Hi, Briefing reader!
Welcome to this edition of Your Briefing where you’ll find the latest updates in the startup and tech space in Africa.
To contribute to the Briefing, you can send your tip to [email protected], or inbox us via Facebook and Twitter.
Funding opportunities
Things keep getting better as more investors, accelerator programs and grants launch in Africa.
From the Opportunity Desk, we’ve several offers we gathered from different sources. To begin with, you can apply for the 2019 MIT Solve initiative, which is making more than US$1.5 million in prize funding available to innovative solutions.
Applications are open till July 1.
Also, Crenov8 Consulting, through the Innov8Agric Challenge, is looking for agritech startups to support. The startups will face off in a pitch competition which will be held at its 3rd annual Meet The Farmers’ Conference in Dubai in Nov. 2019.
Deadline for application is June 30.
The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law’s (HiiL) Innovating Justice Challenge 2019 is also open to applicants and you have been given up to 15 August. Participation will be from from East Africa, West Africa and Southern Africa.
You can win up to growth can win up to €20,000 in seed-funding, business development support, access to a global network, potential further investment opportunities and international exposure for their innovation, including the chance to pitch at the Innovating Justice Forum in The Hague in February 2020.
Apply here.
More opportunities:
Ugandan tech startups called to apply for second edition of NTF IV Uganda
Apply for Vodafone F-LANE or Pitch AgriHack
4 opportunities: Apply for support from American Express, Kaspersky, University of Sussex and more
Anne Rweyora wins Shs48m
Ugandan innovator Anne Rweyora has bagged £10,000 (about Shs48 million) for her startup Smart Havens Africa, a social enterprise aiming at ending housing poverty through the development of sustainable, eco-friendly, affordable housing for women earning less than USD$6 per day.
This was after emerging finalist in The Africa Prize For Engineering Innovation, a prestigious challenge organized by the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK.
The overall winner was a South African startup called Pelebox, a smart locker system designed to dispense medicine to patients with chronic conditions.
Read the full report here
5 Ugandan startups to travel to Tunisia
Five Ugandan startups have been picked to participate in the Africa Moves Big Summit, an event that will be held from June 17-21 in Tunis, Tunisia. These are Chil-Artificial Intelligence Lab (Uganda), SkoolDesk (Uganda), Green Charcoal (Uganda), UgaBus and Sesaco (Uganda).
In total, up to 100 African startups were selected to pitch to investors, participate in hackathons, exhibit, and network with top entrepreneurs around the globe.
Read the full report here
A ‘LinkedIn for Africa’ launched in Rwanda
Afringa, a Frankfurt-based online networking and employment platform that wants to give Microsoft-owned LinkedIn a run for its money in Africa, has extended its operations in Kigali.
With over 3500 members in over 40 African nations, the startup picked Sibomana Oemba Jean De Dieu to head the Rwandan subsidiary.
Read the full report here
You can pay for Netflix using MPesa, Airtel Money, MTN Mobile Money
Global payments firm Adyen has partnered with pan-African payments firm Cellulant to offer its global merchants’ access to key local payment methods in major African markets, TechMoran reported Tuesday.
Adyen is the gateway that replaced PayPal on eBay. The new deal with Cellulant will see customers of M-PESA, Airtel Money, Equitel, Tigo Pesa and MTN Mobile Money pay for services on eBay, Facebook, Airbnb, Spotify, Uber, and Netflix.
Read the full report here
Flutterwave expands to South Africa
Payments company Flutterwave is making South Africa its fifth African market after Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana
The startup is well-backed, raising US$10 million in Series A funding in August 2017 and then an extension round last year to take its total raised funding to date to more than US$20 million.
The startup has also spoken about expanding to Rwanda.
