Johnstone Kpilaakaa

Flat6Labs launches $95M fund to back East and West African startups

Egypt-based VC firm, Flat6Labs has launched a $95 million fund to invest in startups in Sub-Saharan Africa with a goal to back over 170 startups in the next five years.

Why Nigerians will be charged ₦1000 NIN verification fee for passport application

The National Identity Management Commission says Nigerian citizens resident in the country will be charged a ₦1000 fee for NIN verification for each Nigerian passport application.

Y Combinator halts late-stage investment fund, lays off employees

Garry Tan, YC's president has disclosed that the accelerator is shutting down its $700M Continuity Fund targeted at growth-stage startups, this will affect 20% of YC's employees.

Retail-led microfinance bank, FairMoney expands merchant offerings by acquiring PayForce

FairMoney, a Nigerian fintech company has acquired PayForce, a sub-brand of YC-backed CrowdForce in an undisclosed deal.

A list of the harmonised USSD codes in Nigeria

Effective May 17, 2023, all mobile operators are mandated by the Nigerian Communications Commission to migrate from diverse short codes to harmonised codes. We curated a list of the new codes.

Old Naira notes remain legal tender until Dec. 2023, says CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria says old Naira notes will remain legal tender until December 2023 as ruled by the Supreme Court. This is coming a few hours after President Buhari distanced himself from the bank's non-compliance with the ruling.

BD Insider, Letter 153: African startups’ exposure to SVB

In BD Insider, Letter 153, we examine the latest about SVB collapse and how it affects African startups, uLesson's tertiary education arm and why Safaricom is being sued by its customers.

Collapsed SVB owns 2% of Chipper Cash, CEO says

In 2021, SVB led a $100 million investment into Chipper Cash, the company's CEO says "SVB owns a very small part of Chipper; [about] 2%."

What is Nigeria’s open banking operational guidelines about?

After about six years of consultation and drafting, Nigeria is now the first African country to issue an open banking regulation; it will foster legal data sharing between financial institutions and also drive inclusion.

uLesson is building an online open university named Miva

Nigerian edtech company, uLesson has launched a tertiary education arm, Miva Open University to offer distance e-learning opportunities to Africans.

Andela’s acquisition of Qualified and its evolution since 2014

Andela has acquired Qualified, a technical skills assessment platform, for an undisclosed figure. We examine this acquisition and the company's acquisition.

How these African female founders navigate co-founder relationships

Research shows that 65% of all startups will fail because of co-founder tension, these African female founders; Juliet Odumosu and Ijeoma Akwiwu, talk about how they manage co-founder relationships.