Author: Staff Writer

On the back of Cape Town being recognised as the tech capital of Africa, topping international rankings for foreign direct investment strategy, Ian Lessem, Managing Partner at HAVAÍC – investors in early-stage, high-growth technology businesses – says several other African cities are quickly emerging as leading startup and investment hubs to watch. “Startups in Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa raised a total of US$625 million last year. Of those, Kenyan startups raised US$191 million, the most of any other African country, according to Disrupt Africa’s African Tech Startup Funding Report for 2020. Distinct startup geographies are emerging in Africa,…

The recently-released ‘State of Mobile Fraud in Africa’ report by Paris-headquartered Evina reveals that 19% of mobile payment transactions in Africa were made without the user’s consent from January 2021 to June 2021. Professional cybercriminals from around the world targeting Africa’s one billion mobile phone users also remain a significant problem in particularly vulnerable countries such as Angola and Egypt where 34% and 25.5% of mobile transactions were identified as suspect, respectively. The latest Evina report helps mobile stakeholders understand the scale of the mobile fraud challenge with key data on mobile fraud in Africa. “When it comes to fighting…

tHER350 COVID-19 grant for the jobless, hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic introduced by the South African Government last year, is back. The grant was discontinued on April 30. “This evening we are announcing a range of measures to support the recovery of the economy and provide relief to the poor and those who are vulnerable as a result of the measures that we had to impose to deal with COVID-19,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday. He added that to support those who have no means of supporting themselves, “we are reinstating the Social Relief of Distress Grant to provide a…

The South African economy and small businesses, in particular, have been dealt some hefty blows. With the COVID-19 pandemic still an ongoing stress, and even more recently the looting and destruction of property in two of our biggest provinces, thousands of brick and mortar based businesses have closed, lost vital stock and some even lost their buildings. From jobs, to supply chains and production processes, the ecosystem of small businesses in South Africa has been severely disrupted. Small businesses are the lifeline of the country’s economy and are vital to creating and securing jobs. The SME sector alone accounts for around…

Visa today announced it will buy Currencycloud, a global platform that enables banks and FinTechs to provide innovative foreign exchange solutions for cross-border payments. The acquisition builds on an existing strategic partnership between the two companies and values Currencycloud at £700 million or R14 billion inclusive of cash and retention incentives. Currencycloud’s cloud-based platform offers a broad set of APIs enabling banks and financial services providers to offer currency exchange services, including real-time notifications on foreign exchange transactions, multi-currency wallets, and virtual account management. The Currencycloud platform supports nearly 500 banking and technology clients with a reach in over 180…

MTN South Africa announced today a R350 million network investment to modernise, upgrade, build new sites and transmission links in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and North West. “We want to bridge the digital divide and create exciting opportunities for communities, businesses and individual users. Our investment is therefore far more than achieving market share growth in the region – it is about bringing the benefits of the digital world to more people through a stable, secure and innovative network experience,” says Kagiso Moncho, MTN General Manager for Northern Region. “We are already seeing active data users and traffic increase as more consumers…

Convergence Partners, owned by ICT industry veteran Andile Ngcaba, today announced the successful first close of its third fund, the Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF) at $120 million or R1.7 billion. The Rosebank-based company is a pan-African ICT–focused private equity player, delivering enhanced investment returns while underpinning Continental development. Convergence Partners has a proven record of accomplishment of developing new investment opportunities and actively adding value to investments across the lifecycle of ICT assets. The fund is targeting a final size of $250 million or R3.6 billion. Now with more than $400 million or R5.8 billion of capital under management,…

4Sight Holdings and Minopex, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DRA Global, announce the signing of a joint Memorandum of Understanding, to develop a distinctive service and solution offering for the mining and minerals industry. Minopex services customers operating in the base and precious metals, stones and bulk commodities sector. With two decades of experience managing operations and maintenance, and advising customers in this sector, Minopex is highly proficient at improving productivity sustainably and in real-time and has significant intellectual capital in this area. “Our work involves large, highly complex systems and data sets, and 4Sight provides technology platforms that are designed…

Pieter Boone, the CEO of Pick n Pay, has called for the liquor ban to be lifted by the government. South Africa moved to an adjusted level 4 lockdown at the end of June, with a complete prohibition on the sale of alcohol in place. The alcohol industry has faced various forms of restrictions since South Africa introduced its first COVID-19 restrictions in March 2020. Estimates show that the latest four-week ban has put 9,206 jobs in the alcohol industry at risk, with a potential loss of R10.2 billion in taxes and excise duties. Commenting on progress in recovering from…

PayU, the payments and FinTech business of Prosus, has announced its collaboration with Celo, the mobile-first, open-source blockchain ecosystem focused on making DeFi accessible to anyone with a smartphone. In addition to a purchase of CELO, the utility and governance token for the Celo community, PayU has partnered with payment infrastructure company First DAG and Celo’s Alliance For Prosperity to offer stablecoin payments. With this integration, almost half a million of PayU’s merchants will be able to accept Celo’s stablecoin, cUSD. The move will open the doors for millions of people in emerging markets who are underserved by traditional financial…