechCabal Screenshot of the AI Mode in Google search, taken on an Android mobile. Image source: TechCabal To search in an African language, simply type or speak your question in that language once you’re inside AI Mode — Google says the system is built for genuine language understanding, not just translation. Getting the most out of Google’s AI Mode in Search 1. Ask the way you would ask a knowledgeable colleague, not a search box Instead of searching “best SEO tools,” you get better results asking something like “what are the best SEO tools for a small e-commerce business on a tight budget?” This is because AI Mode doesn’t match your query against an index of pages like traditional search. Traditional Search works by matching keywords to pages, so stripping your question down to bare terms like “best SEO tools” actually helps it find the right documents. AI Mode uses query fan-out to reason through your query. 2. Use follow-up questions instead of starting over AI Mode maintains context across a session, so your second, third, and fourth questions build on what came before without you needing to restate anything. This lets you compare products, add new context, or dig deeper into a topic without opening a fresh search each time. It is better to ask your broad question first, then narrow in. For instance, if you asked about sleep trackers, a natural follow-up would be something like “what happens to your heart rate during deep sleep?”. In this case, AI Mode carries the earlier context forward rather than treating it as an unrelated query. You can also revisit your AI Mode history at any point to pick up a previous session where you left off, which is handy for longer research projects. 3. Feed it more than text The redesigned AI Mode search box accepts text, images, files, video, and even open Chrome tabs as inputs to a single query. It reasons across all of them together rather than treating each as a separate search. If you’re comparing apartment listings, product spec sheets, or screenshots of a confusing bill, you can drop them straight in rather than typing everything out. 4. Let it build the comparison, not just describe one One of AI Mode’s more useful upgrades is that it can generate interactive interfaces. Ask it to compare three apartments across commute time, rent, and square footage, and it will build a comparison tool rather than just linking you to one. 5. Turn on Personal Intelligence if the context demands it Google has been expanding Personal Intelligence in AI Mode to more people across nearly 200 countries and 98 languages, with no subscription required. This lets you securely connect Google apps like Gmail and Google Photos so that AI Mode can factor in your own context. This feature is useful for things like trip planning or tracking a purchase, where the AI can reference your actual bookings or photos rather than working blind. You can choose if and when to connect each app, and you can disconnect at any time. 6. Try Search Live for hands-free or camera-assisted search Search Live enables you to search using your camera and voice at the same time. It is particularly useful for anything visual: identifying an object, working through a physical repair, or getting a live read on something in front of you. True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
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Oppo Reno 16: Price, release date, and full specs
Table of contents Oppo Reno 16 release date Oppo Reno 16 price Full specs Oppo Reno 16 vs Oppo Reno 15 Regions where the Oppo Reno 16 is available Should you buy the Oppo Reno 16? The Oppo Reno 16 series is now rolling out, and it brings a bold new design, a stronger camera setup, and a price that has jumped from the last generation. This guide covers the release date, regional pricing, and full specs for the Reno 16 series and shows you how it compares to the Reno 15 before you decide to buy. Oppo Reno 16 release date Oppo did not launch the Reno 16 series in a single event. The rollout is happening in tranches, market by market, so availability depends on your location. Already live China got the Reno 16 and Reno 16 Pro on May 29, 2026. Thailand, Spain, and the rest of Europe got the full lineup, including the Reno 16 F, starting June 25, 2026. Full sales across Germany and other European countries will open on July 3, 2026, after pre-orders went live on launch day. Coming soon (as of July 1, 2026) India launches the Reno 16 and Reno 16C on July 2, 2026. Indonesia gets the full lineup, including the Pro and F models, on July 3, 2026. The UK gets the same lineup on July 3, 2026. Malaysia rounds it off on July 8, 2026. The Philippines has also confirmed a local launch, though Oppo has not yet shared a date. South Africa and Nigeria do not have a confirmed launch date. The Reno 15 series arrived in South Africa on February 7, 2026, so a similar timeline for the Reno 16 is possible, but nothing is official at this point. Oppo Reno 16 price Prices for the Reno 16 series have increased compared to the Reno 15 series across almost every market. Here is what each region is charging, in local currency. Europe (EUR, Spain, and Germany) UK (GBP) At £899, the Reno 16 Pro costs £250 more than the Reno 13 Pro did at launch. That is a big jump, pushing the phone beyond its usual mid-range price bracket. India (INR), leaked ahead of the July 2, 2026 launch India pricing is not official yet. Tipsters expect the Reno 16 to start at around ₹61,999 for the 8GB/256GB model, with the Reno 16C starting near ₹51,999. For comparison, the Reno 15 launched at ₹45,999, so the new series could cost up to ₹15,000 more. Treat these figures as estimates until Oppo confirms them at launch. Nigeria and South Africa Nigeria and South Africa do not yet have official pricing, as Oppo has not confirmed a launch date for either country. Any naira or rand figures you see online right now are estimates from retailers, not confirmed prices from Oppo. Full specs Here is a full breakdown of what each model offers outside China. Where the China version is different, we have noted it. Oppo Reno 16 Pro (global) The screen is larger in China, at 6.78 inches with a 120Hz panel, compared to 6.32 inches with a 144Hz panel outside China. The chipset and battery differ too. China runs the Dimensity 9500s with a 7,000mAh battery and wireless charging. The global Pro uses the Dimensity 8550 Super, has a smaller battery, and lacks wireless charging. The Oppo Reno 16 (global) Oppo Reno 16 F (global) The Reno 16 FS is a Europe-only version of the F, with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Oppo Reno 16C (India) India gets a Reno 16C instead of the Pro model at launch. Early reports say it shares most of its specs with the Reno 16 F, including the display size, chipset, and camera setup. Oppo has not confirmed full specs yet, so treat these details as leaked until the July 2, 2026 launch. Accessories launching alongside the phones The Oppo Bubble is a small magnetic display that clips onto the back of the phone and serves as a wireless viewfinder or remote shutter. The Enco Air 5 and Enco Air 5s earbuds, both with active noise canceling and battery life that stretches past 48 hours with the case. Software and design All three phones run ColorOS 16 on top of Android 16. Oppo has promised 5 years of operating system updates and 6 years of security updates. The Pop White colorway on every model uses something Oppo calls HoloVerse 3D Technology. It creates a floating-planet effect on the back of the phone using a layered optical film. Other colors do not get this effect, so keep that in mind if the look is what draws you to the phone. Oppo Reno 16 vs Oppo Reno 15 The Reno 16 series brings genuine upgrades in some areas and steps back in others, especially outside China. What got better The main camera on the Pro jumps to 200MP as standard, up from a mix of sensors on the Reno 15 Pro. The Pro’s screen now runs at 144Hz outside China, up from 120Hz on the Reno 15 Pro. The China version has a larger battery than before, at 7,000 mAh on the Pro. Build quality is tougher, with an aerospace-grade aluminum frame and an IP69K rating. What got worse The standard Reno 16 keeps the same Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip as the Reno 15, so performance stays about the same. The global Pro model loses wireless charging, which the China version still has. Battery capacity outside China is smaller than what China gets, and smaller than the Reno 15 Pro’s battery in Europe. Prices have climbed sharply. The Reno 16 Pro costs around €300 more than the Reno 15 Pro in Europe, and up to ₹15,000 more in India. If you already own a Reno 15 Pro in Europe, it might be worth holding onto it for now. It currently costs less than the Reno 16 Pro and has a slightly bigger battery. Regions where the Oppo Reno
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M-PESA’s next act begins where banks still fall short: lending
This article is based on a conversation from Voices & Visions, a podcast produced through a partnership between Tutto Passa Agency and TechCabal, which explores the people and ideas shaping Africa’s innovation economy. The first problem M-PESA, the mobile money service owned by telco giant Safaricom, solved was moving money. The company now believes the harder one is lending. Nearly two decades after transforming how Kenyans pay, save, and transfer money, Safaricom is turning its attention to a credit market where banks are reluctant to lend beyond established borrowers, pushing millions of small businesses and households to expensive digital loans and shylocks. “There is pain. There is real pain,” says Peter Gichangi, Safaricom’s head of Super Apps, in a recorded conversation on Voices & Visions, a podcast backed by Tutto Passa Agency and TechCabal. “If there are people interested in partnering with us, from Europe or wherever it is, to provide accessible, affordable credit in the market, we are open to having those discussions.” Gichangi’s remarks point to what could be M-PESA’s next area of growth. Having built one of Africa’s largest digital payments platforms serving over 30 million customers, Safaricom is betting it can use the same playbook to expand access to credit, a market where traditional lenders like banks continue to treat as too risky. Credit gap While Kenya is one of Africa’s digitally connected financial markets, access to affordable business credit remains limited. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for more than 90% of businesses and employ millions of people, yet they consistently cite financing as one of their biggest constraints. Many operate without audited financial statements, formal collateral, or lengthy banking histories, making them difficult for traditional lenders to assess. In the past two years, lending has recovered, but cautiously. After successive interest rate cuts by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), private sector credit growth has recovered from a contraction of 2.9% in January 2025 to 8.1% in March 2026. Average commercial lending rates have fallen to about 14.7% from 17.2% in late 2024. Yet banks continue to carry bad loans, with the industry’s non-performing loan ratio rising to 15.6% in March, making lenders selective about where they deploy capital. Many households and small businesses opt for digital lenders charging steep interest rates. “The demand for money is there,” says Andrew Mutha, chief executive of Safaricom Money Transfer Services. “Banks are saying, ‘Look, you’re too risky.’ There’s a digital lender somewhere who is willing to give you credit. However, the risk is too high, so the interest rate is very high.” He says many borrowers end up paying annualised borrowing costs that can exceed the value of the original loan. “Quickly, that becomes 60%, sometimes even 100% plus over the year,” Mutha says. For Gichangi, the problem is not whether there is capital, but how most traditional lenders assess risk. “The banks still don’t believe there is enough data on these businesses to make correct credit decisions,” he says. “Most businesses end up having to get financing from informal areas.” Measuring risk differently The disagreement between banks and Safaricom is not really about lending, but about access to financial information. Kenyan banks have historically measured risk using collateral, audited accounts, employment records, and years of banking relationships. Those requirements work well for large companies but not for a kiosk owner, an online merchant, or a boda boda operator. With millions of transactions daily, M-PESA sees things differently. Every payment received, supplier invoice settled, salary paid, utility bill cleared, and customer purchase processed creates a history. It means the telco has accumulated one of the richest financial datasets on consumer and business behaviour, which makes it easy to lend. The company already uses that information to determine its Fuliza overdraft limits and other lending products like M-Swari and KCB-MPESA. It now plans to apply the same model to business finance. “We recently got a person joining the M-Pesa team to support on the credit side,” Gichangi says. “Defining how this will look like, what type of partners do we need, what type of loans do we want to get into, and how do we structure this going forward.” Safaricom believes that if digital payments can reveal how a business earns, spends and repays money, perhaps transaction history can become a more accurate measure of creditworthiness than collateral alone. It follows developments elsewhere. Companies such as Ant Group in China and Mercado Pago in Latin America have built lending businesses by analysing daily transactions rather than relying on conventional banking tactics. Safaricom thinks M-PESA has reached a similar level. The platform Interestingly, Safaricom and its money services subsidiary M-PESA Africa are not keen on becoming a bank. Instead, it wants to become the platform that connects capital with borrowers, and that distinction matters. Globally, banking is being unbundled. Tech firms own customer relationships and distribution, while licensed financial institutions provide capital and manage regulatory risk. Safaricom appears to be pursuing the same model. “We partner with financial institutions,” Gichangi says. “Banks bring in the financing, we bring in the platform, help with the credit scoring and collections.” The model also explains why Gichangi’s appeal was directed at international investors as much as Kenyan lenders. Rather than asking global funds to build lending operations from scratch, Safaricom is offering M-PESA as the platform. Investors bring capital while banks provide regulated balance sheets, then Safaricom contributes customer acquisition, behavioural data, collections infrastructure, and distribution. History repeating itself? There is a striking parallel between Safaricom’s ambitions today and M-PESA’s origins. When M-Pesa was conceived, banks viewed millions of low-income Kenyans as commercially unattractive. Opening an account often required minimum balances, employer letters, and referrals from existing customers. “You needed a referral. You needed to maintain a minimum account. Some banks were asking you to come with an introduction letter from your employer,” says Mutha. Those requirements effectively locked millions of informal workers out of the banking system. Safaricom’s response was to redesign financial services around the customer instead of
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Jerry Soko named Eswatini CEO as MTN doubles down on internal talent
MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecom operator, has appointed Jerry Soko as the chief executive of its Eswatini subsidiary, part of its leadership playbook of promoting insiders who have spent years navigating multiple markets. Soko will assume the role permanently on July 1 after serving as acting CEO since November 2025, when former chief executive Wandile Mtshali stepped down at the end of his contract. In a statement on Tuesday, MTN said Soko stabilised the business, strengthened operational discipline and improved customer engagement during his seven-month stint. The appointment reflects a broader leadership strategy unfolding across MTN Group. Rather than looking outside for top executives, the Johannesburg-headquartered telecom operator is increasingly relying on leaders developed within its own African operations. As MTN executes its Ambition 2030 strategy, which aims to transform the company from a traditional telecom operator into a digital platform business spanning connectivity, fintech and digital infrastructure, the company is betting that executives with deep operational knowledge of African markets are best placed to drive its next phase of growth. “Under Jerry’s leadership, MTN Eswatini has regained strong momentum, improving performance, strengthening operational discipline, and deepening customer engagement,” said Ralph Mupita, MTN Group President and CEO. “His track record, combined with his understanding of our operations, positions him well to lead MTN Eswatini into its next phase of growth.” During his tenure as acting CEO, Soko prioritised network resilience, operational efficiency and customer experience while strengthening cash management and forging strategic partnerships to support Eswatini’s digital economy, the company said. MTN also credited him with embedding a stronger culture of accountability and developing future leaders within the business. The Eswatini appointment on Tuesday is not an isolated move. On June 2, MTN filled three senior leadership positions from its existing executive bench. Mitwa Ng’ambi, then CEO of MTN Côte d’Ivoire, was promoted to Group Chief People and Culture Officer. Her move triggered two more internal appointments, with Abbad Reda leaving MTN Zambia to lead the Côte d’Ivoire business and Larry Annetts succeeding him as CEO of MTN Zambia. The leadership reshuffle reinforced a pattern that has become visible across the group. Rather than recruiting externally, MTN is rotating executives across markets and business units to build a pipeline of leaders with experience operating in different regulatory, commercial, and competitive environments across Africa. “Making these appointments from internal candidates talks to the depth of talent we have within the Group, and the effectiveness of our succession planning processes,” MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita said when announcing the June appointments. The strategy is closely aligned with MTN’s Ambition 2030 plan and mirrors the group’s previous Ambition 2025 strategy, when MTN regularly filled senior vacancies through internal succession, including leadership moves between MTN Rwanda and MTN South Sudan. Soko’s appointment follows the same playbook. A qualified accountant with more than 20 years of experience in telecommunications, Soko has held both chief executive and chief financial officer positions across several MTN operating companies, including Zambia, Botswana, Rwanda and South Sudan. Although Eswatini is one of MTN’s smaller operating companies, the market remains strategically important as mobile operators across Africa look beyond connectivity into mobile financial services, cloud computing, enterprise technology and digital platforms. True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
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