Today Africa Weekly: Tech news recap | July 21–27, 2025

July 28, 2025

Today Africa Weekly: Tech news recap | July 21–27, 2025

Africa’s startup ecosystem continued to gain momentum during the week of July 21–27, 2025, driven by fresh capital inflows, infrastructure investments, and ecosystem shake-ups. From a landmark data centre launch to high-profile funding rounds and competitive entrepreneurship programs, the week’s developments reflect a tech landscape in transition — resilient, diversified, and increasingly investor-aligned.

Tech News Highlights

Africa’s Business Heroes 2025 Announces Top 50 Finalists

Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH), a Jack Ma Foundation initiative, has announced the Top 50 finalists for its 2025 US$1.5 million competition, after receiving a record 32,000 applications from all 54 African countries.

The finalists, from 17 countries and 16 sectors, include 36% women and 10% Francophone entrepreneurs. They will join a Virtual Bootcamp and undergo further evaluations. The Top 10 will be chosen in Dakar (September) and compete in the grand finale in Kigali (December) for their share of US$1.5 million in grants.

Visa opens first data centre in Africa

On July 23, Visa Inc. inaugurated its first-ever African data centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. The R1 billion (~US$57 m) investment is part of a multi-year plan to enhance local financial infrastructure, reduce latency, and support regional fintech innovation.

54 Collective Shuts Down After Legal Dispute with Mastercard Foundation

54 Collective, formerly Founders Factory Africa, has shut down after a legal dispute with the Mastercard Foundation. The firm misused restricted grant funds for a rebrand, prompting the Foundation to terminate the partnership. Attempts to avoid repayment led to a court-ordered liquidation of its operating entity, Africa Founders Ventures.

Knife Capital celebrates 15 years with new investments

Cape Town-based Knife Capital, marking its 15th year of impact investing, announced Series A backing for two South African startups in edtech (Sticitt) and healthtech (Optique), continuing its sector focus in tech-driven social impact

Major Funding Rounds (July 21–27, 2025)

Flend – SME Digital Lending (Egypt)

Amount raised: US $3 million seed (equity + debt)
Lead investors: Egypt Ventures, with participation from Camel Ventures, Sukna Ventures, Plus VC, Banque Misr, and family offices

Flend, a Digital Non-Banking Financial Institution licensed by Egypt’s FRA, offers end-to-end digital SME lending via embedded partnerships across key sectors. Its $3M seed funding supports scaling operations, enhancing team capacity, and deepening integrations in Egypt’s economic platforms.

ORA Technologies – Super App / Digital Infrastructure (Morocco)

Amount raised: US $7.5 million Series A
Lead investors: Azur Innovation Fund + three strategic local investors

ORA Technologies, a Morocco-based app launched in 2023, offers P2P payments, e-commerce, on-demand services, and digital wallets. Its food delivery service and ORA Cash wallet have gained significant traction locally. The $7.5M Series A round, following a $1.9M pre-Series A, highlights growing local investor support for Moroccan startups and will fuel last-mile expansion and digitisation of cash-based transactions.

PlayAI – Voice AI (Egypt)

Acquired by: Meta (formerly Facebook)
Amount raised (prior to acquisition): US $21 million seed

Egyptian startup PlayAI, known for its voice AI platform including Play Dialog and multilingual TTS models, has been acquired by Meta. The move supports Meta’s ambition to compete in generative AI alongside OpenAI and Google. PlayAI’s team and tech will integrate into Meta’s AI division, advancing innovations in AI characters,

Read Last Week Edition Here

Trends to Watch

1. AI and Data platforms gain traction

Rwazi’s $12M Series A reflects growing VC confidence in African AI-driven data intelligence, especially tools designed for real-time consumer insights across the continent.

2. Super‑apps and mobility tech expand

Founded in Morocco, ORA represents a regional push into super‑app ecosystems. Meanwhile, BuuPass’s investment underlines investor appetite for tech-enabled logistics and transport marketplaces in East Africa.

3. Investment in digital infrastructure

Visa’s data centre signals a critical investment in local payment infrastructure, essential to support fintech growth and regulatory compliance across African markets.

4. Impact investing and sector-specific growth

Knife Capital’s reinvestment in edtech and healthtech highlights sustained investor interest in verticals with both social impact and commercial viability.

5. Innovative climate-focused financial models

The GEF’s plan to deploy wildlife conservation bonds across all African countries underscores emerging nature‑based financing, bridging conservation and capital markets,.

Additional Ecosystem Insights

African tech funding recovery: Q2 2025 closed with about US $426.9 m raised, up ~50% from Q1, and US $710.8 m across 104 startups in H1, a 34% Year‑on‑Year increase—though the absence of mega‑rounds persists.
Big picture momentum: By late July, data shows $1.35–1.4 billion raised in H1; equity accounted for ~68%, debt ~28.5%, and grants ~3.5%.

What This Means

For founders: The week highlights clear investor interest in AI/data startups, super‑apps, and logistics platforms. It’s also an opportune moment for climate-tech and impact-driven models to attract support.
For investors: With infrastructure deals like Visa’s and impact vehicles like GEF bonds entering the market, opportunities are broadening across sectors and instruments. Early-stage bets in AI, mobility, healthtech, and edtech continue to stand out.
For the ecosystem: These developments reinforce Africa’s transition toward more diversified tech verticals, greater digital infrastructure independence, and innovation-led climate financing—hallmarks of a maturing startup environment.

Let me know if you’d like deeper analysis on any of the deals, investor profiles, or regional trends.

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