News

South African fintech startup Orca has raised a $2.35 million seed round to expand its fraud-prevention platform for payment systems in emerging markets.

Applications are open for the Mastercard Foundation Fund for Alumni Start-ups in Transition (FAST) Program, an initiative designed to support young entrepreneurs

Applications are now open for the Female Founders & Funders (FFF) Program, an initiative designed to support women building technology-enabled startups

Gestala has raised $21.6 million (CN¥150 million) just two months after launching, at a valuation of $100 million to $200 million, founder and CEO Phoenix Peng told TechCrunch.

Zendesk is acquiring Forethought, a company that builds software to automate customer service interactions, the companies announced on Wednesday.

Publishing platform Substack is continuing to invest in video content as it launches the Substack Recording Studio, a built-in mechanism for creators to pre-record and publish videos.

Israeli AI agent startup Wonderful has raised $150 million in a Series B funding round that values it at $2 billion, coming just four months after the company raised a $100 million Series A.

Chevron has agreed to sell its offshore oil stakes in Angola to Energean for $260 million, giving the Mediterranean energy producer a foothold in West Africa

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a Licence Passporting Framework for Payment Service Providers

Mind Robotics, an industrial robotics lab spun out of the electric vehicle maker Rivian, has raised $500 million in a Series A funding round co-led by venture firms Accel and Andreessen Horowitz.

Breakout Ventures has closed a $114 million Fund III to back AI-focused early-stage startups working in scientific fields such as biology and chemistry.

Nigerian billionaire Abdulsamad Rabiu has climbed to Africa’s third-richest position, according to Forbes’ 2026 ranking of the continent’s wealthiest.