Nigerian card-issuing fintech Allawee is reportedly folding into Paystack following a quiet acquisition, marking another notable consolidation in the country’s increasingly competitive fintech sector. The move brings together two companies operating at different layers of Nigeria’s financial technology infrastructure. Allawee built tools that allow fintechs and businesses to issue, manage and process cards without having…

Nigeria is moving to tighten the security requirements for cryptocurrency businesses, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposing that digital-asset custodians keep at least 80% of customers’ assets in cold storage. The proposal forms part of a broader overhaul of the country’s rules for digital and virtual asset operations, custody and markets. Cold storage…

After more than a decade of investing in African technology companies and deploying over $100 million, venture capital firm TLCOM says its biggest lessons have less to do with the amount of capital invested and more to do with the time required to build durable businesses. TLCOM’s experience has challenged an assumption that shaped much…

Lisk, the Swiss blockchain infrastructure company, is shutting down its blockchain after nearly a decade, ending a major part of its Web3 strategy and removing a notable source of funding and ecosystem support for African startups. The Lisk Chain is scheduled to close on October 31, 2026, as the company pivots toward financial software for…

South African AI startup Verascient has raised $1.2 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round. The Cape Town-based company was founded by Keagan Stokoe and Emile Dos Santos Ferreira. It is developing infrastructure intended to connect AI agents with companies’ existing systems, workflows and internal knowledge, rather than offering a general-purpose assistant. Verascient’s core product…

Artificial intelligence is moving into a new phase. Instead of simply answering questions or generating content, AI agents can increasingly perform tasks, interact with software, make decisions and execute workflows on behalf of people and organisations. For African enterprises, this shift presents an opportunity to avoid some of the limitations created by legacy technology and…