28 – 02 – 2019

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Naspers has successfully spun-off cable TV company Multichoice (which owns DSTV) and listed it on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) hitting a ~$3.5 billion valuation at one point. According to TechCentral, Multichoice’s shares soared as high as 16% on first day trading.

Huawei has partnered with South African data-only network operator Rain, to deploy its first commercial 5G service. Rain CEO, Willem Roos says the network “will provide fiber-like speeds without the installation complexities, time delays and cost of laying fiber in under-serviced areas.”

Kenyan hardware and connectivity startup BRCK has partnered Facebook to launch Magma, an open source software platform, Disrupt Africa reports. Magma will be a software platform that contains the tools needed to deploy and extend LTE mobile networks in under connected and unconnected areas of the world.

South African bank Sasfin has acquired a “strategic” stake in Johannesburg-based fintech startup Payabill, per Ventureburn. Payabill provides finance to small businesses and was launched in 2017.

Kenyan agritech financing startup FarmDrive has raised an undisclosed amount in follow-on investment from EWB Canada, with participation from AK IMPACT INVESTORS, 1 to 4 Foundation, ADAP SEED FUND 2 and The Lakes Charitable Foundation, per TechMoran. The startup will use the funding to scale its operations with the hopes to reach 3 million smallholder farmers in Kenya in the next 5 years.

Liquid Telecom Kenya has deployed an IoT network in Western Kenya and Nyanza to monitor and protect freshwater fish populations via a partnership with Kisumu innovation technology hub LakeHub and developers Pinovate. The partnership hopes to equip 5,000 western Kenyan farmers with the sensors and a corresponding app by the end of 2019.

Quartz Africa profiled Ghirmay Abraham and Metkel Zerai, founders of Aptech Africa, a renewable energy company that has been beating out larger rivals in Africa’s riskiest markets including Sudan and the Central African Republic.

Kenyan telco Safaricom has announced the deployment of a 400G network link at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, Spain. This will enable it take on more capacity as mobile data usage has been doubling on the telcos network over the past two years, according to CTO Thibaud Rerolle.

In Zimbabwe, Econet spinoff Cassava SmartTech has announced a slew of edutech products, per Techzim. Payment for these products will be made via EcoCash, Econet’s mobile money product although pricing for the products themselves are yet to be announced.

Two years after launching an assembly plant in Rwanda, Volkswagen is also considering an electric vehicle push into to the small East African country, according to IT News Africa. VW also operates a ride-hailing and vehicle rental service in Rwanda called Move.

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