Startups, VC & Funding
The latest Startups, VC & Funding stories, scored against the thesis and threaded over time.
World Bank Targets $5.79 Billion in Private Financing Across Nigerian Sectors
The World Bank is mobilising $5.79 billion in private capital for Nigeria spanning broadband infrastructure, fertiliser supply chains and SME job creation. The initiative is being tracked as a significant multilateral capital mobilisation…
Read the full story →Hot Storylines
What’s developing right now — ranked by recency, momentum, and importance.
- 1
Kuunda Completes $5 Million Secondary Share Sale Led by E4E Africa
Latest: Milne's death confirmed at 54, with his fintech credit legacy and Kuunda succession now in focus following the $5M secondary deal closure.
- 2
Lagos Run Game Breaks Out as Nigeria's Indigenous Gaming Success Story
Latest: Lagos Life's 9.3M player base and virtual-currency mechanics draw formal regulatory scrutiny over payments compliance and data handling.
- 3
iOCO Posts 39% Profit Rise Alongside 44% Cash Flow Drop
Latest: iOCO formalises M&A strategy targeting AI, cybersecurity and cloud acquisitions following 39 percent profit rise, despite flagged cash flow concerns
- 4
South Africa's LekkeSlaap Travel Platform Acquired by Banking-Linked Investors
Latest: Additional reporting confirms the LekkeSlaap acquisition by a banking-linked investor consortium, framing it as a local travel-tech consolidation signal.
The feed
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
World Bank's $5.79B Nigeria Push
The World Bank is mobilising $5.79 billion in private capital for Nigeria spanning broadband infrastructure, fertiliser supply chains and SME job creation. The initiative is being tracked as a…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
Dangote IPO Goes Pan-African
The Nigerian Exchange Group has extended the Dangote Refinery IPO's investor outreach to three African countries, in what analysts describe as a rare cross-border retail capital mobilisation…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
Nigeria's Four-Year Exit Wave
A new profile tracks the chief executives behind major companies that have exited Nigeria since 2022, documenting a four-year wave of market withdrawals. The compilation is being cited as a useful…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
Dangote Cement's London IPO
Dangote Cement has engaged Goldman Sachs and UBS to lead a $1 billion London Stock Exchange listing. The appointment of two major global investment banks is being described as a marquee African…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
Africa VC Pay Gap Widens
New analysis reveals that compensation gaps in African venture capital are deterring qualified investment talent from the sector, with salaries significantly below comparable roles in other markets.…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
IMF Warns Africa on Headwinds
The IMF's Africa director has cautioned that the continent's relative macro resilience does not make it immune to growing global economic headwinds. The statement provides broad contextual framing…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
Nigeria's Teen Solo Builder
A profile introduces Asanato Mayor, a self-taught 16-year-old who is building four digital products and a technology company in Nigeria. The story is a human-interest signal with limited measurable…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
SA Edtech Simulates Emotional Learning
South African edtech startup Halo Sim Labs is deploying simulation-based tools to develop emotional intelligence skills among school-age students. The company is at an early stage with a narrow…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
Nigeria's First Airline Commercial Paper
United Nigeria Airlines is targeting N20 billion through what is described as the first commercial paper issuance by a domestic airline operator in Nigeria. The instrument is being flagged as a novel…
- 2026-10-16TakeUnverified — not yet reviewed
Africa Startups $2.49bn in 2026
The nine-month number looks healthy. $2.49 billion, 7.8% up on last year — a real recovery signal after the collapse that bottomed out in 2024.
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
BGFI Capital Raise Oversubscribed
BGFI Holding Corporation's capital raise of approximately 80.5 billion FCFA has been oversubscribed, signalling investor confidence in Central African banking. The result is being flagged as a…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
$209bn Black Business Finance Gap
A new report quantifies a $209 billion financing gap for Black-owned businesses across Nigeria, South Africa and three other African markets. The figure is being cited as both a structural investment…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
Dangote IPO Eyes Egypt Capital
The Dangote Refinery's $1.6 billion IPO is expanding its investor outreach to Egypt, signalling pan-African capital market ambitions for what analysts describe as potentially Africa's largest-ever…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
SANAD Backs 22 African Startups
The SANAD ElevateHer programme has selected 22 startups for further support, spanning multiple African countries including Morocco and Uganda, with participants active in agriculture and clean…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
iOCO Eyes AI and Cloud Buys
South African technology services firm iOCO has formalised an acquisition strategy targeting AI, cloud and cybersecurity businesses, building on a reported 39 percent profit increase. The move…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
R172m SA Edtech Deal Approved
An Old Mutual-linked fund has received shareholder approval for a R172 million acquisition in South Africa's digital education sector. The deal is being cited as a notable secondary exit in a market…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
Her Startup Second Cohort Opens
Pan-African accelerator Her Startup has opened applications for its second cohort, targeting women-led businesses across the continent. The programme operates at a small scale that limits its broader…
- 2026-10-15TakeUnverified — not yet reviewed
Lagos Ride-Hail Strike Drags On
The drivers want a 10% commission cap. Bolt is calling for dialogue without offering a number. inDrive isn't answering questions at all.
- 2026-10-15TakeUnverified — not yet reviewed
Top African Startup Investors Ranked
The headline names the busiest investors. The number underneath it is the one that matters: 171 startups raised between $100,000 and $1 million in the first nine months of 2026, down from 220 in the…
- 2026-10-15Unverified — not yet reviewed
Copia, Koko Failures Dissected
New analysis examining the collapse of Copia and Koko Networks identifies structural weaknesses in both last-mile commerce and carbon-credit-backed business models as the root causes of failure. The…
- 2026-10-15Unverified — not yet reviewed
Nigeria Tech Board Has No Listings
Four years after Nigeria established a dedicated technology listing board, not a single startup has chosen to list on it, exposing a structural disconnect between domestic startups and public capital…
- 2026-10-15Unverified — not yet reviewed
Dangote IPO Deadline Extended Again
The Dangote Group IPO subscription deadline has been extended again on African financial markets, continuing a pattern of deadline prolongations that have been interpreted as signals of demand…
- 2026-10-15Unverified — not yet reviewed
iOCO Profits Rise, Eyes Deals
South African technology services firm iOCO has reported a 39 percent increase in profit and signalled appetite for acquisitions, pointing toward consolidation momentum in the country's IT services…
- 2026-10-14TakeUnverified — not yet reviewed
113m Nigerians Too Poor for Tech
Thirty-one per cent of Nigeria's poor population has no electricity. Nearly forty per cent lack clean cooking fuel. When those are the daily realities, a fintech app or a consumer platform isn't a…