Some weeks in the African tech ecosystem feel like a soap opera, other weeks feel like a boardroom thriller.
This one? Let’s just say it had a bit of both — billion-dollar power plays on one side, founders chasing cheques on the other, and enough policy drama to keep investors on edge.
If you blinked, you probably missed half the action.
Don’t worry — I’ve got you. Let’s catch you up on everything that went down in the ecosystem last week (September 22 – 28, 2025).
African tech news highlights
Major corporate/infrastructure moves
- Canal+ completed a ~$2 billion takeover of MultiChoice, finalising regulatory and shareholder approvals—this is the headline strategic deal of the week and will reshape pay-TV and content distribution in South Africa and across the continent.
- 2Africa subsea cable goes live, adding substantial new international capacity that should lower latency and improve bandwidth options for African carriers, hyperscalers and data-centre projects. This is a major win for regional connectivity.
- Safaricom finished the M-PESA core migration (Fintech 2.0) — a cloud-native migration intended to increase throughput and reduce outages for millions of users; a foundational upgrade for mobile money innovation.
- Paga: US Expansion (Nigeria/US diaspora banking): Founded in 2009 by Tayo Oviosu, Paga operates a consumer wallet, B2B payments engine, and SME platform. The fintech is now expanding into the US with a digital banking service tailored for African immigrants, launched in partnership with a US-regulated bank. The new offering allows users to open and manage US bank accounts with a valid ID and a residential address. Rollout begins with Nigerians in the US as part of Paga’s wider global growth strategy to ease cross-border finance and inclusion.
Startup & ecosystem news
- AltSchool Africa launched a Nano-Diploma to give learners more flexible, shorter-format credentials. This is an example of edtech product evolution toward shorter, skills-first offerings.
- TLcom Capital partner Ido Sum departed after 14 years, a notable GP/people move at a major Africa-focused VC — worth watching for potential follow-on effects on deal flows and sector focus.
- Egypt’s Instabug rebranded to “Luciq”, signaling product and go-to-market repositioning from a well-known MENA engineering tool.
Exits/acquisitions
Duaya: Acquires EXMGO (Egypt/Pharmacy digitization)
Egyptian e-health startup Duaya, founded in 2021 by Ahmed Fazara, has acquired EXMGO, a SaaS provider for pharmacies and medical businesses, in a six-figure deal. Rebranded as Duaya Go, the platform now offers branded apps and websites for pharmacies to manage online sales, inventory, and payments.
Street Wallet acquires Digitip
Street Wallet, founded in 2021 by Kosta Scholiadis, is a South African fintech enabling informal traders to accept cashless payments via Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, SnapScan, and more—without bank accounts or hardware. The deal deepens Street Wallet’s footprint in KwaZulu-Natal and enhances its mission to drive financial inclusion, offering users faster payouts, lower transaction costs, and smoother digital experiences.
Key funding rounds (September 22 – 28, 2025)
Contactable: $13.5M Growth Round
- Sector: Digital ID & eKYC (onboarding, verification, fraud reduction, compliance)
- Lead investor(s): Venture Capitalworks, with Fireball Capital, Ke Nako Capital, and Mavovo
- Why it matters: Strengthens Africa’s digital identity infrastructure, enabling secure onboarding, compliance, and financial inclusion.
Centurion-based Contactable, founded by Shaun Strydom, offers an integrated platform for digital onboarding and KYC. The $13.5M raise will fund innovations in Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO), AI, self-sovereign identity, and payments integration, while expanding into underserved African markets.
MazaoHub: $2M Pre-seed (Tanzania/Climate-smart farming)
- Sector: Agri-tech (AI-driven soil intelligence & farmer support)
- Lead investor(s): Catalyst Fund; others include Nordic Impact Fund, Mercy Corps Ventures, elea Foundation, Impacc, DOB Equity
- Why it matters: Empowers smallholder farmers with AI and agronomy, boosting yields while reducing inputs and emissions.
MazaoHub blends AI-powered soil kits, sensors, and farm management tools with local agronomists through its “Tech and Touch” model. The platform cuts fertilizer use by 30%, expands organic manure use fivefold, and optimizes irrigation, helping farmers grow more with less.
The raise includes $1.5M equity and $500K non-dilutive capital from the Livelihood Impact Fund. New funding will scale Farmer Excellence Centres and support the rollout of CropSupply.com, linking farmers directly to markets.
ARC Ride: $10M debt financing (Kenya/e-mobility scale-up)
- Sector: Electric mobility (Battery-as-a-Service, motorcycles)
- Investor: Mirova (Gigaton Fund)
- Why it matters: First e-mobility deal from Mirova’s Gigaton Fund, using blended finance to de-risk future private capital.
ARC Ride, founded by Joseph Hurst-Croft, operates a Battery-as-a-Service model enabling riders to swap depleted batteries for charged ones, cutting fuel costs and range anxiety. The $10M debt facility will fund 600+ new swapping cabinets and 25,000 batteries in Kenya, advancing its mission to make electric transport affordable and sustainable across Africa.
Zanifu: Undisclosed funding (Kenya/Expansion)
- Sector: Fintech (MSME lending & working capital)
- Lead investor(s): Yango Ventures (US$20M CVC fund by Yango Group)
- Why it matters: Addresses MSME credit gap in Africa’s FMCG supply chain by building financial infrastructure for small retailers.
Founded in 2017 by Steve Biko and Sebastian Mithika, Zanifu provides short-term working capital loans to FMCG-focused MSMEs. The startup has disbursed over US$60M to 15,000+ SMEs and recently achieved two months of break-even profitability. After raising US$11.2M debt and equity in August 2023, it now secures further backing from Yango Ventures, which recently invested in Kenyan mobility startup BuuPass.
Trends to watch
1. Corporate & CVC activity is increasingly shaping deal flow
Large corporates and corporate VCs (e.g., Yango Ventures) are making targeted bets in fintech, mobility and B2B SaaS — often with strategic aims (market entry, distribution partnerships). This is visible in the Zanifu backing and other corporate-linked moves.
2. Infrastructure upgrades are a hidden catalyst
The 2Africa cable coming online and M-PESA’s Fintech 2.0 migration are the type of infrastructure changes that enable faster, more reliable product rollouts (payments, streaming, data services). Founders building bandwidth- or payments-dependent products will benefit.
3. Continued investor interest in fintech + SME finance
Fintech — especially SME lending and embedded finance — continues to attract capital (Zanifu, earlier rounds this year). Investors are favouring models with clear unit economics and paths to profitability.
4. Climate/agritech moves from pilots to scaling
MazaoHub’s $2M pre-seed shows funders moving beyond pilots into scaling AI-driven, climate-smart solutions for farmers in East Africa. Expect more climate/agri rounds that combine tech with on-the-ground distribution.
5. M&A & consolidation in vertical SaaS / payments
Small strategic acquisitions (EXMGO → Duaya, Digitip → Street Wallet) show acquirers are consolidating niche vertical solutions (pharmacy SaaS, tipping/payments) to broaden service stacks quickly.
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