Tag: South Africa

This Week in Apps: In-app events hit the App Store, TikTok tries Stories, Apple reveals new child safety plan

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using…

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Ivorian fintech Julaya raises $2M to digitize business payments in Francophone Africa

There are over 1 billion mobile money accounts globally. Africa leads the way in transaction value and volume thanks to M-Pesa, largely used in East Africa. Other regions across the continent are also growing fast. In 2019, West Africa reported the most live mobile money services in any region, with…

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South African payments startup Yoco raises $83M Series C led by Dragoneer

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute heavily to the economic success of many countries, particularly those in the developing world. They are the backbone of most economies: Globally, SMEs represent about 90% of existing businesses and create more than 50% of employment. In South Africa, these businesses contribute around one-third…

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What we learned from selling a blockchain service to African governments

Mohammed Ibrahim Jega Contributor Mohammed Ibrahim Jega is the co-founder of Domineum Blockchain Solutions, a serial tech entrepreneur, startup adviser, fintech expert and blockchain advocate. A major attraction of Africa is its large population of 1.2 billion, which hints at a sizable addressable market. But what happens when your target…

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Nigeria leads mobile app market growth in Africa as use of gaming apps surge 44% from Q1 2020

The pandemic’s effect on the global app market has not been hard to miss. In the first quarter and first half of this year, consumer spending in mobile apps hit new records at $32 billion and $64.9 billion, respectively. In Africa, it can be tough to call out exact numbers…

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Kaseya hack floods hundreds of companies with ransomware

On Friday, a flood of ransomware hit hundreds of companies around the world. A grocery store chain, a public broadcaster, schools, and a national railway system were all hit by the file-encrypting malware, causing disruption and forcing hundreds of businesses to close. The victims had something in common: a key…

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