Daniel Iyanda
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Innovation and Technology, Entrepreneurship, Media, Internet Culture, Space Industry, Business, and Economy.
tech and startups storyteller @dadabenblog. interests: content marketing, media and comms. scoops: daniel@benjamindada.com/DM
Articles by Daniel Iyanda
The best affordable smartphone in 2024?
The latest One Plus 12 flagship smartphone has arrived with lots of internal improvements. While it still maintains the sleek and minimalist design with a matte finish on the back panel from its predecessor One Plus 11, its slightly curved display gives the phone a more premium look and feel. OnePlus 12 also launched the OnePlus 12R, which is a more budget-focused device with lower specs and a cheaper starting price.
Ilara Health raises $4.2 million to scale operations in East Africa and expand access to healthcare
Ilara Health, a Kenya-based healthtech company that helps private clinics access diagnostic devices and pharmaceutical products, has secured $4.2 million in debt-equity funding. The funds will be used to scale operations in East Africa and expand access to healthcare. DOB Equity spearheaded the $2.5 million equity round, joined by the Philips Foundation and continuing support from existing investors such as AAIC Investment, Angaza Capital, Black Pearl Investments, and Perivoli Innovations.
Spotify hits all-time high advertising revenue mark of $538 million in Q4 2023, amid cost cuts
Spotify had a better 2023 Q4 than expected as its premium subscribers increased by 4% over the last quarter to 236 million and its total number of monthly active users rose 5% to 602 million. The announcement came as part of its fourth-quarter earnings release, which covers the three months ending on December 31st. Throughout 2023, Spotify’s users and premium subscribers grew by 113 and 31 million, respectively, setting records for the company.
Presenting our 2023 State of Startup VC Funding in Africa Report
Today, we are glad to announce our inaugural State of Funding in Africa report. The report, which aims to provide a comprehensive view of the African tech funding ecosystem, reveals that, in line with the global downturn in venture capital funding, the African tech sector saw a significant slowdown in 2023.
Netflix’s $5 billion WWE deal marks its biggest foray into live events
Streaming giant Netflix has sealed a historic $5 billion historic 10-year deal with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to stream wrestling matches live. Under the terms of the deal, Netflix will get Monday Night Raw for 10 years, with a chance to end the contract after five. Debuting in 1993, Raw has captivated millions with its high-octane action and captivating storylines.
ZeroComplex AI is simplifying AI integrations for African businesses
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in the past few years has created growing excitement about its potential to revolutionise entire industries. At its best, AI offers individuals and companies the power to augment human intelligence and automate complex tasks, enabling organisations to operate more efficiently and make data-driven decisions. This has made many ambitious companies interested in how to leverage AI into their workflow, yet the adoption level is still low.
Cellulant CEO, Akshay Grover, resigns to “focus on personal matters”
Cellulant, a Kenyan-based payments fintech company, has today announced that Group CEO Akshay Grover will leave the company effective January 2024. Current CFO, Peter O’Toole, will oversee the organisation’s operations as acting CEO.
Cameroonian fintech startup Koree raises $200,000 pre-seed round
Cameroonian fintech startup Koree, which allows customers to save spare cash (change) on their card, has raised $200,000 Pre-seed round. The round was backed by Cameroon Angels Network, Catalytic Africa and Digital Africa. Tunde Akinnuwa, co-founder at Duplo and other private investors participated in the round. Koree intends to use this funding to scale its user base, and ultimately achieve product-market fit.
Tingo CEO liable to 45 years prison sentence for securities fraud charges
On Tuesday, January 2, the US officially issued a formal notice (indictment) charging Odogwu 'Dozy' Mmobuosi, co-CEO of Tingo, an African-focused agritech startup, with securities fraud, making false filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), and conspiracy charges.
Apple Watch ban paused: You can still buy Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 for now
On Wednesday, December 27, Apple won a court order to pause the Apple Watch ban that went into effect on Tuesday, December 26, 2023.
Amazon Prime Video will start showing ads in January 2024
Amazon has recently announced that starting from January 29, 2024, it will start placing “limited advertisements” in TV shows and movies running on its Prime Video streaming platform. This move is to enable the platform to “continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.” This new update will be introduced in the US, UK, Germany and Canada first, according to an earlier press release.
AI's Light Bulb Moment and the Opportunities
2023 was the year that Artificial Intelligence (AI) took over as the dominant tech trend. It has never been more popular for many companies to add AI features to their products and then claim to be an AI company or remind us that they’ve been using AI all along. But AI has always been with us; it only just had its light bulb moment this year. As I close out for the year, in this piece I look at what happened this year and the opportunities ahead. Thomas Edison always liked to go after big things.
Amazon Web Services leadership meets with the Nigerian Government ahead of 2024
On Monday, 18 December 2023, the Amazon Web Services leadership team led by its Vice President of Global Services Uwem Ukpong met with Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima; Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Bosun Tijani; Minister of Interior Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; and a couple of other agencies, in Abuja.
Flipping Through 30 Years of Fintech in Nigeria
Nigeria seemingly has the perfect environment for a thriving fintech sector; a young vibrant population, increasing smartphone penetration, and a focused regulatory drive to increase financial inclusion and cashless payments. But it wasn’t always like this. How did the fintech space evolve in the last three decades, and what’s next for the industry in Nigeria? Come along and I will quickly take you through 30 years of fintech’s evolution in Africa’s most populous nation.
SystemSpecs: A Transgenerational (Fin)tech Company
Hi there, I was midway through writing a piece on the early days in the Nigerian fintech space when I zoomed in on one of the players and got intrigued. So now I have a half-written abandoned article lying somewhere – that I'll finish sometime in the future – and this completed one you’re about to read.
eTranzact: The most valuable Nigerian publicly listed fintech company
Hi there, What was it like building a fintech company before it became popular? And what do the numbers of a company say about its performance and DNA? That’s a question I’ve had for a while. So I turned to a company that I relied on to pay my school fees at University. Now playing behind the scenes, eTranzact is one of Nigeria’s most important fintech companies which pioneered mobile banking, USSD, and cardless withdrawal. It provided interbank switch service before NIBSS became functional.
The leading African tech moves from October 2023
In October 2023, 27 African startups secured $144.3 million in funding through 27 fully disclosed investment rounds. This marks a 23.6% rise compared to the $116.7 million raised in September 2023. It’s, however, a 22.6% decrease from October 2022’s 186.4 million. The three sectors with the highest funding are energy with $86.3 million in raises, fintech with $29 million, and healthtech with a modest $8.6 million.
A look at Savant’s 20-year-old investment strategy
Francois Malan, incubator CEO at investment firm Savant Capital, speaks on the firm’s investment strategy over the last 20 years, as well as the future of hardware and deeptech in South Africa. In this episode of Ask An Investor, TechCabal caught up with Francois Malan, the incubator CEO at South Africa-based venture capital firm, Savant. Founded in 2004, Savant focuses on making investments in hardware and deeptech startups in South Africa.
The leading African tech moves from September 2023
In September 2023, 22 African tech startups raised $116.7 million across 22 fully disclosed* raises. Compared to August 2023’s $243.7 million total raise, this represents a 52.11% decrease. This also represents a significant YoY decrease—about 69.6%—from September 2022 when African startups raised $383.4 million. With this, September marks the month with the second-lowest funding following March’s $66 million raise.
Sporting Lagos: A Nigerian football club run with a startup mindset
Welcome to a new dispensation. 🍷 This article was spurred by a recurring question I’ve had for a long time: what does it take to start and run a successful football club in Africa’s most populous country? Brace up for a delightful read ahead. On any given Wednesday afternoon, 22-year-old Destiny Mercy can be found at work in Suru Alaba, a commercial district in Lagos near Alaba International Market, the largest electronics market in Nigeria.
Welcome to Quest
Welcome to Quest, where I take an in-depth look at different business ideas, trends, entrepreneurs, operators and companies that fascinate me. For now, you can expect one email a month: one longer-form article. Along the way, I’ll experiment with other formats, so expect more. If this sounds interesting to you, sign up, and if you’re feeling inspired, tell a few friends about us. 🤗 💜 Thanks!
Inside Madica’s plans to invest $6 million in Africa’s pre-seed startups
Brenda Wangari, head of portfolio success at Madica, shares more insights on the program which aims to invest $6 million in 30 African pre-seed startups over the next three years. Madica, which stands for Made In Africa, is an investment program launched in December 2022 by global venture capital firm Flourish Ventures. Focused on backing pre-seed-stage startups, the program offers funding, technology support and mentorship to underrepresented founders across the continent.
How to create early-stage success for SA startups
Amina Patterson, a seasoned startup ecosystem builder in South Africa, speaks on how to address the challenges facing the country’s early-stage startup ecosystem. With a decade of experience in the South African startup ecosystem, Amina Patterson’s work has seen her engage and collaborate with over 60 startups. In her role as head of business operations at AlphaCode, one of the country’s leading accelerators, she acquired hands-on and first-hand experience in the challenges facing startups.
How Knife Capital plans to deploy its $50 million Series B fund
Knife Capital co-founder Keet van Zyl speaks on the firm’s Knife Fund III fund for growth-stage South African startups. Knife Capital recently closed its $50 million expansion fund, ‘Knife Fund III.’ The VC firm will use Knife Fund III for the “expansion of African innovation-driven companies.” It will also power follow-on funding for some of Knife Capital’s portfolio companies.
The leading African tech moves from July 2023
1. Funding: H2 is off to a slow start In July 2023, 23 African tech startups raised $132.2 million from 25 fully disclosed* raises. Compared to July 2022’s $239.7 million total raise, this represents a 44% YoY decrease. It is, however, a slight increase—about 4.75%—from June 2023 when African startups raised $126.2 million in total. Per region, East African startups took the lead with 35.8% of the funding, $47.4 million across startups in Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.
Medsaf demands a retraction to our ‘defamatory’ coverage. Here’s our response | TechCabal
Through their lawyers, the Nigerian health tech startup, Medsaf, on Friday, July 7, 2023, sent TechCabal a “cease and desist” letter, requesting that our story on Medsaf, published earlier that same day, be taken down. Our story contains allegations that Medsaf employees were owed salaries for months and another allegation of financial misappropriation. We stand by our reporting and have found no instances of material errors, misrepresentations, falsehoods, or malice in our article.
The leading African tech moves from June 2023
1. Funding: West Africa retakes lead in June 2023 In June 2023, African tech startups raised $126.2 million from 25 fully disclosed* raises. The numbers show a 70% decrease compared to June 2023 where African startups . It’s also a 79% decrease from May 2023 when the total amount raised was $621.8 million. Per region, West African tech startups took the lead by a mile, accounting for 72%—$89.9 million—of the total disclosed funding. Year on year, raises by West African startups have increased by 13%.
Inside Talstack, the platform for upskilling talent
Seni Sulyman and Kayode Oyewole, two experienced operators in the African tech ecosystem, have partnered to launch Talstack, a B2B SaaS learning platform. Seni Sulyman’s experience in the global tech ecosystem has seen him work for different organisations like Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Bellhop, and Konga.
Ask an Investor: Flourish Ventures
Efayomi Carr, principal at Flourish Ventures, talks to TechCabal about what he has learned from investing in Africa, how Flourish Ventures invests, and his view on the current state of the African funding landscape. Although he was born in Sierra Leone and mostly raised in the United States, Efayomi Carr began his entrepreneurial journey in Nigeria. His first taste of entrepreneurship started with Transparent Nigeria, a media startup he and his friend founded.
The leading African tech moves from May 2023
1. Funding: East Africa leads the way In May 2023, African startups raised $621.8 million from 34 fully disclosed* raises. Compared to May 2022 where African startups raised $437.1 million, this shows a 42% year-on-year increase.
With crypto payments helping African creators, new opportunities abound
Cryptocurrencies have provided creators with an avenue to receive payments directly from their audience without the need for intermediaries. A recently published report by Selar on The African Creator Economy and The Future of Work revealed that the use of cryptocurrency helped to enhance the ways creators do business. It also added that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have similarly helped in making it easier to monetise digital content like artwork, music, and videos.
Nigeria struggles to bridge ethnic divide after the election
On the morning of February 25, a crowd of about 50 people had formed a queue at a polling unit on Ayilara Street in Surulere, a lively district in Lagos, the cultural and economic heart of Nigeria. They were waiting to cast their votes in the presidential election. Victoria Godwin, a young woman in the queue, noticed a badly beaten man running in the distance, chased by men armed with sticks, knives and cutlasses. She looked away.
The fastest growing African companies
The Financial Times, and research company, Statista have released a report on Africa’s fastest growing companies 2023. The list highlights how the top 100 African businesses from across different sectors—fintech, renewable energy, healthcare, commodities and agriculture—kept their businesses afloat while most of the world’s businesses shut down. The report ranks the top 100 companies according to the highest compound annual growth (CAGR) in revenues between 2018 and 2021.
The leading African tech moves from April 2023
Editor’s Note A brutally sluggish month for African startups, the continent squares up to Big Tech and layoffs continue to be a drag—April could not end sooner for some in the tech ecosystem. It wasn’t all grey clouds though; Kenya saw some positive investment news, bagging $390 million in April, while South Africa’s $250 million on top of Amazon’s plan to invest $1.8 billion until 2029, could lift the country’s mood.
Spleet partners Repit to offer rental support for Africans in the UK
Spleet, a Nigerian proptech startup, has announced a partnership with United Kingdom-based rental assistance specialists, Repit. Repit provides relocation support, property search, viewings, referencing guidance, paperwork negotiations, and settling-in advice. This partnership aims to provide relocation and rental support for Africans moving to the UK.
Meet the Botswana AI startup looking to revolutionise marketing in Africa Original
The rise in popularity of OpenAI’s conversational AI chatbot, ChatGPT, has seen the entrance into mainstream culture of consumer facing AI tools. DALL-E, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion are some other popular tools. In Africa, however, innovation around generative AI products has not become apparent. This does not mean that there is no activity in the AI space on the continent.
How Education Can Empower Africans to Unleash Potential in the Creator Economy Original
After contributing to the launch of the AfroDroids collection, an NFT project which sold out at $3 million but soon stuttered, I started my own company, Faces of web3, in 2022. Lack of visibility was one of the reasons for AfroDroid’s lacklustre performance, so I naively attempted to solve the problem for the creator economy. Although I now understand the problem much better, I am no less motivated to solve it.
Timeline: Reliving 10 years of TechCabal
From its humble beginnings as a tech blog in Lagos in 2013 to becoming one of Africa’s most respected tech publishers, TechCabal’s growth has been exceptional – an important voice in the tech media landscape. We’ve covered the stories of triumph and failure in Africa’s tech ecosystem in ways that have seen us lead the conversation around the continent’s development. We’ve traced the highs than lows and embraced positivity in the wake of the challenges facing millions in Africa.
Olink partners with Cape Town protein processing facility for TB research Original
Nasdaq-listed Swedish healthtech firm Olink has announced that D-CYPHR, the regional proteomic facility in Cape Town, South Africa, has adopted Olink technology for tuberculosis research. The facility became the first service provider to launch Olink® Target 96, Target 48, and Olink® Flex platforms. These will be used for targeted protein biomarker discovery on the African continent.
Xiaomi Launches Redmi Note 12 Series in Nigeria Inspiring Users to "Live Vivid"
Redmi Note 12 Series continues to bring flagship-exclusive features to upper-mid-range devices, redefining photography, and overall user experiences. Xiaomi today announced the highly anticipated Nigeria release of Redmi Note 12 Series at a launch event held at the Lagos Marriott Hotel in Ikeja. Available for the Nigerian market are 2 models of the popular lineup – Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G and Redmi Note 12, with prices starting at ₦116,900.
A decade later, TechCabal’s roots in African tech are stronger than ever
Before TechCabal, there was a young man called Bankole Oluwafemi and his Nokia E63. TechCabal’s founder — “nerdy” — by his admission, was hustling, hanging out at tech events and co-working spaces, with a law degree tucked in his back pocket. Oluwafemi had no intention of practising law. He had every intention, instead, of immersing himself in Africa’s tech ecosystem, a passion that consumed him day and night.
ChatGPT can now help you shop, travel and do more work Original
Days after releasing a powerful image- and text-understanding AI model, GPT-4 to a limited public, Open AI has implemented plug-ins in its language processor chatbot. The plug-ins will help give ChatGPT access to present-day information, and enable it to run computations or use third-party services. According to OpenAI’s announcement, this update is in response to the demand of its current users. It invited plug-in developers off its waitlist to use its documentation to build a plugin for ChatGPT.
How to file tax returns with the eTIMs taxpayers portal in Kenya
The eTIMS taxpayers portal is a cohesive online tool for taxpayers in Kenya. This portal allows taxpayers to manage their tax affairs in a secure, efficient, and convenient way. It provides a platform where taxpayers can access and manage their tax information, file returns, make payments, and track their tax compliance status. The Android, Windows and Lite versions will be officially made available by April, 2023.
Africa's edtech startups remain bullish despite funding decline
Edtech startups in Africa raised $24.6 million or 0.7% of Africa’s total funding in 2022, according to data from Disrupt Africa. It represented a 69.6% decline from 2021’s highs. This decline in funding to digital learning underscores one aspect of the challenge of delivering education with technology even as digitalisation spreads its wings across Africa.
The ultimate social media management arsenal
This guest article was contributed to TechCabal by Maruche Kalu. Social media is revolutionising how businesses communicate their value proposition to their target markets. Whether it’s a Fortune 500 company or a beloved neighbourhood bakery, businesses now have a budget for getting their messages across through one or all of the social media platforms.
Jumia now liable for the sale of faulty products
Jumia, Africa’s largest ecommerce company, can now be held responsible for any disputes resulting from third-party transactions made through its platform, after reviewing its terms and conditions. This development is a result of COMESA’s (the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) ruling to this effect.
🚀Entering Tech #21: How to become a product marketer
#Issue 21 How to become a product marketer Greetings, ET readers 🖖🏾 A couple of weeks ago, I made a promise to a user who reached out on Twitter asking us for an #EnteringTech🚀 edition on product marketing. Well, we set out to work, and this week’s edition features a brilliant product marketer who’s worked in tech and other sectors. P.S If you’re looking to link up with a product marketer, this thread is full of brilliant product marketers across Africa. by Timi Odueso & Pamela Tetteh.
How digital commerce is evolving in Kenya
For the Kenyans who cannot afford the convenience and cost of weekly shopping trips to shiny retail outlets, digital commerce delivered through dukas and WhatsApp is becoming popular. As Amazon-type e-commerce—personified in Jumia—flounders, African entrepreneurs are finding ways to sell online that combine how people shop in malls with the convenience of retail corner shops, the shops that dominate grocery and small housewares.
Can $20 million help Smile Identity make verification seamless in Africa?
Identity verification is the new talk of the town. After Elon Musk made it a paid service exclusively for Twitter Blue users, Mark Zuckerberg has followed suit by announcing this week that identity verification will become a paid service across Meta platforms including Facebook and Instagram. Smile Identity, a pan-African identity verification startup recently raised $20 million Series B to ramp up their products across the continent.
As Nigeria’s big banks struggle with reliability, more customers are turning to digital alternatives
Over the last three weeks, making payments with Nigerian bank apps has felt like Russian Roulette. As Nigeria’s cash scarcity worsens, traditional banks are seeing higher demands, leading to customer delays, crashes and frustrations. I’ve had my fair share of these problems, having been to lunch and then a supermarket where I eventually needed a friend to help me transfer.
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