Tech Tides Africa

Africa’s hardware and defence ecosystem just hit an unprecedented milestone. Terra Industries, founded in 2024 by Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka, has closed a historic $52 million seed round backed by elite deep-tech and defence investors including 8VC and Lux Capital. The startup builds autonomous surveillance, interception drones, sentry towers, and unmanned ground vehicles coordinated by its proprietary ArtemisOS software—systems that already protect over $11 billion in critical infrastructure, power grids, and mines across Africa. With its new Pax-2 manufacturing plant in Accra, Ghana, boasting an annual capacity of 50,000 units, Terra is proving that Africa can build sovereign, world-class defence hardware rather than solely importing Western or Asian systems.
Other interesting stories in this episode:
The AI Hardware Tax on Africa 📱: Global demand for AI data centres is hoarding memory chips and silicon wafers, pushing up average African smartphone prices by $41 to $202. We examine how this "AI infrastructure tax" caused sub-$100 smartphone shipments to drop 34%, threatening digital inclusion across the continent.
Jem’s $8.4M WhatsApp Play 🇿🇦: South African scale-up Jem raises an $8.4 million Series A led by Quona Capital. By offering a full HR suite completely free to employers and monetising via embedded financial services (like earned wage access and data deals) over WhatsApp, Jem flips the traditional enterprise SaaS model on its head.
SunCulture’s "RainDrops" Equity 🇰🇪: Kenyan solar-irrigation pioneer SunCulture launches RainDrops, a company-wide profit-sharing and equity program ensuring every full-time employee—from field technicians to managers—participates in future company liquidity events.
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The geopolitical landscape of artificial intelligence is shifting structurally across the continent. African engineers and startup founders are bypassing closed US large language models (LLMs) in favour of Chinese open-source architectures like Alibaba's Qwen and DeepSeek. The reasons are economic and operational: Western models are closed-source, cost-prohibitive, and API-restricted, whereas Chinese models offer open-weight access that cuts total compute costs by up to 90%. Crucially, these models can be fine-tuned locally on modest hardware and handle African languages and low-resource data environments far better than Western general-purpose alternatives. We discuss what this developer exodus means for AI sovereignty and the global technology stack.
Other interesting stories in this episode:
Africa's First Direct-to-Cell Satellite Service 🇨🇩: Airtel Africa and SpaceX have commercially switched on Africa’s first satellite-to-mobile service in the DRC. Using Starlink’s direct-to-cell satellites as "cell towers in space," eligible users can send SMS and use WhatsApp in remote dead zones using standard LTE Android phones without a dish.
Jumia's $50M Lifeline 🛍️: The IFC and pan-African conglomerate Axian led a $50 million equity injection into NYSE-listed Jumia. The fresh capital replenishes cash reserves to support 60,000 active sellers and improve logistics efficiency as the company targets operational break-even.
Absa Automates Debt Reviews with AI 🇿🇦: South African banking giant Absa has integrated an OCR and AI gateway into its consumer debt review pipeline. The system drove a 41% boost in document-indexing efficiency, cutting turnaround times to 24 hours for over-indebted consumers undergoing debt restructuring.
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The vehicle-financing pioneer Moove made its mark by putting tens of thousands of human drivers on the road for platforms like Uber. However, managing gig drivers in emerging and frontier markets has proven increasingly complex—from fuel price spikes and offline payment diversions to default risks and labour disputes. To insulate its long-term unit economics, Moove is placing a strategic bet on autonomous vehicles and robotaxi fleet management, signalling a future where the platform finances and manages self-driving fleets rather than human operators. We unpack what this pivot means for gig economy workers and the evolution of ride-hailing infrastructure.
Other interesting stories in this episode:
The 17,000-Bike Divide: Spiro has scaled 22,000 electric bikes in Rwanda compared to only 5,000 in Nigeria. We break down how Rwanda’s aggressive national green policies and concentrated swap-station density outpaced Nigeria's fragmented state regulations and grid challenges.
Ditching the Credit Bureau: With over 60% of Africans lacking formal credit histories, traditional lenders are abandoning rigid legacy scoring. Banks are partnering with fintechs to analyse airtime top-ups, mobile money flows, and utility payments to underwrite underserved consumers.
Article referenced: https://startupgraveyard.africa/blog/addressing-burnout-culture-in-startup-life 
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The "full-stack cost trap" claims another high-profile victim. GoLemon, the Lagos grocery delivery platform launched in 2024 by four former senior managers at Paystack, has officially stopped accepting orders and begun winding down. Despite moving over ₦2 billion ($1.4 million) in groceries, serving 40,000 registered users, and achieving profitable individual basket economics, the startup simply could not generate the high volume required to cover massive fixed overheads—warehouses, direct farmer sourcing, engineering, and fulfilment logistics. Following closures and pauses by Jumia Food, Bolt Food, FoodCourt, and Eden Life's consumer arm, GoLemon’s exit highlights a fundamental ecosystem shift: venture investors are fleeing capital-intensive, full-stack logistics models in favour of asset-light aggregators.
Other interesting stories in this episode:
Rentoza Enters Business Rescue 🇿🇦: South African tech-subscription platform Rentoza files for voluntary business rescue after burning through $7.3 million in funding, bogged down by unpaid customer balances, delayed audits, and an inability to secure fresh capital.
Kenyan Court Strips Unlicensed Lenders 🇰🇪: A Nairobi court dismisses 139 debt recovery suits filed by unlicensed digital loan apps, ruling that non-compliant lenders operating without a Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) license cannot dignify illegal operations by using state courts to collect debts.
MTN's 72% Fintech Slump 🇳🇬: MTN Nigeria’s Q2 2026 fintech revenue plummeted 72.4% (from ₦47.1 billion in Q1 to ₦13 billion in Q2) following the regulatory suspension of its XtraTime airtime lending service, while expected credit losses jumped 5x to ₦15.97 billion.
Zap’s Super-App Evolution ⚡: Paystack’s consumer app, Zap, initially debuted with a minimalist "anti-super-app" stance focused strictly on fast bank transfers without bloat. Now, with the addition of bill payments, electricity, DSTV, and gaming top-ups, it is morphing into the multi-service experience it once contrasted itself against.

Cybersecurity risks reached the highest halls of power in Kenya when the official presidential portal was defaced by hackers who demanded a ransom of 5 Bitcoins under threat of leaking sensitive personal data.
While the Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy swiftly contained the incident and confirmed no government data was exfiltrated or lost, the high-profile breach highlights the urgent cyber vulnerabilities facing national digital infrastructure across the continent.
We unpack how the breach unfolded and discuss what it takes to defend sovereign systems against extortion tactics.
Other interesting stories in this episode:
100% Local Capital in Morocco: Super-app ORA Technologies expanded its Series A funding to $10 million, funded entirely by Moroccan investors, signalling growing domestic confidence in North Africa's tech ecosystem.
FMO Backs M-KOPA Mobility: M-KOPA Kenya Mobility secured a $30 million green debt facility from Dutch development bank FMO to expand its pay-as-you-go e-motorbike financing model across East Africa.
Venture Capital Flight to Quality: Startup funding across Africa holds steady entering H2 2026, but the data reveals a clear shift: investors are backing fewer, later-stage, and more established startups rather than spreading early-stage seed bets.
Stablecoin Diaspora Rails: LemFi partners with BVNK to integrate stablecoin settlement infrastructure into its cross-border money transfer network, speeding up transaction times and cutting foreign exchange overhead for diaspora payments.
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The legal definition of creativity in East Africa has changed forever. In a high-stakes dispute involving an author who used AI tools to produce a series of commissioned books, Kenya’s Copyright Tribunal ruled that authorship is solely reserved for human beings.
While the judgment doesn’t ban creators from using tools like ChatGPT or Midjourney, it establishes a strict legal precedent: purely machine-generated outputs lack legal personality, and anyone hoping to protect or commercialise AI-assisted content must now prove "sufficient human intervention" and keep meticulous records of their own input. We unpack what this means for publishers, musicians, and agencies across the continent.
Other interesting stories in this episode:
Nigeria's Responsible AI Leap: Overtaking regional giants like Kenya and Egypt, Nigeria has claimed the top spot in Africa on the Global Index on Responsible AI (GIRAI). The index singled out Nigeria as a global "Bright Spot" for combining massive technical talent programs (such as the 3MTT) with concrete child data protections.
The Crypto Hack Paradox: H1 2026 saw a record 207 crypto hacks, yet total stolen funds dropped by 57% to $972 million. We look at the data to analyse whether smart contract auditing is improving or whether hackers are simply shifting to lower-value protocols.
Rebuilding the Vaults: The rise of sophisticated, AI-driven phishing and automated exploits is forcing traditional African banks to abandon their old security playbooks and rebuild their cyber architecture from scratch to keep pace with algorithmic threats.
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The race to build the ultimate financial "super-app" for the diaspora just got real. Following its acquisition of credit specialist Pillar last year, LemFi has received FCA approval to fully acquire UK-based investment platform Wealth8. By integrating cross-border wealth management alongside high-frequency remittances and savings, LemFi is moving to capture a massive market segment and address ethnic wealth inequalities head-on—allowing users to invest in portfolios for as low as £8. We dive into the brilliant unit economics of capturing migrant users at the border and gradually graduating them into high-margin wealth products.
Other interesting stories in this episode:
DRC Stablecoin Trial: Onafriq is moving cross-border settlements for M-Pesa, Airtel, and Orange wallets onto USDC rails via the US platform Conduit, setting up a live, high-stakes test for digital-dollar payments in a highly dollarized economy.
The Generator War: South African startup bPOWERd expands to Lagos in partnership with Mobil stations, offering an alternative to loud, costly fossil-fuel generators with solar battery rentals that can slash small-appliance power costs from ₦10,000 to ₦3,000 a day.
AI-Powered Harvests: Tunisia’s agritech startup RoboCare secures a six-figure investment from 216 Capital to scale its precision farming models across the Middle East and Africa, targeting regional staples like olive trees and cereals.
The Compliance Lock: Raenest’s CEO speaks out following an internet uproar over a $9,700 account restriction, admitting to frustrating support delays but reinforcing that strict compliance reviews are the non-negotiable reality of global fintech operations today.

In this special episode of Tech Tides Africa, Karen and Kelvin are joined by Linnet Kitonga, the co-founder and CMO of G-Rani Mobility, a Kenyan carpooling platform that is turning one of the continent’s oldest informal commuting habits into structured, reliable digital infrastructure.
We dive deep into why importing a Silicon Valley playbook fails in the African transport ecosystem, the hidden financial drain of ride-hailing subsidies, and how building for existing cultural behaviours is the key to mastering unit economics. Linnet also drops massive insights on navigating regulatory grey areas by building the playbook with regulators, and why investors are completely missing the boat by focusing solely on electric vehicles (EVs) while ignoring the crucial "coordination layer" that actually moves people.
Key Takeaways From This Episode:
The Illusion of Disruption: You don’t change behaviour in Africa by telling people they're doing it wrong; you change it by taking an existing, trusted informal behaviour (like neighbourhood carpooling) and building infrastructure that removes unspoken friction points—like the awkwardness of fuel costs.
The Coordination Gap vs EV Hype: Millions of dollars are pouring into electric motorbikes and clean-engine technologies. However, thousands of EVs on the road won’t solve traffic congestion or empty seats. The real, underfunded opportunity is the coordination layer that connects existing abundance to the people who need it.
Writing the Regulatory Playbook: Instead of waiting for boardroom-bound policymakers to pull the rug out from under them, G-Rani’s strategy is to proactively bring regulators to the table early, using real-world data to shape the framework for an entirely new mobility category.
Redefining African Unit Economics: Giani boasts positive month-on-month growth with zero paid acquisition. Why? Because true sustainability means delivering real value from day one, without burning investor cash on temporary promo codes and subsidised rides.
A Lesson for Female Founders: Navigating a male-dominated mobility space means dealing with a credibility double standard. Linnet shares a powerful reminder that women make it in this space not by shrinking, but by being so undeniably good that their work speaks louder than anyone’s assumptions.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has dropped a regulatory hammer that will reshape the back-end infrastructure of Nigeria's fintech sector. Under a newly issued circular, all deposit money banks, fintechs, and microfinance institutions have until January 1, 2027, to localise their data storage, meaning all payment transaction data generated within Nigeria must live on local servers.
But that’s not all—the CBN is also enforcing strict market concentration caps. No single entity is allowed to control more than 25% of the consumer payments market while simultaneously controlling more than 15% of merchant acquiring (and vice versa). This is a direct shot at market monopolisation, effectively forcing giants to choose a lane. We dive into the massive compliance costs, the technical risks of migrating live data rails, and what this means for the global cloud hyperscalers currently hosting Africa’s biggest platforms.
Other interesting stories in this episode:
The Chimoney Resurrection: Four weeks ago, Chimoney announced a textbook, clean shutdown. Today, they are being acquired by CapitalSage Holdings. We look at how doing a shutdown "the right way"—and holding onto a hard-to-get Canadian Payment Service Provider (PSP) licence—made them the perfect acquisition target.
Kenya’s Hardware Tax Threat: New fiscal proposals in Kenya could dismantle local assembly plants for M-KOPA and Sun King. We discuss how taxing components could reverse smartphone penetration and clean-energy progress.
E-Commerce Without the Wallets: A new Visa study in Egypt reveals a fascinating cultural paradox: consumers are heavily adopting AI tools to personalise their shopping and find deals, but a strict wall of distrust remains when it comes to letting AI handle automated payments.
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The era of hyper-independent, overlapping fintech apps is giving way to a massive wave of consolidation. Two years after a high-profile, Paystack-led consortium stepped in to save the digital business banking platform Brass from a severe liquidity crisis, the brand is officially being retired. Brass announced that its entire operations and customer base will be completely folded into Paystack Microfinance Bank before July 31, 2026. This transition marks the end of an era for a startup darling and highlights a broader macro trend: established payments giants are aggressively swallowing up niche players to build comprehensive, fully licensed banking ecosystems. We unpack what this means for SME banking and consumer trust in digital-first financial services.
Other interesting stories in this episode:
Flutterwave’s Quarter-Staff Promotion: Marking its 10th anniversary, Flutterwave promoted over 100 employees globally. Along with the titles, the fintech giant introduced global cost-of-living adjustments, tax support for Nigerian staff, and economic relief packages to stave off poaching from global tech firms.
Interswitch Enters the Core Banking Race: The payment infrastructure giant has partnered with global banking software provider Temenos. The deal allows Interswitch to offer cloud-hosted and on-premise core banking, wealth management, and financial crime systems to banks in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire.
Localised Voice AI Gets a Boost: AethexAI emerged from stealth with a $3 million pre-seed round led by 4DX Ventures. Instead of relying on Western LLMs that struggle with local dialects, latency, and accents, the startup built its own localised voice models (Kora 1) to automate call centres, debt collection, and KYC checks across Africa and the Middle East.
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