Inside uLesson’s journey: How Sim Shagaya built one of Africa’s most influential edtech companies
The continent is home to one of the world’s youngest and fastest-growing populations, yet millions of students still struggle to access high-quality learning. Overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages, uneven educational standards, limited learning resources, and persistent infrastructure challenges continue to shape the academic experience of many children. At the same time,
Top African investors and venture capital firms
Africa’s venture capital market is not returning to the easy-money conditions that powered its record-breaking funding cycle. It is becoming more selective, more structured, and, in several important ways, more mature. African technology companies raised approximately $4.1 billion through equity and debt in 2025, according to Partech. That represented a
Today Africa Weekly | July 20th – July 26th, 2026
Africa’s technology sector is entering a more disciplined growth era. The strongest companies are no longer simply chasing digital adoption; they are building infrastructure that supports commerce, healthcare, finance, and economic development. This week’s activity showed investors becoming more selective, governments becoming more involved, and founders increasingly focused on solving
Travel tech startups building Africa’s next era of movement
The continent’s biggest cities are no longer attracting visitors only through beaches, wildlife, or historic landmarks. They are becoming meeting points for entrepreneurs, investors, creators, business travelers, diaspora communities, and a new generation of explorers looking for connection, opportunity, and culture. From Lagos and Nairobi to Accra, Kigali, Cape Town,
Why African cities are emerging as tourism investment hubs
Tourism investment does not begin with a hotel groundbreaking or a government announcement. It begins with movement. A new direct flight fills with business travelers. Diaspora visitors start returning more frequently. Restaurants remain busy beyond the traditional holiday season. International hotel brands enter unfamiliar districts, while local founders build transport,
How poor roads affect African business growth
Africa’s businesses are often described as operating in high-growth markets. Yet many firms are still moving goods through transport systems that make growth slower, riskier, and more expensive than headline economic numbers suggest. The cost is visible in product prices. UN Trade and Development estimates that road transport accounts for
Airtel Africa Q1 revenue jumps to $1.85 billion as Airtel Money eyes London IPO
Airtel Africa has opened its new financial year with stronger revenue, rising data consumption and a major step toward separating its mobile money business. The telecommunications group generated $1.85 billion in revenue during the quarter ended June 30, 2026, representing reported currency growth of 31% from $1.42 billion a year
LemFi partners BVNK to speed up stablecoin-based remittance settlements across borders
LemFi has partnered with stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK to improve how it settles international money transfers, using blockchain-based stablecoins to make cross-border payments faster and more cost-efficient. The partnership will allow LemFi to use BVNK’s infrastructure to settle transactions through stablecoins, creating a new layer for its global remittance network.
African unicorn list 2026: The companies, founders and industries behind Africa’s billion-dollar startups
Africa’s unicorn story is no longer simply about counting startups valued above $1 billion. It is becoming a test of which companies can defend those valuations through revenue, profitability, regulatory strength, and regional expansion. By the strictest definition, Africa currently has eight private technology companies with defensible billion-dollar valuations. A
Inside Stitch’s journey: Building Africa’s modern payments infrastructure
Founded in 2020, Stitch emerged to address these challenges by building modern, API-first payments infrastructure designed for enterprise businesses. Rather than competing as a consumer-facing fintech, the company positioned itself as the technology layer that enables merchants, financial institutions, and digital platforms to accept, manage, and optimize payments through a
