BitKE

The Tezos blockchain community hosted its first Ideathon in Kampala, Uganda, aimed at creating real-world solutions. Five innovative teams were selected to develop their ideas, vying for a funding prize of 1 million UGX from the Tezos International foundation.

Partech has raised €245 million for its second AfricaTech Fund, surpassing its initial goal of €230 million. The fund aims to invest $1 million to $15 million in startups, attracting significant global interest in African venture capital.

Nigerian payments infrastructure company, Zone, has facilitated transactions exceeding ₦1 trillion ($660 million) on its blockchain network between November 2022 and December 2024, according to CEO, Obi Emetarom.
Zone is the only blockchain financial institution licensed to

Eden Care, a Rwandan digital health insurance startup, has joined Y-Combinator's 2023 summer batch, marking a significant milestone. The company aims to revolutionize affordable health insurance in Africa, leveraging technology to enhance employee access to healthcare.

WorldCoin's parent company, Tools For Humanity, defied a May 2023 order from Kenya's Data Protection Office to cease biometric data collection, leading to its suspension in August. Concerns included privacy infringements and lack of consent for iris scans.

Connect Money, an Egyptian fintech, raised $8 million in seed funding to expand its embedded finance services across Africa. The platform facilitates white-label card issuing for businesses, enhancing financial accessibility. Since launching in 2024, it has issued 300K cards and partnered with major brands, aiming to simplify banking for traditional businesses.

For the second consecutive year, Senegalese fintech, Wave, was the only African company featured in Y Combinator’s top 50 highest-earning startups of 2024.
The list includes the likes of:
AirBnB
Reddit
Stripe
Coinbase
InstaCart
Scribd
Zapier
Optimizely
RazorPay
Scale AI
among

The Celo Community has approved the formation of a community DAO in Africa with the stated goal of scaling Web3 to developers and builders at the grassroots.
The proposal, which was made by Khadijah Amusat, went live for community voting on Wednesday 22 February 2023 and passed with

Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, announced over four million eNaira wallets created for a social intervention program, marking a 68% increase in transactions since early 2023. The eNaira aims to boost financial inclusion across all mobile devices.

Google will require loan apps in Kenya to prove licensing for Play Store listing, as part of efforts for regulatory compliance. Similar measures are in place for India, Indonesia, and Nigeria, due to concerns over unregulated loan services.

Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin by market cap, is expanding its footprint in Africa through a strategic investment in Shiga Digital, a startup that offers blockchain-based financial solutions targeting the continent.
According to a statement, Shiga Digital provides services

Raise, a platform that offers end-to-end fundraising solutions, has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Carta, a San Francisco-based firm that specializes in valuation software and capitalization table management.
This is the first African investment by the U.S entity since its

Block Inc., the parent company of Cash App and led by Jack Dorsey, the Founder and former CEO of X (formerly Twitter) has been fined $40 million by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) for significant deficiencies in its anti-money laundering (AML) and compliance programs related

Nsano Ltd has expanded in East Africa by launching an office in Rwanda, securing Payment Aggregation and Remittance licenses. Established in 2013, the firm enhances digital payments across Africa, now serving over 30 countries, and aims for continued growth.