Techcrier

Flourish Ventures–backed Madica is expanding its footprint into North Africa with new investments in Tunisian and Moroccan AI startups, Anavid and Hypeo AI. Madica provides up to $200,000 per company, along with mentorship and investor-readiness support for founders at the pre-seed stage. Anavid uses computer vision to help retailers optimize in-store operations, while Hypeo AI builds AI tools for influencer marketing and brand intelligence. This expansion highlights how early-stage investors are betting on African AI startups beyond traditional markets. Read the full story on Techcrier https://lnkd.in/eUwZu_9B

Nigeria’s Moniepoint has closed its Series C round at $200 million after securing an additional $90 million in new funding. The round, led by DPI with participation from LeapFrog Investments, Visa, IFC, and Google’s Africa Investment Fund, pushes Moniepoint’s valuation above $1 billion. This move comes as the fintech scales its business banking and remittance offerings beyond Nigeria, entering Kenya through its Sumac Microfinance acquisition and launching remittances in the UK under MonieWorld. In a funding climate where many startups are struggling to raise, Moniepoint’s successful close underscores a key shift: investors are backing African fintechs with proven business models and profitability, not just growth stories. Full story on Techcrier. https://lnkd.in/eFVzNcSK

Elon Musk’s X is turning usernames into tradable assets. The platform has launched a marketplace for inactive handles, allowing Premium Plus and Business subscribers to buy or request usernames that haven’t been used for years. Prices start at $2,500, with some “rare” handles reportedly valued in the seven-figure range. It’s a bold move that could redefine digital identity and monetization online, but also raises questions about ownership, fairness, and access. Are usernames now the next frontier of digital real estate? Read the full story on Techcrier. https://lnkd.in/euyp-JEU

For many African creatives, Instagram was never just a social app. It was a workplace, a gallery, a market, and a megaphone all at once. But today, that “freedom” is starting to feel like a fragile illusion. Artists across the continent are waking up to find their accounts disabled, their art flagged, and their livelihoods erased, sometimes overnight, with no warning and no appeal. A Nigerian illustrator spends five years building a 65,000-follower audience, landing brand collaborations and commissions. Then, one morning, his account is gone. The message: “You violated community guidelines.” No explanation. No recourse. This isn’t an isolated glitch. It’s a systemic failure in how global platforms moderate and value African creators. Automated systems can’t distinguish between cultural art and “inappropriate content.” Local languages are ignored. Appeals take weeks. For Africa’s growing creative economy, visibility equals income. Losing a page means losing work, clients, and momentum. It’s not just about digital policy, it’s about creative survival. If platforms like Instagram are serious about supporting creators globally, they need localized moderation, transparent appeals, and accountability that reflects the cultures they profit from. Techcrier’s latest feature explores what happens when visibility vanishes, and how Africa’s creative economy can reclaim control. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eXkGYYTq

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is preparing to invest up to $7 million in Yakeey, a Casablanca-based PropTech startup digitizing Morocco’s real estate market. Founded in 2022, Yakeey connects buyers, sellers, brokers, and notaries through a unified digital platform designed to simplify property transactions and enhance transparency. The funding is part of its Series A round and is expected to accelerate Yakeey’s expansion across Morocco and beyond. If finalized, this would mark one of the most significant institutional investments in the country’s PropTech ecosystem, reflecting growing confidence in North Africa’s digital real estate potential. Read the full story on Techcrier https://lnkd.in/eHn9SwqS

Starting November 2025, OpenAI will begin collecting a 7.5% VAT on ChatGPT Plus subscriptions in Nigeria, following FIRS digital tax rules under Section 10 of the VAT Act. This moves the monthly cost from roughly ₦31,500 to ₦33,862.50. The company advises users to include their TIN for proper tax documentation. While this compliance is a sign of Nigeria’s growing relevance in the global AI market, it also raises the cost of digital access for professionals and startups who rely on ChatGPT for daily work. It’s a small change that reflects a much larger reality: as AI tools become more essential, governments and companies alike are reshaping the economics of access. Full story on Techcrier. https://lnkd.in/eUJQ2M-q

IHS Towers has completed the sale of its entire Rwandan business, comprising 1,467 tower sites, to Paradigm Tower Ventures for $274.5 million. Paradigm, backed by British International Investment, Proparco, and Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund, will now manage the sites and continue providing infrastructure services to Rwanda’s telecom operators. The transaction supports IHS’s ongoing strategy to optimize its portfolio and focus on larger markets such as Nigeria, Brazil, and South Africa. Read the full report on Techcrier https://lnkd.in/exnt6hRj

A major AWS outage Today disrupted some of the world’s biggest platforms, Amazon, Snapchat, Fortnite, Coinbase, and Canva among them. The issue originated in AWS’s US-EAST-1 region and rippled through global systems for hours before recovery began. The incident wasn’t caused by a cyberattack but by technical failures in DynamoDB and DNS, showing how deeply dependent the world’s digital infrastructure has become on a single cloud provider. Experts say this is a warning sign for governments, enterprises, and startups alike: redundancy isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. Read the full story on Techcrier. https://lnkd.in/eSzDCJFD

AAF Management has announced the close of a new $55 million hybrid fund, The Axis Fund, designed to back both early-stage startups and emerging venture fund managers worldwide. Anchored by Mubadala Capital, the investment arm of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, alongside several family offices and institutional investors, the Axis Fund reflects a shift in how early-stage venture capital is evolving. Rather than choosing between backing startups or funds, AAF is doing both. About 80% of the fund’s capital will be invested directly into startups (from pre-seed to pre-IPO), while 20% will go to emerging managers building the next generation of venture firms. This hybrid model gives AAF access to proprietary deal flow and early visibility into high-growth companies before they enter mainstream databases. Since its founding in 2016, AAF has invested in over 130 startups and 40 emerging managers, counting Flutterwave, Jasper, Drata, Current, and Hello Heart among its portfolio successes. With this new fund, AAF is positioning itself at the intersection of founders and fund managers, serving as both investor and connector in an increasingly fragmented global market. Hybrid venture strategies like this could reshape how early-stage capital is deployed, especially as investors seek smarter, more diversified exposure to innovation. Read the full story on Techcrier https://lnkd.in/evWney9P

Ivorian healthtech Ades has raised $620,000 from CDC-CI Capital to expand its hybrid healthcare system combining telemedicine with in-person medical services. Founded in 2019 by local doctors, Ades has served over 6,000 home-care patients and works with 50+ corporate partners. With this funding, it plans to modernize biomedical equipment, expand its logistics fleet, and upgrade its UMED digital platform. This investment underscores growing confidence in Francophone Africa’s healthtech space and the rise of locally driven healthcare innovations that balance digital and physical access. Read the full story on Techcrier. https://lnkd.in/eaj7kMYZ