Staff Writer, Author at Launch Base Africa

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Staff Writer

https://launchbaseafrica.com

Updates

Opera Quietly Liquidates Kenyan Ad Unit Ahead of OPay’s $4B US IPO

Opera’s fintech play in Africa extends well beyond its Kenyan operating entities.

September 25, 2026

Ecosystem News

“Directly Selling Insurance to Farmers Does Not Work”: Pula CEO on Avoiding Agtech’s Deadliest Trap

From rural Kenya to the Earthshot shortlist: Pula CEO Thomas Njeru reveals to Launch Base Africa how the profitable agtech reached 24 million farmers and why impact and profitability are not mutually exclusive.

September 25, 2026

Keep exploring

Analysis & Opinions

Where the Money’s Going: What Investors Are Backing Outside Africa’s ‘Big Four’ in 2025

North Africa — especially Morocco and Tunisia — is becoming a testing ground for AI, vertical SaaS, and bundled apps.

July 11, 2025

Ecosystem News

Morocco Selects Global GPs Including Westmont and AfricInvest to Manage $1.9bn in Thematic Funds

The funds will be domiciled in Morocco and will invest through a mix of equity and quasi-equity instruments.

July 11, 2025

Updates

Nigeria’s BFREE Raises $3M to Unlock New Frontier in Distressed Loan Portfolio Financing

BFREE is turning what has long been considered a dead-end in African finance — non-performing loans — into a viable, tech-powered asset class.

July 10, 2025

Industry

Inside the Fintech That’s Quietly Built Africa’s Largest Smartphone Assembly Line

It’s a playbook that echoes India’s feature phone revolution of the early 2000s — except with embedded finance at the core rather than cheap calls.

July 10, 2025

Ecosystem News

Network International and Magnati Merge to Form $400bn African-Middle East Fintech Giant

The new company will serve more than 250 financial institutions, 240,000 merchants, and 20 million cardholders in over 50 markets.

July 10, 2025

Updates

Nawy Buys UAE’s SmartCrowd in Bid to Build MENA’s First Real Estate Super-App

Before the acquisition, SmartCrowd has raised over $3.6M across 3 funding rounds.

July 9, 2025

Industry

Can Temu Crack South Africa’s E-Commerce Market Where Jumia Couldn’t?

Temu’s expansion comes less than a year after Jumia Technologies AG, often dubbed the “Amazon of Africa,” shut down operations in South Africa and Tunisia.

July 9, 2025

Analysis & Opinions

The Unwritten Rule: Why 2025’s Most Funded African Startups Are Becoming the Most Aggressive Buyers

Too early to call it a trend? Maybe. But the signals are getting louder.

July 9, 2025

Policy & Regulations Forum

Nigeria’s CAC Makes a Bold Bet on AI-Powered Instant Company Registration — and It Misfires

As Nigeria aims to climb the ranks of global ease-of-doing-business indices, its latest experiment with automation highlights a timeless truth.

July 9, 2025

CENTRAL AFRICA

A New Fintech Gold Rush in Cameroon — But Has the Market Really Changed?

In 2022, it accounted for 71% of all mobile money transactions in Central Africa, totalling more than €90 billion

July 9, 2025

Updates

Cape Town-Born Cerebrium Raises $8.5M to Power the Future of Real-Time AI

Cerebrium is a serverless infrastructure platform that makes it easy for companies to build and scale data/AI workloads. With just a team of 4 across the US and South Africa, the startup scaled to doing millions in revenue.

July 8, 2025

Updates