africa

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Startup incubator Nailab invests $25K in East African startups

When Nailab (Nairobi Incubation Lab) opened its doors seven years ago in Kenya, it wanted to be the Y Combinator for Kenya, Nailab CEO Sam Gichuru told me. In order to accomplish that goal, Gichuru realized Nailab would need a lot of money, which it did not have at the time. That’s why it initially began as a co-working space. Read More

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Internet of Elephants uses AR to get up close to endangered species, turns their migrations into a game

 Wildlife conservation groups have made a lot of strides in raising awareness of animals whose populations or natural habitats are endangered, and what we can do to help. Now a startup out of Kenya is tapping into advances made in augmented reality, mapping and app-based games to further the cause. Internet of Elephants, a startup based out of Nairobi, is building an app-based game of the same… Read More

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Africa Roundup: Lori Systems wins BFX Africa, Andela raises $40M, Jumia lends to SMEs, Safaricom launches incubator

 Logistics transportation company Lori Systems won best of show at TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield Africa after gaining majority votes of the event’s 15 judges. The Kenyan-based venture pitched its platform to optimize all points of the cargo delivery supply chain. Lori wasn’t the only winner at Startup Battlefield Africa. Read More

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Google’s voice typing tech adds support for 30 more languages, reaching further into Africa, India

 Google today is expanding its speech recognition capabilities to support dozens of new languages, particularly those in emerging markets in India and Africa, the company announced this morning. That means more people around the world will gain the ability to search the web by voice as well as type via voice using Google’s keyboard app, Gboard. The company says with the update,… Read More

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Facebook digs into mobile infrastructure in Uganda as TIP commits $170M to startups

Mobile users in Uganda While Google is using MWC to show off some of its advances in native apps on mobile devices — specifically in chat apps — the world’s biggest chat app company is doing something completely different. Today, Facebook announced that it is building a 770-kilometer (500-mile) fiber backhaul network in Uganda, in partnership with India’s Airtel and wholesale provider BCS… Read More

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Flutterwave aims to unify Africa’s fragmented payment systems and empower small businesses

flutterwave_logo_diag There’s no shortage of entrepreneurs in Africa, but their ambitions are often hampered by the lack in many countries of reliable and affordable digital payment systems. Moneywave wants to empower individuals and small merchants to take part in the thriving digital economy by letting them accept payment however it’s offered, and receive it instantly in whatever form they choose. Read More

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It takes more than a village

Fish and boat, Saint Louis, Senegal, West Africa, Africa (Photo: Godong / robertharding/Getty Images) Where there is wireless connectivity, there is a way to improve lives. That’s why countless mobile-for-development programs designed to address health, education and economic issues have been flooding Africa. Hailed as the “mobile continent,” Africa has generated $150 billion through the mobile ecosystem. But not every tech-for-good initiative can be M-PESA, the mobile… Read More

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Emerging markets’ challenge to Silicon Valley

moneygrowth Silicon Valley leads the global technology innovation markets with the credentials and an ecosystem that is second to none. We have had contact with many of the leading technology accelerators operating out of Silicon Valley; their opening line for the conversation is often: “How are you relevant to us?” However, those of us living in the rest of the planet have to ask: “When… Read More

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The opportunities Silicon Valley doesn’t see

Go-Jek Indonesia Pt. motorcycle taxi riders drive along a street in Jakarta, Indonesia on Monday, March 21, 2016. The Jakarta-based startup has already become a household name in its home country. The startup's app has been downloaded more than 11 million times and it has more than 200,000 motorbikes. Its name is a play on ojek, the Indonesian word for the motorcycle taxis that crisscross Southeast Asia's most populous nation. Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg via Getty Images Silicon Valley is justifiably seen as the geographical center of digital innovation. From Google and Facebook to Uber and Netflix, the Valley is home to many global technology leaders. However, when searching for the next big startup, the time has come to look beyond Silicon Valley. Read More

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