We have prepared context and insights about this week’s leading news. The stories are:
- Ilara Health trims staff as funding dries up
- Taiwan blinks on chip squeeze
- Nigeria’s SEC Chief says stablecoins can’t be boxed
We also curated updates on startup funding in Africa, weekend reads, and several opportunities.
Ilara Health trims staff as funding dries up
Money talks, and right now, it’s saying “not enough.”
Kenya’s Ilara Health, the startup powering smarter diagnostics for over 3,000 clinics, is downsizing after funding reversals and delays left cash flow gasping. The exact number of layoffs hasn’t been disclosed, but the company says essential services will continue while it pivots to more profitable, cash-generating operations. Staff impacted have entered the 30-day consultation period required under Kenyan labour law.
Zoom in: This comes just nine months after Ilara secured a $1 million loan from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to scale its diagnostic platform. The startup says it’s now doubling down on cash-generative business lines while keeping service running for over 3,000 clinics across 46 counties.
Click to viewCEO Emilian Popa called it a “difficult moment” for the team, but reassured that the focus remains on serving underserved communities.
Zoom out: Healthtech isn’t alone in this squeeze. Kenya’s had its fair share of pink slips lately; mobility startup eBee trimmed about 50 staff in January, Flutterwave axed half its team in Kenya and South Africa in July, and Mediamax Network Limited also cut jobs. Across the border, Nigeria’s MedSaf didn’t survive at all, shutting down after funding dried up.
For African healthtech, the challenge isn’t only building solutions that save lives, it’s keeping the business healthy enough to live another day.
Taiwan blinks on chip squeeze
Two days. That’s how long Taiwan’s export ban on advanced chips to South Africa lasted before being rolled back. Or should we say folded?😂 The island, which makes more than 60% of the world’s semiconductors, briefly weaponised its tech dominance after Pretoria downgraded its liaison office in what Taipei saw as a slap to its sovereignty.
South Africa didn’t waste time calling for talks, worried that chip disruptions could stall its auto plants, automation projects, and AI ambitions, especially with G20 leaders coming to town in November. Negotiations worked, at least for now: Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs suspended the restrictions after huddling with its foreign ministry.
However, the move demonstrated Taiwan’s delicate balancing act: flexing its semiconductor dominance without scaring off global partners or inviting fresh scrutiny. For South Africa, it was a reminder that foreign policy moves can hit where it hurts: industrial growth.
Meanwhile, in a separate move that adds to the global chip chessboard, Beijing has barred its biggest tech firms from buying Nvidia chips as it races to beef up its domestic semiconductor industry. Put together, these moves show how silicon chips have gone from factory parts to bargaining chips in geopolitics.
Nigeria’s SEC chief says stablecoins can’t be boxed
The US has rolled out its first big stablecoin law, the GENIUS Act of 2025, but guess what, the ink isn’t even dry, and firms are already poking holes in it. The law bans paying “interest” on stablecoins (a trade-off for lighter regulation), but crypto exchanges are skirting the rule by calling it something else: “rewards.” Coinbase, for instance, is dangling 4.1% annual rewards on USDC, and says it’s all good since Circle issues the coin, not them. Call it semantics, call it a loophole; regulators are calling it trouble.
Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) boss, Emomotimi Agama, isn’t buying the wordplay. In a new paper, he argues stablecoins can’t be boxed neatly into one category: sometimes they’re payment tools (cheap, fast remittances), other times they’re investment assets fueling DeFi speculation. Treat them like one-size-fits-all and you either choke off innovation or leave the market dangerously exposed. His pitch? An “activity-based” approach: regulate according to how the coin’s being used, not just what it’s called.
Agama knows the stakes. Nigeria has one of the highest crypto adoption rates in the world and has been moving fast with its own frameworks, from the Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme (ARIP) licensing scheme for exchanges to consistent signals that the country is “open for stablecoin business” as long as the rules are followed.
Bottom line: Stablecoins are already a $230 billion market and could be moving trillions in payments by 2030. Whether you call it “interest” or “rewards,” regulators are in a race to keep up. As Agama puts it, this is less about labels and more about making sure the financial system doesn’t catch fire while the word games play out.
💰 State of Funding in Africa
Here’s a roundup of African startups that secured funding this week:
- Tanzanian agri-tech startup MazaoHub raised $2 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed round. The round includes $1.5 million in equity, led by Catalyst Fund with participation from Nordic Impact Fund, Mercy Corps Ventures, elea Foundation, Impacc, and DOB Equity, as well as $500,000 in non-dilutive capital from the Livelihood Impact Fund.
- Kenyan agritech venture studio Pyramidia Ventures raised $1.5 million from Dutch impact investor Triple Jump. The deal includes $1.3 million in funding and $200,000 in technical assistance and business development support from the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), which Triple Jump manages.
- South African digital identity platform Contactable raised $13.5 million to expand its onboarding and eKYC solutions across Africa. The round was led by Venture Capitalworks, with participation from Fireball Capital, Ke Nako Capital, and Mavovo.
- Kenyan fintech Zanifu received an undisclosed investment from Yango Ventures, the $20 million venture capital arm of global tech group Yango.
🍿 Weekend binge
- How I helped Temu crack the Nigerian market (Highly recommend, especially if you are tired of their non-stop ads)
- If the average person did this for 6 months, they’d be unrecognizable
- The power of storytelling for career growth and job search
💼 Opportunities
We carefully curate open opportunities in Product & Design, Data & Engineering, and Admin & Growth every week.
Product & Design
- Pressable — Product Marketing Manager, Remote
- Moonlight — Product Designer, Remote
Data & Engineering
- Moniepoint — Senior Frontend Engineer, Lagos
- Circle — Senior Frontend Engineer, Remote
Admin & Growth
- Scopic — Marketing Specialist, Remote
- Scopic — Business Development Specialist, Remote
