Brief (884)
Casablanca is set to host the 6th annual Digital Now Conference from December 9-11, 2026. Organized by Club des Dirigeants (Executives’ Club), the summit will bring together businesses, government agencies, and startups. This year's event will focus on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and the digital transformation of small businesses. Through workshops and networking sessions, participants will collaborate to accelerate innovation and promote digital inclusion across Africa.
Nigerian fintech startup CreditChek has raised $600,000 to expand its services into Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. Founded in 2022, the company uses AI to help banks and other financial institutions verify borrowers' identities and income. The technology reduces default risk while expanding access to credit for small businesses and individuals.
MassChallenge has selected 193 startups for its accelerator program, including 14 from Africa. Nigeria's Bridge Merchant, Cameroon's CornHouse, and Zambia's Entomo Farm were chosen from a global pool of nearly 2,000 applicants. These agriculture-focused startups will take part in a four-month mentorship program and compete for funding in October to help scale their businesses.
Nigerian ride-sharing platform Shuttlers has just reached the 10-million-ride milestone. To make commuting even easier, the company has partnered with Google Maps. Moving forward, professionals and daily commuters can find Shuttlers' bus routes directly in Google Maps. The new integration provides commuters with a more reliable and affordable way to avoid major traffic congestion while planning their journeys.
The city of Casablanca will host the Emec Expo from December 3 to 5, 2026. This international event will bring together entrepreneurs, digital marketing experts, and AI specialists. During the three-day event, attendees will explore the latest trends in e-commerce and fintech. The program will include workshops and conferences aimed at helping businesses speed up their digital transformation and strengthen their online presence.
Yamify has secured funding to scale its platform and expand access to artificial intelligence tools across Africa. The service allows developers to deploy high-performance computing resources in under a minute through local data centres. With the new funding, the startup plans to expand its operations with its technology partners and support the growth of digital infrastructure across the continent.
Nigerian payments company Interswitch has partnered with software provider Temenos to offer banking technology services across Africa. In addition to transaction processing, the company will integrate account management and financial crime prevention tools. The partnership will help banks modernize legacy systems to meet growing demand for digital banking services.
Aions Ventures has launched a new fund dedicated to supporting South African tech startups. With $6.1 million in funding, the program will help entrepreneurs bring their innovations to market and scale their businesses. The fund primarily targets startups in the digital economy, renewable energy and water management sectors, while also providing strategic mentorship to help founders develop sustainable growth strategies.
At its Conversations 2026 conference on Wednesday, June 3, Meta unveiled Business Agent, an AI tool designed to automate customer service across WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. The chatbot provides instant multilingual responses to customer inquiries, recommends products and can complete sales transactions. Available at no cost for now, it allows merchants to engage with customers without relying on round-the-clock human support.
FSDH Bank is partnering with two investment funds to launch a training program for female tech leaders in Nigeria. The initiative aims to address the funding gap faced by women entrepreneurs. Participants will learn how to strengthen their financial management and attract investors, while selected projects may qualify for loans and investments of up to $1 million.
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Nairobi will host the Cyber First East Africa forum on July 8, 2026. The event will bring together experts, technology companies and policymakers from across East Africa to develop strategies to protect IT infrastructure from cyber threats. Participants will discuss data security issues aimed at supporting a secure digital transformation in the region.
Nigerian startup Riwe has secured UN funding to expand its climate insurance services for smallholder farmers. The project uses satellite data to automatically compensate farmers when droughts or floods occur. With the funding, the company plans to provide affordable insurance coverage, weather alerts and access to loans to more than 15,000 farmers, helping protect their crops from climate-related losses.
WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature aimed at detecting scam messages. The system will analyze suspicious messages from unknown numbers directly on users' devices rather than sending them to external servers. This allows the app to identify potential scams in real time while preserving privacy, as chats remain end-to-end encrypted. Users will receive an alert allowing them to block suspicious contacts.
Startup Esca Finance has partnered with the MANSA platform to offer same-day international money transfers. The partnership uses stablecoins to bypass delays associated with traditional banking systems. The technology allows money transfer operators to avoid holding large amounts of capital overseas to settle transactions destined for markets such as Nigeria, Ghana and Francophone Africa.